Wednesday, March 26, 2014

19 months - Full steam ahead!

I was so pleased with Kili at our class last weekend! We have been battling the cold (still!) and I can't wait for it to be gone so I can add practice back in at home.

I added the third set of weave poles in and Kili is doing nicely with that. Once we are able to work in our yard (which won't be until June at this rate... we got more snow yesterday) I think the weave poles are going to progress really nicely. In theory the 2 x 2 method can be used to teach weave poles in a couple of weeks. We have been working on them now for about 4 months but only once a week at most, so it has been slow going.

I always love it when Kili is at the top of her class. It really probably isn't worth much but you need to take pride in the small victories! There are only 2 other dogs in her class and one is a timid poodle who listens well to his handler but rarely gets up to any sort of speed in class (apparently he's a speed demon at home though!). The other is an Aussie the same age as Kili, and they tend to trade "best in class" depending on who is more focused that week! They certainly have different strengths and weaknesses.

I am hoping to be able to enter Kili in some fun matches soon. The problem has been finding them! I've sent out a couple of e-mails and am hoping we can find something. But at the very least I am going to try to take her to a trial or two this spring just to expose her to the busier environment and work on focus and play.

1 comment:

Janette Ash said...

Hey, hi, been getting caught up on your happenings. Kili is looking great, what a sweetie. You two have been doing a great job despite this hell of a winter. You mentioned you really wished you could practice weaves. Can you practice in the house, do you have the room? I bought some PCV pipe and then plunger bases from the dollar store. Removed the handle from the plunger base and inserted the longer pieces of PCV pipe and viola weave poles, we practice in the hallway... ha,ha. Ya do what ya gotta do. LOL. We had 10 cm of snow today March 30, Lord ... when are we going to get a break. Good news thought the ton of poop I saw in the backyard yesterday is now covered up again. ha,ha,ha