Sunday, January 11, 2009

Great Lesson; Complete with Breakthroughs!

We had a really great lesson yesterday. Our trainer seems to think I am finally starting to "get it" on some of the handling issues. Yippee! Coal and Bid each had two turns on the "trial course". Coal was much improved over just two weeks ago; I sent him on one outrun to each side and drove the course the opposite way it was intended, on the second run, just to keep things interesting. Bid is doing so well that I am being urged to move him into Open, for my own experience while he is still able. I'm still not sure how I feel about that, especially considering that all the Open trials seem to over-fill. So that will take some more thought.

We talked about taking risks, quiet lifts, maintaining flow and forward motion, as well as being a "finisher". On my second run with each dog, I tried hard to focus and concentrate on keeping that forward-ness, which I am comparing in my own mind to impulsion in a dressage horse.

There is a small Pro-Novice trial in two weeks, which I'm viewing as a "practice". I hope I can put some of our new skills into play then.

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