Keeping It Simple

Archie continues to amaze and astound in his agility training. We had a fun class last night where we tested the dogs' understanding of the two-on-two-off position at the end of the Aframe by doing a front cross in front of them as they stayed in their contact position. Archie flew over the top of the Aframe, literally as he was completely air-borne, skidded into his touch position, ducked his head to wait for his treat, waited patiently while I crossed in front of him then, when I released him, shot off the Aframe to the next obstacle. The instructor videotaped us on this run and I hope to be able to share that in the next few days. His startline stay is quite nice too. I'm pleased with his progress.

We've also been working "go on" and "here", two specific commands that give a lot of information to the dog about what he needs to do next. "Go on" is fairly simple. It means continue taking the obstacles in front of you even if the handler is not right there. It is a nice command to use at the end of a course when many judges put a run-out to let the dogs stretch and fly, and when fast dogs easily outpace their handlers. "Here" means turn towards the handler--even if there is an obstacle that the dog can see in front of him. Remember, the dog's name only means that they should look at you. "Here" asks the dog to change his path and move towards you. 

I set up a little skills sequence in the backyard this morning to work on both, as well as work on Archie's "left" and "right" directionals and his weaves. 

Such a simple setup: one J-shaped tunnel, three jumps, one set of six weave poles. But so many skills can be worked on it. 

Mimi loved it. I have many more options with her since I can do more obstacles before I reward her, and because I can rear-cross her. Archie isn't quite there with the rear cross. It was so fun for both of them that I'll probably set it up again later this week.