Today Mandy kindly drove us up to a training session with Katie Long and Stuart Doughty. We met Jo with Freddie once we got there, It was a 3 hour afternoon session in two parts: agility and jumping. Courses were set out. Jo and I ended up working together starting with the agility course with Katie. We walked and then ran the course (not very well for me and Dylan as he decided to be quite naughty ... all the smells of an indoor equestrian arena I guess). We then broke down the course and had advise on different ways to run each section. We all had a go at each bit. Katie advised me that my dog walk contact needed to be solid before I introduce any words and keep putting him back on. She also advised me to run faster as when I was ahead of Dylan and telling him what to do he was much quicker. The one thing we struggled with was a right round turn off a jump ... Dylan insisted on turning left whatever I told him. He clearly prefers that turn.
Next was Stuart and jumping. I found this much easier and the snake and pull ins where no problem really. I do need to think about where to stand to get the best result for Dylan so he knows where to go next rather than trying to help me by jumping what he sees. We also thoughts about how to speed them up by standing in different places and considering which turn they make. Again Dylan's right round turn off a jump was not the best ... so that needs practice. It is reasonable for dogs to have a preferred side anyway.
Jo managed to capture a couple of my jumping runs. In the first run it took me three attempts to work out where to stand for the tunnel to weaves and also Dylan wasn't keen on turning right round the fence near the end. The second run was much better - I brought him right round as I new he would be quick!
Next was Stuart and jumping. I found this much easier and the snake and pull ins where no problem really. I do need to think about where to stand to get the best result for Dylan so he knows where to go next rather than trying to help me by jumping what he sees. We also thoughts about how to speed them up by standing in different places and considering which turn they make. Again Dylan's right round turn off a jump was not the best ... so that needs practice. It is reasonable for dogs to have a preferred side anyway.
Jo managed to capture a couple of my jumping runs. In the first run it took me three attempts to work out where to stand for the tunnel to weaves and also Dylan wasn't keen on turning right round the fence near the end. The second run was much better - I brought him right round as I new he would be quick!
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