Mid Week Philosophies

Feels like it’s been a slow week. Training went well on Tuesday, and I continued to try and make a bigger point of properly rewarding Dylan. This is such a basic thing, but because Dylan is always happy to continue after a quick toy-throw or verbal positive reinforcement, I get lazy.

Kim would not let me get away with that kind of lazy attitude. Kim is a very firm teacher, she will never let me get away with slacking in training. Dylan is a much more honest dog, and in that special Border Collie way, he continues to try long after Kim would have given up in disgust. Kim taught me to get my ass in gear, and then Dylan taught me that I shouldn’t be relying on my dog to tell me that.

I also ran Jet this week, and we have so much to work on! Jet is very well trained, and I am an ok handler, but together we are not quite working as a team yet. Not only that, but her strengths and weaknesses are almost the complete opposite to Dyl. Jet is brilliant athlete, she is a beautiful confident jumper and can wrap wings so tightly when required. But her contacts aren’t as sticky as Dylan, she has a tendency to see what she can get away with and occasionally be a bit creepy, so I need to watch that. I also need to make sure she doesn’t lock on to a line, since it’s almost impossible to re-route her once she thinks she knows where she is going!

Either way, both dogs were wrapping some excellent 90 degree weave entries and exits. We definitely need to work on the contacts a little more though, as usual!