See Me Learn
Rio is continuing to surprise me at flyball training. She was introduced to the hit-it board for the first time this week, and was pretty fab. We initially introduce the dogs gently and don’t ask for a turn, just build their confidence and see how they adapt to the board. Rio had a couple of normal target moments and then offered a proper turn! Very happy with that, she’s hanging on the board a little and is very high, but we’ll refine that in the next few weeks.
I’m also ramping up her weave training, although it’s somewhat frustrating as I don’t have car access during the day anymore (the problems of car sharing!) and I can’t train at home. So I have 2-3 evenings a week when I can trek to the park and set up the weaves, providing the weather is suitable … which it hasn’t been.
Nevertheless, we managed to fit in a good half hour alternating between Rio and Dylan. Rio is learning, the Vs are a couple of inches apart and she’s showing a good action. I’m happy with her entries and she’s driving to the end well. Interestingly she’s having a similar problem to Diva, in that if I race the entry she has a tendency to hit the first poles way too hard and pop. I can send her to the entry and then run to catch up without an issue, it’s just that initial drive in if I’m running alongside. I didn’t really test this theory as I didn’t want her to hurt herself, but it’s not a big issue anyway.
Dylan did some pretty awesome weave entries that I wish I’d filmed, just to prove how incredible his entries are! He’s not usually confident enough in competition for me to push him to the level I do in training when it comes to weaves, but he really is very good. This is why I’m not too concerned about Rio having weak entries at this point in her training, since Dylan was the same and he turned out ok.
Meanwhile, I’m working through my KCAI APL (that’s the Kennel Club Accredited Instructor Assesment of Prior Learning, for those of you who didn’t want to know) and I’m drowning in paperwork. I’ve been encouraged to go for my KCAI and I have to admit it’s really excited for me to be back at school, I love having an excuse to go out and read all the books and attend all the seminars! Hopefully I’ll eventually be accredited in agility, although accreditation for agility is really tough when you’re not a Judge (which I’m not). That part of the module is letting me down at the moment, as although I enjoy setting courses and assessing our club dogs, judging isn’t something which has really appealed to me before. I don’t have the patience! I’m being pushed out of my comfort zone however, as I am attending a UKA Level 1 Judging course, which would give me the opportunity for judging experience without the 8-9hr days and 300 dog classes (at least in our area). The APL should hit the postbox this week and we’ll see what happens!
Oh, and I helped found a new flyball club for our area recently! Check out phantomsflyball.co.uk – it’s been a lot of fun so far.