Weaves and Things
Rio is still learning to weave! I love weave training, I think it’s the piece of equipment which teaches us the most about our dogs (or re-affirms the things we already know). Weave training is reminding me that Rio is an Action Girl, she likes to just go, no waiting around! Dylan and Kim both tended to stalk toward the weaves, until they heard the “go-weave” command; Rio stares at me and barks and then spins on the spot and hurtles toward them. She knows where they are, no worries. This approach means her entries are getting tested, but they’re pretty good. We hit the entry every time today.
She does not respect those poles though, hit ’em hard enough and they’ll move. I am working to change her mind on that one. So although she hits the entry, she often bouces right off the second or third pole and ends up popping out.
We’re getting there, however. The V’s are now about 1-2″ apart at the top, which must seem like we’ve gone backwards considering she was weaving 6 uprights a few months ago. I don’t regret taking the step back and picking up with a different method though, she’s now attacking the weaves and her speed is brilliant. I’m happier, she’s happier, and we’re maintaining her speed throughout her progress.
Flyball went really well this week too. Her recalls continue to look good, although she usually needs one to warm up before she really shifts into gear. I started to warm her up with the target on the wall for front-paw hits, but she tried to turn off the wall so we quit that game. Her hits on the board were good, much snappier and she’s slowly learning to push off with emphasis. Her hits were lower but considering how high on the board she was last time, I’m not concerned. She’s in the right place. K tells me her hind is still hitting higher than her front too, which is also good. She’s not really hitting the target anymore, but as she’s maintaining her position and the hits look good, we’re letting that slide a little bit.
I did play some ball-swaps with her later, with K’s expert eye to guide me. I’m putting too much pressure on her to tug, we need to go back to basics. We’ve done two sessions since and there was a noticable improvement, although I’ll admit I’m prioritising weave training at the moment!
Oh, and I did my UKA L1 Judging Course last week. Got two invitations to judge on the day, although one was for next year and the other I had to turn down as I’m running Rio at that competition. Anyway, I’m on the Judges List now so we’ll see if I get any appointments!