Boostie the Weavin' Hound!

The little baby Booster is weaving sooooo nicely! We had no practice over the weekend. Yesterday she did several complete sets of 12, with a few bobbles; later, after a ton of other play and exercises, I tried to demonstrate for the housemate and she skipped poles several times before getting all the way through. I'm thinking she was just getting tired.

Today, first thing, she did 2 sets perfectly, one on my right and one on my left, then tried skipping the middle poles a couple of times, then did another 2 or maybe 4 perfectly. What a girlie! And she's FAST, too. I'm very delighted. And she seems excited about it; when she blasts out the end and gets her toy, she really gives it the heavy-duty, full-body shakedown, whereas she's normally more subdued in her (still enthusiastic) tugging. Maybe it's my level of excitement, too, but that's perfectly awesome that she responds that way.

In training I've always done both sides *every* time we did the weaves. Had a discussion with Bette's mom this weekend about how she's been doing dozens and dozens all on the same side because it's easier during hand-in-the-collar training--I told her NEVER again do 2 in a row on the same side, never ever ever. Sounds like they're on the verge of breaking through to actually doing independent weaves, too, but not quite there yet.

But, now, they're doing contacts and we haven't even started. Contact training makes me so nervous. Interestingly, they're OK on dogwalk and Aframe but not so hot on teeter; teeter's the only one of the three that I have an idea about how I might leap right in now and start working on.

Our Saturday morning classes have been very helpful--when there's been one and when I've been able to attend--but between my schedule and the instructor's schedule, I've had only maybe 4 or 5 classes in 5 months, if that. And the next one I could possibly make (if they have it) won't be until April. Power Paws has only one class for "puppies" going on (Bette's in it), but it's during a weekday again and I've been SOOO wanting to try to do weekends if possible. Still, I finally begged to be let in but it's all filled up and it's not clear that they'd want me in anyway since they've been working on their program for 5 months now. So I've signed up with Fortis Agility after a long talk about her training and handling methods. I don't exactly fit into their classes neatly, either; they're almost through their four 6-week beginners classes with the current class, and they're already doing contacts, and the next beginner beginner class won't start until April. Tania invited me to come to the class anyway and see whether we could make a go of it and then maybe, if needed, xfer to the beginning class. I'm looking forward to seeing her training strategies. No doubt at all that she's been successful with her dogs, but some things she's decided to pursue are different from what I've been getting other places. It'll be interesting, and, I hope, maybe even helpful.

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