Fran on Friday
I’ve told you about Booker’s wildness at Agility trials. He’s a different dog when contact obstacles are present (Standard courses) versus courses where they’re absent. The key, I know, for him to have consistent performances on Standard courses is to practice the obstacles that he goes crazy around. That takes much more planning than just setting up a simple jump or two in the back yard. We have to search for “fun matches” in the area, or hope that we get to practice the obstacles in class. In our area, we have to travel an hour or more for fun matches, so I look for those early on my day off. And when we’re at a fun match, it’s five minutes or so on the course for 2 hours of travel time. But, if I can get Booker on the teeter or A-frame at a different place, it’s worth it.
Booker had been especially wild on the A-frame, either not taking it or jumping off the frame above the yellow, risking potential injury. So last night at class I was really happy to have an exercise which had heavy use of the A-frame! It was jump-frame-another jump-frame, etc., etc., etc. And Booker did all his A-frames and made all his contacts! Hopefully this will build muscle memory for him and he won’t be tempted to fly off the next A-frame he sees at a trial.
