Perri is RUSTY. It's been three weeks since we have had class or trained anything beyond bar jumps. She is doing a narrow channel weave okay but when we closed the channel the information did not seem to translate for her. Oh well. I will admit we could step up our practice at home.
More distressing was that Perri is still refusing tunnels. Molly had a similar issue when she was a baby agility dog. I bought a tunnel to practice with at home and that was the end of the issue. Not so with Perri! She knows they are different. The practice tunnel is not a problem. "Real" tunnels? Takes some persuading. It's easy to feel like the issue will never resolve.
In the positive: Perri had great stopped contacts and was fearless with the teeter.
As for Molly we worked on our two hot button issues: weave entry (this went well.) and ..... dreaded contacts.
I want a two on two off contact with Molly. She tends to whirl utterly out of control on contacts, especially at trials. Every chance we get I work on the stopped contacts. Our instructor told me on Monday that she proofs contacts much the same way as I proof the start line stay and Perri's obedience stays. And as always I thought, "Well why didn't I think of that?"
We are thankfully getting to the point where Molly will hold a stopped contact in a training session focused on contacts. Tonight I worked on establishing her Stay on the contact and walking away. Returning quickly and rewarding for staying. Increasing distance. I also added a challenge of me jumping around and throwing food on the floor. Molly is a quick study when it comes to earning food rewards and she really did well tonight. You stay on your contact and you are guaranteed to get food.
However, we are still struggling mightily to put that into a full speed Aframe or part of a sequence. Once Molly gets moving her brain tends to drop out. I will treasure the day when she actually remembers to stop at the end of a contact. Will that day come? It's hard to say!
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