Working On "Rally" Stuff

I have Maggie and Bosley entered in the upcoming CKC Rally Obedience trial, so I have been working on getting them ready.  We have been doing lots of "heel" work, both on and off leash and  I have been trying to get faster sits and down by using the clicker.  With Maggie I have really been working on her "moving down", which has been a real challenge.  She is very slow going into a down and when she does, she always moves out in front of me instead of staying in a heel position.  I have been practicing dropping her into a down when she is heeling next to a wall, so that she cannot swing out, but as soon as the wall is not there she goes back to moving in front of me again.  Her speed is also frustrating, but I don't think that she really understands what it is that I want, so hopefully if she figures that out, the speed will follow.  With Bosley I have been trying to work on keeping his attention on me when we are heeling (which is usually quite good) so I really want to get out and practice this in new places.  We are also working on his turns, especially left turns, where he tends to bump me.  Luckily, there are no pivots in novice CKC rally, because he still needs some work on those.  Other than that, I am just trying to get him to be cleaner and straighter in his sits and finishes.  For both dogs I need to work on the "1..2..3 step".  I have blown this in past trials and I don't want to do it again, it is lousy to blow a 'Q' because of that.  The trial is only 3 weeks away so I have a lot of work to do in a short amount of time.  Yikes!!!!