Agility Seminar - Day 2

At today's seminar I moved Bosley from the novice group to the advanced group.  The novice group was working on basic jump patterns (270s, 180s, serpentines and threadles).  Many people in the novice group had little experience with the more complex patterns, but we have worked on these patterns often in class and at other seminars, so I didn't really need to review them again. 

In the advanced group we worked on jumping sequences and on distance work.  Bosley did well in the jumping although he does need to push through more on the 270 so that I don't need to be right there to support the pattern.  I got a good tip on how to handle my front crosses a bit better (need to cue the turn with my "off arm" before I turn my body).  It seemed to work nice, so I will need to practice that more in class.

The distance work went well, considering I have just started to to distance stuff with Bosley.  The first distance challenge was send through a tunnel and then straight over two jumps that were about 12 feet away and parallel to but gradually getting farther from the gamble line.  Bosley took the two jumps with no hesitation, which totally shocked me.  He didn't even check to see where I was.  The second distance challenge was to send over a jump and then away from me to the far end of a tunnel.  This was a bit more difficult for Bosley as I was not moving with him as in the first challenge, but rather was behind him sending him forward.  We had a bit of success at the end where he was going to the closer end of the tunnel instead of the far end, but he was trying hard to figure it out.  

I was very happy I switched to the advanced class.  I didn't feel that Bosley was out of place with some of the more experienced dogs and I took away some good tips and ideas on how to improve my distance training.