Match/Run-Thrus Tonight!

Eli and I will be heading to our first match/run-thru tonight!  Hopefully we'll do well!

Wide Open Agility Run!

I'm so proud of my Eli!  We had a wide open run last night, with both AG1 and AG2 obstacles!  He did great!  Good focus for being free for the first time, and great contacts, especially on the teeter!  I can't wait for run-thrus next week!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EV5OIkYBuAo

Training Day

The dogs had a good training day yesterday! Honor worked on weight pull, Nike on weaves, and Eli on rear crosses!

Nike's weaves are almost closed! We discovered that he's wild about a Kong Genius toy, and it's such a nice feeling, watching him drive through the weaves for a toy!

Honor's back to pulling power in weight pull. I think the break we took really helped her, she was very excited to pull today!

Eli and I are working on rear crosses. I personally struggle with them, so I decided that we should work on them. And through the wonder that is video, I discovered that our training issues are mostly me. I can be late giving the cue, and often it isn't very obvious. Lots of work to do!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddBj7k5wcHc

Good Show Day!

I'm pleased to report that Honor and Nikki competed in conformation today, and Nikki went all the way to BIS in both shows! Nikki walked away with RBIMBS the first show, and BIMBS the second show!

Left Pivot...please?

So Nike's finally in fighting form with his heeling (yay!), so much so that he stepped on Honor while heeling because he wouldn't take his eyes off me (sorry Honor!). He has everything he needs for rally, except...the left pivot. And I'm going nuts trying to figure out a better way to communicate it. He pivots on his left 360s and 180s, but once he's sitting, he's SITTING. Beautiful sits, yes, eyes uplifted, but his butt does not come off the ground for the pivot! Lol. He finally started getting it tonight after I started making these wide, sweeping, "backup" gestures, and I C&T for the littlest of rear end movement, so I'm hoping he'll catch on! It's so odd though, Nike always gets things on the first or second try, but this one move...not quite! :)

11 days until trial. I hope I'm doing the right thing by entering him. He did the Halloween rally match, which was more challenging because of the decorations on the signs. Hopefully he's ready. I know his obedience skills are up to scratch, I just want to make sure he's mentally ready. But we're doing APDT, so it should be a nice and relaxed environment!

Great Show Weekend!

This past weekend, Honor showed for the first time in UKC Licensed Altered conformation! I'm so proud to report that after four shows, Honor has 4 BoV wins, 3 Best Female wins, 2 BoB wins, 1 Group win, and made it to BiS twice! She accumulated 98 of the 100 points she needs to champion (so close!), and has all three competition wins needed. I'm so proud of her!

Christmas Update

The dogs had a fabulous Christmas! They got to open presents (LOTS) of toys, and got to visit both families. Eli and Nikki got to go to see Dan's family, and Honor and Nike got to visit mine! All four dogs enjoyed their holiday festivities, and Honor especially enjoyed visiting her "cousin" Romy!

Right now, Eli and Nike are training pretty heavily in agility, and Honor is practicing conformation work in preparation for the January shows at For Your Canine. This will be her first set of shows in Licensed Altered, thanks to UKC's new foray into this venue. Hopefully she'll show well and have a great time!