Class today

We went early and Iggy and I played first. He did great! This morning, he had started to understand "down" and to be able to do it without me having to point to the floor and he kept getting better at it. He did pretty well at heeling and (in general) paying attention to me. We haven't tried to fine tune things, but I think once he gets the overall concepts, helping him to understand that he needs to be a little closer (for example) won't be too hard. His reward is play as much as it is food and breaking things up with some puppy play is something he loves.

Bethena was a clown in class, as always. I need to go back to basics with her on the drop on recall, she gets it for awhile, then gets careless about it as she focuses more on guessing what's going to come next or what's most likely to get her a treat. She started to learn the moving stand, tho, and did well for a first attempt. As much as it's probably not (ok, I'm sure it's not) good practice to let her see how much she entertains me and how much I enjoy the entertainment, I have come to think that if her reward is seeing me laugh and smile, that's not a bad thing -- even if it means we never get any more competition qualifications. Green ribbons aren't the point, fun is. Lord knows, she is (and has) fun!

She and I did some targeting in the living room. It's lots harder when Iggy is there too! We did a little practice with the broad jump in class, throwing a treat to her as she jumps really helped to keep her from trying to cut corners. This spring, it's going to have to be a priority to try to make our own jumps to practice with in the yard. She loves to jump and I bet Iggy will too, once he knows what they are.