Iggy's First K9 cup

Wow we had a spectacular day.  It's was hot but breezy so very comfortable to sit under the tent and even though it was 28 degrees it really didn't feel bad to run in.  Yesterday I was really not feeling K9 Cup.  I knew Iggy wasn't ready because he didn't have his contacts and I just didn't feel like spending a very hot day doing agility.  I am so glad I did.

Iggy rocked the courses.  We played around with starting to develop a warm up before going in the ring.  He  never got distracted, he was with me and working even through some bobbles.  Lots of stuff to work on; he missed the first weave entry because I miss handled it, he had never seen a chute that looked like that and has honestly not had a lot of chute work, and I would like to see an improvement on speed.  Other than that he made me so proud and so happy with what we accomplished.

Such A Long Way

Every year a friend of mine asks me to speak to her Vet Tech students about training.  This was my third year doing this and Iggy has come with me every time.  It's fun to see how improved he is.  He still loves all the attention and goes and visits but comes when he is called and still manages to work even with everyone crowding around.

We even had failure and didn't fall apart.  I called him and he came looked at me and left to go visit again, I didn't feel he had met the criteria of coming to me so I went and got him and put him on his chair (I had previously built value for sitting on the chair) for a few minutes.  I then released him to go visit and every time I called him after that he came right away :).

We also did a walking/distraction exercise where someone stood at one end of the room and enticed him to come to them and I walked towards them with him in RZ.  Iggy nailed it no matter how excited they became.  Them Kim (the friend who Iggy adores) did it and Iggy again forgot his brain and left me, I stopped him with the leash he found the brain came right back and finished the walking in RZ.  That is such a huge improvement from even last year I am flabbergasted.

We then went outside and did some shaping.  I did some perch work and he very nicely got a little confused, I waited him out and he kept working and figured it out putting his bum behind me like his is supposed to.  I was concerned that he was getting tired and would soon start to shut down but we kept going and he shined.  We did the little balance pods and for the first time ever he got 4 feet on 4 pods.  I wanted to show them stimulation and it's effect on cues so I then just sat and did cues.  He had it and then the brain left for a bit, I waited a few seconds came back re cued and he got it.  This lesson was such a huge eye opener for me that I wanted to share it and Iggy is so easy to read now when I know what I am looking for.

I am so thankful for this awesome dog who has made me such a better trainer and forced me to learn so much.