First Agility Trial - Day 2

I learned my lesson from yesterday - don't keep a dog named Rocket cooped up in a crate for 6 hours before running a course!

I let him sniff his merry way all around the stable grounds, then brought him back inside and worked Obed stuff.  Lots of attention, fronts, backing up, and spins with tons and tons of reward.  He was so easily distracted yesterday that I concentrated on when he was giving me attention, and it worked - he would purposely look at another dog and then offer eye contact 1 second later.  I think we got through to one another that horse barn does not automatically = assclownery.

Jumpers was first.  We managed 13 out of 16 jumps!  My goal for the day was 1, so he did a good job.  There was still sniffing, and greeting the ring crew, and I know that I had a handler error or two.

Hoopers was next.  We only had one course fault, but we were over the course time.  BUT, we only had one fault!!

Tunnelers was last.  This dog thinks that tunnels are FANTASTIC.  He was quick and soooo responsive - it was like driving a sports car.  I hope that was a glimpse of things to come in the future!  His only fault was mine - the course was a ton of circles, and in my rush to get in front of him, I directed him to the tunnel and hauled butt, but it wasn't enough to shove him in the tunnel.  Instead, he decided that the shortest route to the tunnel following the correct tunnel was to jump ON the tunnel in his way and use it like a spring board.  Didn't throw off his concentration a bit - he ran right to the next tunnel on the course and continued on his merry way.  He finished only 6 seconds over course time and had the one fault, but otherwise it was a fantastic finish to the day.

I think we both learned a lot.  I need to work on his level of comfort with distractions and his attention span.  I'm looking forward to our next NADAC trial!!