Running dog walk session yesterday.

Decided to raise it to full height. At the trial Saturday he refused it twice and I really think it was because it looked like a teeter. Since our work the last three weeks has been on a lowered dog walk? Although one refusal could have been simply a tunnel choice, always a given. Something we do work on, but in a trial he will almost always chose a tunnel if that is a descrimination. The other one I don't know, he just went all the way around it. It was strange. There wasn't an off course option. Anyway, I thought it would be good to put it back to full height and check it out. So, here he is from yesterday. I LOVE how he DRIVES forward on his very first run!!! And how we have lots of good ones before a jump. That's cool! And the jumps I think have a lot to do with ball toss. Although there was one lobbed toss and he still got it. He SHOULD still get it no matter how the ball is tossed, but really that's asking a LOT at this point. The last one is a jump, but we didn't try again because he had a major meltdown when the ball his the bulletin board and the erasor dropped in front of him. Oi! No use trying to go again, especially with so many good ones.

I LOVE his run at 45 seconds or there abouts. LOVE that one!!! He looks relaxed and fast. He is still adjusting his stride a fair amount, but what I see happening here in this session are more runs where his body is lower. That's the posture I want, not so much that I am watching stride, but a lowered head/posture means faster more consistent striding. When his body humps up a little on the down is when he is adjusting and having to add a stride to get the contact. That's GOOD (to get the contact), but ultimately I want a more relaxed run. He's a good little guy!!! I do think he enjoys it, although the first jump with a no reward (I didn't mark it at all verbally this time), produced a very down expression. Not sure why, but he was a bit bummed. Maybe because previously he had been SO rewarded? I don't know. He seemed to recover, but there is a run where you will see his ears go back and a tiny slow down. That was because the up ramp bounced. In the next run you will see I added a support there. (Kind of wish I had added boob support, as I got so hot I flung off my sweater and forgot that this would be on youtube = public. Whatevahhhhhh..........)