Poor Roscoe

It hardly seems this blog is much about him, lately. He's old and is retired, except for Rally, but we just only have so much time in a day. I did take him to Rally class last week for the first time since spring and I sure wish I have videoed it. OMG, he was PERFECT! It was breathtaking, really. He never missed a beat!! Good little dude!!! I must get him back to class more, if I can. He LOVES it so much!! Almost as fun as being Captain Roscoe on the boat. Almost.

I must give him credit, though, for all the work with Spur. He helps me a lot by working some and making Spur jealous. It's very important work. Although, doing some weaves the other day I think made his neck sore, damn it. :( Poor guy. So, no weaves for Roscoe for a while.

Took Spur's running contacts into nothing on the road last week. He did WELL!!!! See for yourself -



I am not rewarding the high hits any more. I used to reward everything to keep him "up", but no more. He LOVES the work, so I can be pickier now.

I submitted my wraps to Silvia. We don't do much of this work because when he's "wrong" he starts to worry. Notice his body posture when he starts going to the left and I ask him to go to the right. We had already done three wraps to the left, but my camera filmed them all blurry for some reason. I will slowly introduce these in the manner she likes for training, but for now I am just getting some "muscle memory". He can only do so much, we have short sessions training. Too long and he worries. Unless, of course, it's running contacts, LOL!! He could do those all day if he (and I) had the breath!! He LOVES his RDW training!!!



Trial report from the weekend. AKC. Nailed the Open Fast Saturday. Nice run with a FREAKIN' awesome RDW in standard for a Q. The dogs before him in the standings were all top dogs. An Invitational dog, last years National Champ, a World Team contenter, and others. I wish I had it on film, but I don't. JWW we had some mistakes. I took my eye off him and had a melt down, but cool thing is at the end he ran great and barked as I got his leash on. That is always a sign he is OK! :D

I tried my start line behavior, then aborted it because in Standard I asked him to back up into the wall. What an IDIOT I am. Then at lunch my friends all said I really need to stick with it and keep trying. Heck, it was two years to get his RDW. I have patience, right? They are right. So, in Jumpers I actually even asked for a vault before I took his leash off. Again, I didn't give him enough room for his back up, but it still worked MUCH better. YAY!!! I am hoping I can continue and get this going. Ears up at the start is SO important.

Table sucked in Standard. His first time NOT putting elbows down before the time was up. Oi. They have no position required in AKC, so I have been going as soon as time is up and usually his elbows go down just before, so it's a nice reward. Nope, not Sunday damn it. I left anyway as I am NOT going to train in the ring. In USDAA I will have to insist, or take an NQ. I MUST get his table more happy, too. Teeter again an issue, but he was fine. I can't really do more than I am, I don't think right now. I don't know. It will always be an issue I think. So much to work on!!!

Is Spur a tougher project than Roscoe was? I am starting to think that way, but maybe because my memory of Roscoe's work is slipping away? I don't know, but with Roscoe I could always break through with food. Not so much with Spur. I love the work, though. I love Spur with my whole being, more than breath itself. OK, maybe not because then I would be dead, right? He is worth all the effort and stress, that is for sure. He is THE best little buddy!!!