A nice comment

Last night was the final meeting of our current intermediate agility session. We did some quick equipment drills, then worked on our lead outs for the final run thrus. We set the dogs up two jumps away from us, using a lead out pivot, then had two more jumps to guide them over. A lead out pivot is when you are partway though a front cross when you call the dog, so your hand is in the same position it would be for the front cross, but your feet are already turning the opposite way. For example using the picture on the left, the dog is on your right side, you go a couple jumps ahead with your back to the dog, and keeping your right arm out horizontally, you turn your body to the right so that your front is now to the dog, and your right arm is horizonal across your chest. Then you are able to drop the right arm and switch to the left as the dog approaches you, just as you would in a normal front cross. So using the illustration on the left, I would put Shelby in a stay in front of jump 1, then walk out to past jump 3 with my back to her and my right arm out. Then I would turn to my right, so that I am facing her, keeping my right arm out, with my feet pointing toward jump 4. As Shelby is commiting to jump 3, I drop my right arm and switch to my left arm to direct her over jump 4. In class, we then had to execute another front cross to change the dog's direction again to take them over another jump more in the area of the unnumbered obstacle in this picture.


One thing I learned from this is the you need to approach every exercise confidently. If I am wishy washy about what I am doing, Shelby will break the stay and start on her own. When I calmly and distinctly tell her to stay and then go take my position, everything is good. The second time we tried to exercise, I went into it with that mentality, and it was really smooth. I could tell Shelby was very focussed on me, and she was a lot faster than she had been, which was great. All the other students oohed and aaahed, which was cool. The instructor told me that Shelby and I really have a nice bond and that I understand Shelby a lot better than some of her advanced students, which was nice to hear.

Also, our new indoor weave poles came in, so we will be able to practice at home. Up to this point I only have weave poles that stick in the ground for outdoor use. I'm sure I don't have to tell you I haven't been doing much outdoor practicing lately!