From the gal who said she'd NEVER blindcross

T

Toffee's Mom

Forums Sage
never too late to learn... !! :lol:
Since the great blind cross discussion where most of you gave me a lot of good ideas and different opinions for me to think about.:pop

Thanks to my awesome Instructor and our little group we have changed to learn more about different ways of handling. We have started to work on some j-turns, wraps and directionals. I am still green and not a very smooth handler, but it is going to help, since I am the least athletic person I know... my poor dog is handler challenged :D

This was Mr Toffee and I this morning, we've come a bit of a way and have loads of a way to go... BUT above all it is so much fun to train, I can't BELIEVE :eek2: how much fun we were missing.

Now if we could get over all ring nerve issues, T is more anxious and less confident in trial environments... No way getting around that but getting used to trialing by doing it. I am now just expecting him to run, connect with me... more Q's will come! However, budgetary restraints have been a problem, so we haven't trialed as much as we would like, lol. Looking forward to end of the month trial :D

In other news, as of now Toffee is in specials veterans... He LOVES jumping at 10 inches, I have ran him at the last few practices/matches at 10 and he is much more confident and faster. To have to jump him at 16 was tad too high imo... for his body built and height.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMXxpS_tMU4
 
Isn't it fun to expand your repertoire?! Scary, but fun :)

I'm glad that you found a height that Toffee feels comfortable at--it's nice that they offer that option :yes:

And I feel you on the budget thing...my husband just started a new job and we are hoping to buy a house. Suddenly agility has taken a backseat which is a bit sad, but in the long run it's the right thing.
 
Yep :D Imagine we are on the same page, lol :eek2::lol:

Yes, push is going around and taking the jump from the back,
J turn is facing the dog indicating the jump and then getting outta there, I am trying to adopt a newer show and go attitude... I try to say Toffee you do this and I get outta there while you do your job, I can try to get ahead lol

Yes, his drive is really growing with his confidence, I am hoping it will translate in trial, where all the other stimulus is really hard on him
He is just a little under 17 inches, his regular jump height in AAC would have been 22 inches, which I would never do, so I specialed him so that he got dropped one jump height, to 16 inches. He's does not have the best conformation for jumping.
Sp when I had the chance to drop in down to veterans, since he's turned 5 and had already trialed at specials for a year, he got dropped ONE more jump height. I think this is helping his speed, drive and confidence immeasurably :D
However, in the video, since we're only doing a drill and we are new at J turns I dropped the bars to lowest, since it isn't about jumping form but learning directionals etc. At the end of session I did add a ten inch jump and it did translate well :D
 
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