Behold the awesomeness:
I'm particularly eager to watch the contacts DVD, because it's so lovely and relevant.
Speaking of contacts (hello accidental segue), I'm having a small crisis. I love Charlie's 2o2o- I really do. I get ridiculously excited and proud of it. Maybe my enthusiasm regarding all things contacts has to do with the fact that I've finally got them with Charlie, or maybe I'm just a bit strange, but I've started obsessing just a touch.
Our re-debut in novice agility is just under five weeks away, and while I was just going to go out there with what we have at the moment to test it under trial conditions, I'm starting to get the urge fiddle. And I may end up seriously regretting this and have to go and fix the mess I might make, but I can't help it.
Last night at training I tried to change the contact criteria slightly to get rid of Charlie's bad habit of accidental double touching- he literally runs to the end of the contact zone and just stops in 2o2o, which of course makes his back end pop up and drop back down. And that right there is a double touch and we'll be DQ'ed for it automatically if the judge notices. The judge noticing is quite likely since some of the time Charlie nearly handstands he's stopped so suddenly. I'm also a bit cringing and worried about the slamming with his shoulders, especially since they don't seem so structurally sound to begin with.
So the plan is to ignore the double touching for the moment, just until we get past our AD run at Logan, then I'll re-assess and go from there depending on how he does. I'm going to look at getting him to target less with just his feet and more with his rear end to try and get the rock back so he takes more pressure off his shoulders and see what sort of progress we make with that.
And a quick Zeke update. The thing I love most about this dog at the moment (apart from how he always manages to make me laugh hysterically, even if he's doing something evil like herding my feet and eating my toes) is his ability to know when he's working and needs to be switched on. He's always going; he doesn't stop unless he's confined to a crate or ex pen- and even then he'll try really hard to convince me he's got energy left and needs to run about some more. But if I need him for something, and if I'm training him, the spastic, crazy puppy with no self control dissolves into this mature, focused dog that is going to give me a hundred and ten per cent. He just surprises me- and it's a pleasant surprise, but he's just so far away from Charlie in every single way that I'm kind of in the "This is just too good to be true; it has to have a catch soon" stage. Which I don't think it does, actually. I think I've gotten really lucky with a really good dog that, while he's challenging and a real handful, is just an absolute dream to own and train.
I've been doing so much reading on training techniques and exercises and whatnot (looots of Susan Garrett especially), and while they're predominately for using with Zeke it's given me quite a bit of food for thought as well- and I've realised maybe I could actually put what I'm learning and trying out into practice with other people's dogs, not just my own. I've always been so nervous about running/training other people's dogs because I'm paranoid about breaking them or stuffing them up or not being able to control them or do what I set out to do. But running a couple of my friends' dogs at training the past couple of weeks has made that fade quite a bit, and I'm feeling more confident and capable. And I'm starting to think about maybe looking at dog training as a more serious (or as serious as I could possibly be about something) job option. I don't even want to think about touching behaviour modification at the moment, or going anywhere near behaviour modification, because I'm not in any shape or form even close to beginning to be capable and experienced in that area, but basic training stuff I think I could be able to do.
I get quite a few "You're doing so well with your dogs, Emma" comments, which I get a bit fidgety about because I'm cynical and have issues accepting praise- and I like to pick holes in things and be overly critical, especially when it comes to myself- and although I know for a fact that I've got two awesome dogs that make even my huge mistakes with them look brilliant, maybe I'm really not as shoddy a trainer as I think I am.
I'm not big on the planning so I'm just going to see where things take me, but it's starting to look more and more like something I'd really want to consider doing- even if it was just in conjunction with something else. No harm in giving it a go, right?
Final note, just to officially make this post a Ramblin' one: as I'm now officially bird free (save for the three fuzzy, half feathered ones in the fish tank) I don't have a chaotic morning filled with stress and lack of time and fifty kilograms of fruit and veg to chop up, so finally the morning walks will be starting. Charlie only at first since Zeke's a) too little and b) a fruit bar, but we'll both be doing an hour walk, five days a week at least. Combining that with swimming in the river once or twice a day once it starts to warm up again, plus a trip or two to the Spit once a week, and I'll actually have a fit, conditioned dog. Operation "Get Charlie Under Twenty Kilos" shall commence very shortly. Watch this space.
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