Flat

Some handling and dogwalk practice today and it all felt kind of flat.  Struggling with some lateral sends for handling practice then a dogwalk practice that felt much like Friday's.  I was struggling with the toy throwing again though finally started getting the hang of it by the end.  I was extremely tired yesterday and maybe still dragging a bit today.  Not sure why I should be so tired after sitting on my butt in a class all weekend but for some reason I am.  Could also be the training catching up with me.


Stats:

Set-up was jump-dogwalk-jump.  Cool morning, sunny, 30's.

6/10 (60%) all reps.

3/5 (60%) for full dogwalks

3/5 (60%) for backchained dogwalks

Rewarded most if not all of the misses, ugh.

I may have to go back to the treat gizmo if I can't get my mechanics down with the toys in a hurry.  Rewarding the misses is NOT good.  I did lower the jump to 12" to make it easier to throw the toy.  I think I'll go back to the yellow chicken toy, it's easier for me to throw and moves through the air more quickly so if I mess up and throw it a little late it's not as bad a thing.  My aim was so bad with the Kong rope toy that for more than half the reps he didn't even make it over the jump because the toy went sailing elsewhere.

One fantastic thing about practice was that Strummer never ran over to join my training partner and her super fast dog who were also working on contacts while we played on the dogwalk.  There was lots of noise and barking and excitement coming from their end of the field and I was still able to leave him in a sit-stay and lead out on the dogwalk.  At times he was straining to go over there but he kept his stay on his own and was happy to play with me instead.  Such a huge breakthrough for the Strum man.