Preparation

Turns out you don't make much progress when you only practice a couple of days a week.We are building up the go-out work slowly. It has been even more slow than I expected because my school schedule has stopped me from working with Rugby as much as I would like to. I did't mind so much until I realized we had entered trials for next weekend.

We went to the park last week to see how he could pull all the pieces together without having practiced them as complete exercises. I was pleasantly surprised by his attitude. He was up, energetic, ready and very willing for the whole session. He did not do well on go-outs though. I wasn't completely surprised since we had taken go-outs apart and hadn't finished putting them back together yet (when will that not be true.. sigh). I was surprised when he blew scent article though. We had to take them back home and do only leather a couple time before he was back on track. I wonder if it had anything to do with Rugby smelling overwhelmingly like flea killing products (we are still flea-free, by the way!).

Today we went to a different park, an empty baseball field seemed like the best choice. The sand was a little wet and packed down. There were tons of dog footprints, their owners were taking advantage of the mostly enclosed field. Rugby loves sand, and while I set up jumps he ran around endlessly in circles. He wasn't heavy enough to leave behind any footprints. Except when he shot away from me for the go-outs.  Full 40+ ft go-outs and they were straight! He was wonderful! Scent articles were back to normal too. He didn't loose that spunky, energetic attitude either. He was so fun to work today!

We won't be completely back up to speed by next weekend, but at least it won't seem like he has never been in an Obedience ring before.

I can't forget about stays either. We still have to practice those.