I want my cheese now ..

A frosty, windy start turned obedience training into a 'vest tucked into knickers' kinda day, brrrrr!  Fortunately glamour is not high on the dog training agenda, but layers and wellies definitely are, so double socks and a vest to keep the chills out, a pocket of tissues to mop my streaming nose and me 'n Polly were good to go ...

Putting agility training into practice!

Polly has been so good with her recalls on our walks lately and happily put them into practice at school in exchange for cheddar cheese treats - she even abandoned 'Sexy Rexy', a magnificent Belgian Shepherd, after flirting shamelessly with him during the group walk!

Off lead, exploring in the woods

Polly's agility work is gradually improving since the penny dropped and I made a conscious effort to slow her down and reclaim focus with some 'sits' and 'downs' between pieces of equipment.  As a result, we've been able to start linking two or three elements together recently, (ie., through the tyre, then over high jump/long jump) and I've been able to let go of her training lead now and again.  I can't wait to lose the training lead completely, a long soggy, muddy, tangly lead is a total pain in the you-know-where to work with.

'Up' Polly!

So that's the good stuff, now to the less good ... 

Forgetting to close the treat bag for our heel work wasn't one of my finest moments.  Rather than trotting along neatly at heel, Polly thought all her Christmasses had come at once and snuffled her way along the ground to reclaim all the tasty cheese and frankfurter delights I had spilled ... can't say as I blame her.  Also with a strong wind blowing across the training field, I struggled to hear Kevin's instructions to help me fall back into sync with everyone, so ended up in a messy muddle.  There was nothing for it but to laugh it off and put it down to experience. Ah well, better luck next time!

Anything to do with 'staying' seems to have fallen by the wayside this week.  Polly is now nine months old and seems to have her own ideas of how things should work.  She will usually oblige me by sitting and laying down when asked, but what was a reasonable 'stay', has been replaced with a 'sod this for a lark, I want my cheese now mum' ... ho hum!  At home she sits patiently waiting for my instruction to approach her food bowl and will wait until invited, no matter how long, so I know this can be done!

This training lark is hard work Mum, I need a long snooze!

  

With the exception of Polly's fab recalls, all in all, session 13 felt like a slightly 'off day' for me.  I was tired and I think after her long run in the woods with Molly and Dudley yesterday (we had such a lovely walk together again) Polly probably was too.  So, while it wasn't a bad session as such, let's just say a steaming hot cuppa for me when we arrived home and a Bonio followed by a long snooze for Polly, were most welcome!