Saturday Lesson with Erin.....BRRR!

Ike and I had a lesson with Erin S. yesterday morning. Brr!! Boy was it cold, and boy did Ike move. Guess it's "Calgary, here we come." Forget about my SAD if Ike moves faster! ; P

It was a VERY interesting lesson. Last lesson we had with Erin was the 2nd or third week of September, so about two months ago. Erin couldn't believe how much Ike has progressed in that time period. Yay for us! We started the lesson by walking the course she had set up and then running it.

Oh my gods, what a headache. AKC courses are SO non-intuitive to me. Last Saturday when Marlene and I were out in Springfield and I saw Harry run, I couldn't believe the way the course ended. Harry doing a wrap around a jump and going over another jump at maybe a 270 degree angle. UGH. Well, weren't there similar gross jumps combos set up in Erin's yard. So, it was a great lesson for me because it made me think outside of my current comfort zone.

One of the cool things about Erin is that she very firmly believes there is no right way to do things. For instance, there were three jump combinations in the course she had set up. A 180, a pinwheel, and an instance when you had to wrap a jump in order to take the next jump. For me, when I think about a pinwheel I think, have the dog move around you. Erin had me do a front cross after the second jump in the pinwheel. Because Ike has "motivation" issues, i.e. thinks slow is fun, Erin tries to make me think proactively about how I can make Ike move faster. Obviously this would be useful for anyone, but I think she stresses it with us because it is our main issue.

Erin had roofers working on her house, so I was double-y impressed with how well Ike performed/behaved. The course involved 12 weave poles, and Ike popped out at pole number 8 every time, in one direction. In the opposite direction he had no issue at all. Bizarre. I was joking around that he obviously needs glasses. I really need to get a second set of channel poles!

In general, this was a good lesson. Ike was really moving for me and it was obvious to Erin that he is enjoying agility more.