Still...Webby video!!
Zuma looks like such a blast!
I was just about glowing the whole ride home from practice last night. Our club held a camp last weekend, and our USDAA trial is going to be held in the same field in 2 weeks. Since the equipment was all there, we just left it in place rather than moving it back to our usual practice field. Which meant 1) New place to train and 2) Got to train in the ring we will be using at the trial.
Gusto was so, so good. So much of it is a mental thing for me. It's really hard for me to go to the line in a class, or even run thrus, and not rush to get my dog on the line and run. I went in knowing he needed to be engaged, and we tugged/set up/released to the tug a few times before I even took his leash off. Did a few single jumps, did a few tunnels. Just worked on making sure he was 100% engaged with me. By the second time out, I was able to run the course in about 3 or 4 pieces with big tugging/re-engaging in the middle. Zero sniffing. Zero disconnecting. Big wake up call for me in how I need to approach this issue!
I've been heartbroken because we lost our spot in our usual training class due to Gusto's injury, but I'm trying to see it as a new opportunity. As fun as it was, I'm not sure it was what we need right now anyway. I think I'm going to do a class with Agility University, since the trainer I really like is doing one that seems perfect for us next month. Obstacles aren't the issue for us right now. Handling is a part of it (he still doesn't pick up great on front crosses), but focus and drive is really what I want to spend the summer working on.