Congrats to everyone on their recent success!
I have nothing against fun runs as long as the equipment/footing is safe (we have some around here that are...sketchy). Great place to practice some trial skills without risking so much money
Meg recently went to one of the few AKC trials we do (can't say no to a trial 20 minutes from home). It was her third AKC trial ever, and she finished up both her open titles and got her first Excellent jumpers Q. She NQ for the first time ever in AKC the first class, when she was so high she missed her dogwalk contact by about 18', ran ahead and took the next tunnel, and then came back up the dogwalk to see what was taking me so long. And to think I had considered retiring her completely because she seemed so lackluster in practice! Apparently she believes she should only have to trial, not train. Fair enough, at this point! I'm holding off on trialling her anymore until Gusto is ready to go, just because I'm putting so much into him right now. I'll let her run a bit when he does though, and maybe polish off some metallic titles in our favorite classes.
Gusto continues to amaze me, and occasionally make me want to boot him over the fence. He sets the bar so high for himself when he's on, that when he is a typical 14 month old puppy, I think he's stupid and bad and I'm a terrible trainer and we should quit. We are going to a 2-day training camp next weekend with three great trainers (Terri Cesarek, Monique Plinck and Tracy Sklenar), and I am both excited and terrified! Hopefully he doesn't make too much of a fool of us.
I have nothing against fun runs as long as the equipment/footing is safe (we have some around here that are...sketchy). Great place to practice some trial skills without risking so much money
Meg recently went to one of the few AKC trials we do (can't say no to a trial 20 minutes from home). It was her third AKC trial ever, and she finished up both her open titles and got her first Excellent jumpers Q. She NQ for the first time ever in AKC the first class, when she was so high she missed her dogwalk contact by about 18', ran ahead and took the next tunnel, and then came back up the dogwalk to see what was taking me so long. And to think I had considered retiring her completely because she seemed so lackluster in practice! Apparently she believes she should only have to trial, not train. Fair enough, at this point! I'm holding off on trialling her anymore until Gusto is ready to go, just because I'm putting so much into him right now. I'll let her run a bit when he does though, and maybe polish off some metallic titles in our favorite classes.
Gusto continues to amaze me, and occasionally make me want to boot him over the fence. He sets the bar so high for himself when he's on, that when he is a typical 14 month old puppy, I think he's stupid and bad and I'm a terrible trainer and we should quit. We are going to a 2-day training camp next weekend with three great trainers (Terri Cesarek, Monique Plinck and Tracy Sklenar), and I am both excited and terrified! Hopefully he doesn't make too much of a fool of us.
And your description of Gusto cracks me up. He's going to be super! Have fun at the training camp! If he's at his best you get to show of a bit and get even better. If he's at his worst they can help you get his best from him more consistently. Win-win
