Weave 201B

Cassi was having a class clown night, very excited and having fun, but goofy too.

We did the weave-a-matic (slanted poles) with a tunnel on one end and 2 jumps at angles from the other end. This allowed us to work back and forth with crosses and different entries. I worked with Cassi on our front cross. That jump before re-entering the weaves was pretty far forward, so I had to front cross ("mentally change leash hands front right hand to left hand") and then really get on her to come to my left side instead of flying by on my right. Her speed is really picking up and the bars are only slanted a little.

Then we worked on the 3 poles. She is getting it but she is still not consistently wrapping back around the third pole. We've been doing the entry in four positions, differing distances, the 45 degrees (3:00 to 6:00, with 6:00 being the starting pole). She told my partner to start doing the 45 degrees from 9:00 to 6:00, still doing both left and right sides. Cassi can start working on that too, but Teka is probably not ready.

Then we did a "course" of jumps and 6 pole set ups. Cassi did really well once I figured out the front cross. D had to walk me through it--Cassi comes out of the weaves on my left, the jump is perpendicular on my right, Cassi has to wrap around the far side to get back to the weaves, so I have to change from left hand to right hand, and go down the weaves on the left. There was another set of 6 poles next and I had to rear cross to get to the jumps on the right of those poles. I know--confusing, and I was there!

Our last exercise was a 12 pole channel weave with a jump on one end and a tunnel on the other, with a jump off to the side for entry into the tunnel, or not. Cassi was really picking up her speed on this one. It was the toy-torture exercise and my partner left her dog's toys out. I put Cassi's out too, but she became VERY excited about her treat tube, so I swapped it out for her treat pouch, keeping the tube in my hand to throw at the end. There was something around one of the tunnel entrances that she (and the other dog) wanted to sniff, but other than that, she was really excited and working with me and speeding up. The channels are only an inch open now. D recommended I treat her more during the exercise, such as after she went through the tunnel after having so much trouble entering it.

My partner and I both ran barefoot. That was my first time running barefoot, but it's on a padded floor and I've seen others do it. I think I liked it but would prefer to run with socks with a sole grip. (Update: The next day, I went to work and a co-worker showed me some "moon boots" she got and gave me the catalog--they are socks with a rubber sole.)