Friday night training

Well, our WAAG training Friday night was very enjoyable. I only had Jonty with me, but it felt like it was a positive training session and I reminded myself to practice what I preach. He started out the night very distracted sniffing and piddling all the way from the car to the field. Our first warm up run was also plagued by his distraction and I felt myself getting frustated. Rather than rehearse and/or reinforce a slow, inattentive run though, I made the decision to end the run; I scooped him up part way through the sequence and placed him back in his crate. At the time I was uncertain what effect my action would have; I didn't want my frustration to stress him out or intimidate him, nor did I want him to think that his behaviour was acceptable. Apparently it helped rather than hindered though, as 10 minutes later he came out a different dog. We engaged in excited play and tugging before our run and even though there were footballers running and kicking the ball right beside his path he remained focussed, fast and accurate. YAY! First success of the night. But I then reminded myself that I needed to maintain that energy and connection the entire time he was out of his crate, not just before a sequence, and during a sequence but also after. The game starts the moment I open the crate door with a 123 release, tugging and playing, then hard and fast through the sequence, reward at the end and then fast and fun back to the crate. Keep the cues clear that we are going hard at agility, not just going for a stroll around the park. At all times he is out of his crate he has my focus, I have his focus, and we go hard. If I want more speed and attitude on a course then I need to rehearse for it. Free time for both of us comes at the end of the night when I allow him his sniffing/piddling "boy" time and he allows me to chat with friends. But the focus when it is our turn on the equipment is 100% on each other and 100% effort and energy from both of us. I can't expect him to give 100% if I'm laid back and cruisy or if I'm inconsistent about when I want his attention and when I don't. I need to keep it simple and black and white. I'm reminded of the addage "you get out what you put in" (and the workout from giving 100% energy to your dog sure beats a session at the gym!)

My other news of the day was the results from Zoom's skin swab. The rash is now a staph infection. So we'll add another week of the antibiotics to ensure we have really got it under control and cleared up. Hopefully that in conjunction with the thyroxin will have her "system" back in some semblence of balance and health. I washed her again in the malaseb which seems to be helping clear up the skin and remove the scurf from the rash. The skin appears healthier and I do believe the beginnings of hair growth are apparent. YAY!
Missy is still limping, though it is much more apparent on hard or pebbly ground. So perhaps it is a deep seated bruise to the pad rather than a wrist strain.