Being in a nice matted, heated facility for the seminar does actually have its downside - London's pads were pretty sore by the end of the day today.  I tried to keep him from doing too much running around on the mats as I knew this might happen, but by the last sequence he showed me his feet were feeling sore so we called it quits.  And that he wanted to go stare obsessively at a cord hanging down from the ceiling anyway.  London would actually rather stare at the ceiling than watch agility if the ceiling has a 'hanging bit' - and that's saying something, he REALLY likes watching agility.  I figure London really only has one weird obsession, and that's things hanging from the ceiling - it really could be a lot worse.  He does look like a total dork though.

Those poor people at the seminar, I can only imagine what they must have been thinking after watching me do the same stupid shit with our rear crosses again and again and again.  It's not like I don't say the same thing to people every day, you can't rear cross if you're ahead of your dog, you can't decelerate if you never accelerate, getting farther away from your dog does NOT make them turn tighter.  Stuff I know intellectually, but for some reason apparently don't think it applies to ME.  The seminar and especially the video makes it so abundantly clear that I have no consistent cue for a rear cross, that I even when I DO cue a rear cross, it's so vague that London has no idea I even asked for it (especially with shallow rear crosses), even when I do cue the cross, I often just blunder through it with so much incorrect motion that I pull London off the obstacle completely, and that London is a very, very good boy.  But I knew that.

The funny part is that rear crosses with Fenwick feel so NATURAL, but when I do them with London I come to a screeching halt, freeze and then abruptly push him off his line into nothing.  It's just bizarre.  And I keep doing this.  I can not get the concept of always being in front of my dog out of my head with London, I'm not sure why it's so hard for me to do - because it's awful hard to rear cross your dog while you're just standing there ahead of him.  Poor London, it's so not his fault, he is such an honest boy.  Uh, mostly.

So lots of good practice, even if it was just me doing the exact same thing wrong EVERY TIME.  Apparently I don't learn very fast.  London CAN rear cross when I don't handle like a moron.  I already knew I just have to relax, to it all back to basics, and use natural motion and position to cue them - then reward both him and me for doing it right.  Not rocket science here.

Also want to play around more with forward sends, which is not a natural thing for me, once again because I have a phobia of actually getting close to my dog while actually accelerating/decelerating instead of doing everything at distance and somehow thinking he'll turn tight with me 20 feet away.  So something interesting to try with trying to keep my rampart off-arm up when front crossing unless it's appropriate and using motion away while supporting with the appropriate arm.

Edited to add videos:

Saturday flood

Sunday mat madness!

It's funny, I asked Daisy after the seminar what I should I focus on working with London until the next time we saw her (which probably won't be for a while, this is only the second seminar she's had down here since she moved).  She thought I asked about Haku though, it took me a bit to adjust to thinking about Haku as a potential 'agility dog' instead of just a cute floppy puppy.  Still, a good question as well - what would she recommend to train with baby Haku?  She recommended agility training with a puppy ... "as little as possible".  She'd rather work with the dog's natural response to motion cues without much training, so that's a novel thought.  

Talked about teaching rear crosses (I'm a little paranoid about rear crosses - I wonder why?) and she felt that the least about training was probably good, just teach them in natural succession when teaching one jump and it should be 'natural'.  Then also running contacts, which I'll give a try with Haku just for fun.  Seems like she would recommend progressing fairly quickly, training turns early on in the progression with just a slightly angled board, keeping the criteria on the front feet instead of the rear feet, and not using a clicker at any point.  Always good to have some place to start!

Haku spent the day with Bruce - really his first day alone with Bruce.  It was cute, Bruce said that after I left this morning Haku looked for me everywhere in the house.  I mean, London STILL doesn't ever look for me!  Heck, if I hadn't made London move he'd still be staring at the ceiling on arena as I type this!  Ah, but you have to love the London, we really did have so much fun this weekend  Love my Buns - and also loving a puppy that actually cares when I'm gone!  Bruce and Haku worked hard on their homework for class, it sounds like they're prepared for tomorrow night.  And, surprisingly, no accidents in the house!  

I hear they had a great time playing today, and it's funny, we used to tell London that he was being replaced before we got the puppy.  But I think it's Brisbee that is the most jealous that Bruce has a new love in his life!  Tonight I kept hearing someone in another room playing with one of Brisbee's 'forbidden' toys.  So I figured it was London being naughty - but come to find out, there's Brisbee on the bed, just vigorously thrashing his toy, all by himself back there.  This is NOT something I have ever seen Brisbee do in his life!  Off playing by himself, just very odd.


Haku gets some more last minute pics in the kitchen - but, hey, he's still cute and it still counts - every day a Haku pic!


Barking puppy


"Stop taking pictures of me!"


Yeah, his ears just look ridiculous (but cute, of course!)