In March? In Minnesota?? Yes. 80 degrees and thunderstorms came through. Not terribly bad, they were good "introduction" storms for Shasta. ;-) No surprise but she did not seem to react at all. Except, she is not happy at all about pottying in the rain so she may not be a "mudder" in agility.
She has now solidly learned her position of front two paws on the ground and back two paws on the beverage tray. Getting it 90%, comfortable and holding the position for a few seconds until I click. Finally, I taught something that will have "direct" value for later showing. ;-)
I started teaching "right" last night. It demonstrates again that I train "by the seat of my pants". I wish I was a note-taker. All my dogs have had pretty good lefts and rights when all is said and done. But I can't ever remember how I taught a past dog. I can never decide if I should teach both left and right at the same time (seems very complicated for a pup to differentiate) or if I should start with one before the other (which would seem to create a stronger turn in the original direction). Well, Shasta is going to learn "right" first and I will add the left later. Not too much later, but later. Maybe this blog will help me remember for future dogs!
It helps if the handler has a good sense of left and right and which one is which, of course. Thankfully, someone showed me GO left and COME right early in my drafting experience, so that even if I'm already on the left of the dog, I can say "GO left" when it's actually "come" left... Somehow the extra word helps ME.
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