The "Come and See This" Phenomenon

Maybe it's just us or maybe it's the way of training dogs.  But it's always been true when Kris or I approach the other one excited about what our dog has learned and proclaim "you should come see this", we go and see....  absolutely nothing new.  Every time.  

Shasta's weaves continue to progress fabulously in my opinion.  I kept the weaves at the space they were at thinking I would be at it for a while and by the end of one session she was nailing the entry from anywhere but the most extreme angles.  I moved the poles so they were now just barely apart.  Essentially the side of one pole was lining up with the opposite side of the next pole.   So no "channel" at all any more but not completely together.  She went through the more narrow spacing with a straight entry first time, no problem.  I started moving the angles of the entries and she continued to enter and do the four poles great.  I am as far as 10-12 feet from her on most of these entries and she is seeking them, determining where to enter and doing all four.  I was very impressed.

I was so impressed, I felt confident we could overcome the "Kris, come and see this" phenomenon.  Later last night down to the pole barn came Kris and I sent Shasta to a nice, straight, easy entry.  And she ran right by them.  No problem, she just needs a reminder.  We did straight again and... she ran right by them.  One more try and she finally did them.  I started adding angles and she was doing some, missing many others, hitting the entries maybe 30% of the time.  Amazing.

Amazing.  But not at all demoralizing or disappointing.  It's just the way that has always worked for us and she was still doing great.  Back we went to it tonight and she was back to being great.  Again, all but the most extreme entries, from as much distance as I can get in the pole barn.  From a tunnel, from a jump, from my side.

I did move the poles even closer at the end.  They are now basically together but because they are adjustable, there is a bit of leaning to the poles.  It's actually a nice training step to be able to do in training weaves.  Together but not completely together near the top of the poles.   She did those right away too.  We did just a few with easy entries and called it a night.