After last week's field trip, I nearly swore off CGC class altogether. I'm glad I didn't. Back at the training center last night, Kona couldn't keep still when she wasn't working. When she was working, she was right on cue.
It was a fun night of relay races. We had our dogs sit-stay, ran down to pack a suitcase, rolled the suitcase back to our dogs, circled our dog, ran the suitcase back, unpacked it, ran back to our dogs, and then ran them at a heel to pass it off to the next team. Kona got a modified rule set. I just rolled the suitcase halfway to her, since she wasn't going to hold her stay with a big wheeling thing coming towards her. With that small change, she did great.
For the second race, we had our dogs sit-stay and then we did three jumping jacks. Next, we put them into a down-stay and ran around them. If they stayed put, we passed a tennis ball off to the next team. This one was easier for Kona, since I was right next to her.
The only serious CGC business we worked on was the supervised separation. I put Kona in a down-stay in front of a kibble pile and walked around the corner into the kitchen area. Apparently, she did great for the first two minutes, but then got nervous and ate her food pile.
After our turn, we went back to our seat right next to the kitchen. Then, as all the other handlers sat in the kitchen to leave their dogs, Kona walked right in there with them, tail wiggling nearly every time, to beg for treats. A couple people even got a few pets out of her. She even pawed at one lady's leg who wasn't getting her begging face quickly enough. I was beaming at my courageous dog!
While she was anxious most of the night (she couldn't sit still while we waited), she was able to focus when I asked her to. Even when something made her more uncomfortable (she doesn't like someone taking her leash, and as we stayed in the waiting room before class, a boy talking loudly outside left her shaking in the corner), she bounced back.
When we made it home, she walked the five feet to her bed and collapsed.
1 comment:
I'm so glad you had a better class this week. Kona did great! Wagging her tail for strangers? Wow! They make you do some tough things in CGC. No wonder she was so mentally exhausted.
Great job you two!
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