We did some practicing after last week's class. Mostly we practiced sits, downs, circles, and stands. He's come along nicely with these. Friday's class was a little more instructive than his first class. She (Danette) started by instructing how to do a proper heal-sit, and front-sit. She recommended making some props for your dog to use to attain proper position (relative to you). A small raised (2-3") platform just large enough for your dog to sit on (10"x15" for Elroy should do it) to help with a front-sit, and a 1"x 6" covered (carpet or non-skid adhesive) board to align his front feet with for the heal-sit. We practiced these for like 20 minutes. Elroy did OK, but still has a long way to go on proper position. We need to work on tuck-sits in order to get these right. After this Danette went over the most common mistakes she took points off for in her event Judging from last Monday. Biggest mistake was the human mis interpreting the signs, some of which look very similar. Taught leashes (novice) and speed changes (not noticeable) were next most common offenses. Next we all got a chance (half class (4-5)at a time) to pre-walk the course she laid out to familiarize ourselves with it. Next, one at a time, we each got to run the course. No hurry, Danette would stop us if we messed up, explain what we did wrong, then repeat that sign and continue. We all learned something from everybody elses runs. When Elroy and I went, Elroy was very excited and wouldn't settle at the starting position. Danette's dog Enzo was in his covered crate only 5 feet from the starting position (see sheet covered crate in upper right corner), and the cover wasn't fooling Elroy... He knew Enzo was there, and Elroy wanted to play. Anyway, I never did get him to settle, so we just started the course. Once we started, he was very good and focused. We did really good in general. Even Danette was giving us compliments. We had come too close to a sign requiring a halt-sit-180 right turn. Had to back up and try again. We also had some trouble with his CCW spin while I continue walking, but got it done. Left turn, 270 right turn, normal pace, slow pace, halt-down, and finish all went really well!
The hardest part for Elroy is keeping calm the entire class. Most of the class for him is just sitting quietly while Danette is instructing, or other classmates are taking thier turns. He did bark a couple of times, but never more than once at a time, usually instigated by another unsettled doggie😁! We had fun, learned stuff, and will be doing it again in two weeks (no class next week).
