Chase is far from ready to earn his CD, but we have a Thursday night Novice drill class and it’s good practice for Rally Novice. Biggest ongoing problem: when we are doing group circle heeling, Chase thinks he’s in the conformation ring and wants to gait out away from me — he flat-out forgets that he’s heeling. That’s just going to take practice. However, it’s not a problem when he and I are in the ring alone which is how it works in obedience and rally competition.
Surprises for the night: The recall sucks — Chase starts coming straight toward me and then does a happy shake and romps off to play with other people and dogs — again, in competition we wouldn’t have all these potential new friends in the ring. The good: rock solid sit-stay and down-stay, instant drop, good overall attention, and a good right finish. I just began teaching him the swing finish, but he’s trying — we’ll have it down by the Labor Day weekend trials. Chase has pretty good attention for a teenaged boy and I know he’s trying to be good — except when he forgets where he is and what he’s doing. Yo, Chase — I’m over here!
