Agility Moments

Gimme is so good for me.  I know I wouldn't get a tenth of the exercise if it weren't for this kid.  Today after work, I was ready to go home, prop my feet up and take a nap before heading out to class.  Instead, knowing how much Gimme needed it, I went to the training areas and walked 3.5 miles with her.  Happily, my foot was still okay after that much walking, so its improving.  However after the little bit of running in agility class - its really hurting, but not as much as it has before.  So again, improving.

Gimme is in season - today is day 6.  I've always noticed while in season, she still wants to train and is eager for any opportunity to work me for good stuff.  The downside is that her focus and impulse control take a nose dive at this time.  Around day 15 she has a day, or two at most, where she's not able to focus much on training, despite how much she wants to do it.  It was the 15th day where she failed an ORT.  We work on very easy stuff then.

Blynn again commented on how much Gimme is maturing.  That's the fifth time in a row that she's made similar comments at the beginning of class.  She also said she thinks we are "almost too closely bonded."  She was referring to how we want to be close and yet how Gimme needs me to work at a distance.  Its interesting she said that, because its similar to something Ursula has said.   She said we are so closely bonded that it seems like we are always trying to occupy the same space.  Hence her encouragement for us to separate a little more. 

Tonight Gimme was eager, but unfocused and lacking impulse control, just as I expected.  I focused on basics, setting her up for success to get opportunities to reward her.  I also made sure she knew there was plenty of PB available to win.  Sometimes she got cheese, sometimes PB. Toward the end of our first set, she was doing nicely, though not as good as I know she is capable of. 

She started off unfocused again in the second set, but came around much quicker.  Toward the end of that we pulled off a sequence that was freakin' amazing.  It was not an easy sequence, but the way we got it was so smoothe.  For parts of it, Gimme had to come in really close and for other parts she was working independently at a distance.

Now I know exactly what agility is going to be like with this girl.  It is going to be fast.  It is going to be hot, and it is going to be really fun.