Monday and Tuesday classes.

Monday night is obedience night at my house. This week we were working outside the ring. Typically I really hate it when we do this! It means working in tight quarters and that other dogs coming in for agility class have to come through us. So even though I hate it - it is good for me to work on that kind of environmental stress. Steeler did GREAT. He grumbled once at Dove (the golden puppy) as she walked in, but he was able to get passed Dove and into the ring without even looking at her. The only other time he seemed to see her was when a group of 4 was working on Stays and the other group of four were heeling behind them on the other side of a ring gate. The first time it was our turn to heel, Steeler sat very nicely beside me and then when I said Heel, he took off towards Dove who was on the end of the stay line. Since he still had a leash on he didn't go very far, and it didn't seem like he did it with and real intent other than maybe investigate - so maybe we are making some progress. And he did come right back and start working with me, which he might not have done a couple of years ago. And the second time around he never showed any interest in Dove. Oh yeah - and when we were doing stays and people were heeling behind us - Steeler glanced in their direction - but never broke his stay! Even when it was Doves turn to heel!

Agility class last night was great! We worked on some really hard stuff for Steeler and I. I can set him up in front of a jump and be in lots of different places and he will take the jump in front of him - but this course required that he take 2 jumps in front of him before turning in my direction! And it was a twisty turning course that we were working on. Of course we only worked the first 8 obstacles - but that was enough. And I am much more confident that steeler is going to stick with me now and was able to have Laurie and Solo in the ring with us and hanging out behind where Steeler was setting up! And Steeler never once showed any signs that he even noticed that there was a dog behind him. Next week I am going to see if can finagle some video. Apparently I am dropping my arm at times and Steeler actually crashed a 16 in jump because of some weird cues I was sending.