We survived our week in one piece. Monday night: competition obedience class, Tuesday night: Greenville Kennel Club meeting; Thursday night: Rally class. Mike has been happy to reduce the number of evening distractions so drastically. He has enjoyed peace and quiet for a change, and done some reading and some weeding.
Rally class was great! But somewhere along the way Rowdy and I have turned into obedience competitors and we now heel like the obedience people do instead of like the Rally people do. I am in shock. Rally is much more informal, and explicit, overt, clear communication with your dog is encouraged. Obedience is all about subtlety. So Rowdy knows that when we're heeling, information about what's next (turn left or right, we're going to stop, turn around in a 180, I'm going to pivot around so stay very close and move your butt, etc) is communicated through my eye movements and my right foot. In Rally, you just....ahem....SPEAK TO YOUR DOG (now doesn't that make sense?) , although you are allowed to do almost anything - so using obedience methods is completely allowed just not required. So our Rally heeling has fallen apart. I will spend some time figuring out how to make this conversion and we'll be back to doing a beautiful heel on Rally courses (loads of very tight turns and very short distances between - precision footwork is important for a high score).
Off to work. Pizza night and we watch Big Love, which Mike taped for me last Monday night.
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Tracking the activities of two Australian Shepherds and their owners through too many hobbies - gardening, dog training, knitting, cooking....oh it's insane.
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