Dumbbell work

So since we only need one more leg for our CD title, Scorch and I have begun Open work. We had played around with Sue Sternberg's shaping the retrieve techniques, but hadn't taken it very far.

Tuesday night was our last comp class of this session, and Angie brought Bev in to work with us on dumbbells. She asked to see where Scorchie was with it, and he tentatively put his mouth on it and that was about all. I explained that we hadn't taken the dumbbell "on the road" yet but he hadn't gotten farther than occasionally picking it off the ground. His hold was non-existent. I'm glad I didn't push it, because he ended up being a little sensitive at first. But after a few minutes of gentle encouragement (and freeze-dried lamb lung), Scorch had a tentative but definitive hold. There were a few moments where he sat in front of me, gazing up at me, personifying that "want-to". Bev just smiled, shook her head, and kept saying, "This dog is just so cool."

We worked on a full broad jump for the first time, and I think that's Scorch's new favorite. I stood close to the jump, called him over, and tossed a treat straight back. He soon was eagerly jumping straight without a treat visual and coming nicely to front.

He went down on a sit-stay for the first time in a loooooong time. I had a feeling he might, because he'd lain down at heel a couple of times. So we did a 3 minute sit instead of a down, and he held it like a champ, even when one of the Daisy's got up and ran over to a dog retrieving a dumbbell.

I'm debating whether to take the next level class right now, or be able to feed myself. :P Our current plan is to show in Rally in St Pete the first weekend in October, and then Rally and Novice the next weekend in Orlando. Then maybe my mom can watch us get our CD and/or our RN. She hasn't gotten to come to a show since Jack's disaster in Jacksonville.

Fingers crossed! We're doing dumbbell work a few minutes each day and brushing up on coming to heels and fronts. Everything seems to be going well. Picture post coming soon!