Agility lessons...

I had 3 great agility lessons today,one each with all of the 'Dream Team' Shady,Mookie and Floozie.
Floozie goes first which is lucky because she'd only sit screaming her head off in the van at the outrage of not going first if she didn't!

We didn't do any sequences today with her.We worked on rear crosses,first jump focus and contacts.Her rear crosses are pretty good considering I've never trained them or done any foundation work specificly on them.
She could definitly start understand turning just on my vocals more,so that is going to be something to work on.
First jump focus needs more development,but she'll get that no problem.I love working with her as because I shaped so many of her behaviours she just figures stuff out SO quickly.
Contacts are good but i really do need to remember to do more proofing again,I've gotten kinda predictable when she's on the contact,and when I threw her toy past her,she came off for it the first time,oops :)

Mookie's lesson is normally the calm one,she's a nice break between Floozie and Shady mentalness,but today Mookie was crazy!So I had 3 very full on classes.
We did a pretty tought course,I had thought I'd struggle with getting her into the wrong end of the tunnel without getting in and front crossing it,but actually that was the easier part of the course,and the bit I thought looked straight forward caught me out!
We also worked on rear crosses,we are messy on them and need to work on them.

Shady was last,and was dying to get started after listening to me working the girls for 2 hours.
We did first jump focus which he really got,some grid work,which bless his little heart he is really figuring it out,and getting more confident with.
We did one exercise with 5 jumps which were really spread out,spaced around 12 feet apart.I thought for certain Shady would smash them down,even though they were only set on medium height.
The first go he came around the second jump,but completed the rest.Second try he was visibly thinking,measured a couple of the jumps.3rd go he looked amazing,confident and back legs stretched out behind him,none of the tucked up nonsense he does when stressed or unsure.
I recently read an article about agility dogs with 'ETS,Early Take off Syndrome',sadly it describes Shady to perfection,and even mentions how Tervs are amongst the most affected breeds.
I am actually feeling incredibly optimistic since reading the article.It given me greater understanding about what he's doing,and confirmed my thinking that dogs with it are normally much better when handled from behind,so with my great trainers I am going to perfect the art of handling him that way.
I see such a massive improvement in him from just 5 lessons with the trainer,its so encouraging.I can't wait till he's ready to go to agility shows again,I've missed working with him!
Also the whole lesson whilst I am not working him,I am playing the 'Look at That' game,so I intend never to bring him back to the show rings over threshold as I sadly used to unintentionally do.

I am really looking forward to the weekend,Fri Becky and I are going down to Dave's for a course walking workshop.Then Saturday is the Kamal Fernandez training day.
Also in Feb I have a weave workshop with Lucy Osborne which I can't wait to do.Floozie has barely been started weaving and I was planning to teach it Lucy's way,though I am still to watch her new DVD,I trust Dan and Dave my trainers when they say its a really good method.
She teaches it the 2 x 2 method for the entries,and uses channels for the rest.Exciting times ahead,I love training these 3 dogs they really love to work :)