Syracuse Dog Shows
Just got back from the Syracuse Dog Shows -- it was a weekend that I think I learned a lot. There were other group members there that did very good -- a certain Dickens of a border terrier got his CD (Sue, we need the details!).

Marcia was there with her minis and I was really impressed by her dogs -- they are AWESOME and so cute. It was
so much fun seeing people!

As for me and Jessie, we had a big break-through, I believe. After our first weekend out competing in Utility where we got our 1st leg, our performances have been going down hill. Thursday and Friday were horrible. I was cheerleading my hardest and Jessie was just not happy in the ring, gave me heck (as the judge pointed out -- barking
at me as if really angry) a few times. I also had a cold, so was getting very tired.

I skipped Saturday and instead met a few friends that were also having a bad weekend at the shows. We set up our own show and trained like crazy. I went in and tried something my instructor kinda mentioned that we needed to work on. I simply corrected any non-movement by Jessie. If I asked him to jump up and touch my hand and he sat and stared at me, I took him gently by the scruff and forced him to do it. When he didn't move from the sit when I asked for a jump, I walked up to him and gentle took his collar and popped him up and forward towards the jump. It went on like that. And just like at a show, no food. His rewards were spins, hand touches, and jumping up on me (yet he wasn't allowed to refuse them like he'd been doing on Thurs and Fri -- I'd cuff him up into them if he refused).

Then I went back on Sunday. He had a great run. It wasn't perfect, and he went and got the wrong glove, but every other exercise was passing. What really thrilled me, though, was that every time I asked him to touch or jump up on me, he did. I feel like I now know what I've been doing wrong in my training (I'm sure something else will happen shortly, but at least I have something concrete to focus on).

Sorry about this long post, but I hope that it will give some of the other people working hard on their UDs some ideas.