I have to keep remembering though what a baby dog she is, her mistakes-and they are many-are honest misreadings or misunderstandings. It took me a long time to realize dogs have performance nerves as much as we do and can forget what they have learned(ie holding contacts, leaving the table, how to enter weavepoles etc). They are not being bad just excited-these are what I call baby dog mistakes. If they are corrected poorly it makes playing the game, be it agility or obedience less fun. Dogs also need to learn confidence and trust in the handler to do their best. I have trained dogs for years and have learned something new from each dog along the way.
I think Breeze is getting the benefit of my past mistakes and current knowledge. She is willing-if only I were a better handler!!!
Her third leg was the next day-again another fun course.
The following month-last weekend she earned her first 14 MACH points. The course was tricky and many experienced handlers went off course.
