(Another old picture – our first trial of the season is the week the rest of the family will be at the FCI World Championships!) This week’s class went much better than last – it looks like Bryce and I are almost in synch again!

We were working mostly A-frame/tunnel discriminations and serpentines/threadles/270’s in both classes. The ease of getting most discriminations with Brycey never ceases to amaze me – as long as I give him the correct signal (hand up for contacts, hand low for tunnels) I don’t even need a verbal, he just does it! The only time we sometimes have problems is if I send him out and ahead to a tunnel on the far side of an a-frame and can’t keep my momentum as I send – I can’t stop “flatfooted” with him on a course. Ever!

Jayda was also doing well working her easier discriminations. We just had her doing the a-frame today, gradually moving the tunnel closer. She doesn’t totally understand the game yet, but she seems to be catching on.

Both dogs loved doing the threadle/serpentine exercises. The two dogs handle very differently – I have to turn into Jayda to check her stride, especially on the threadles. Bryce I can shoulder pull through the entire exercise – as long as I keep my eye on him and turn my shoulders accordingly we’ll go clean through that kind of sequence. Very few teams I know can get away with that strategy but it works for us :)!