Play Breakthrough!

Yesterday, Oliver and I went out to work on weaves and jumping.  It went extremely well!  I set up the weaves and jump outside and then went back in for Oliver.  On the way out the door, Oliver turned back and grabbed a toy.  He loves to carry his toys when I take him outside but it is the first time he has done so when we go out to train.  Once we got outside, I let him walk around and sniff.  Then we got onto training.  He wanted to PLAY!  I was able to use the toy as a reward for much of our work.  He was so excited and playful.  This is a first for Oliver.  I was so happy with my boy!  He had a lot of fun.  Close to the end of the session, he stopped playing but I believe it is because he was getting tired.  Either way, it was a definite success.

For his weaves, we have been using the 2X2 method.  We were having issues when we added two 2X2's for four weaves.  Sometimes he would nail them, sometimes not.  It seemed like it didn't matter how close or far apart they were.  He was having trouble hitting the second set of 2X2's.  Instead of setting the weaves up in a straight line as suggested, I set them up so that the second one was off to the left.  This gave him more room to set up for the next entry.  It worked really well.  Today I am going to try to turn the second set slightly instead of setting it off to the left.  I would like to see which set up helps him more.  I am excited to try it today!  I'm enjoying modifying and observing what helps Oliver best in our training.

The jumping also went really well.  He LOVES the jump now.  He used to not like jumping at all.  I'm still playing around with his jump height but appears that he prefers 8 inches.  At 12, he seems to struggle a bit.  Due to not knowing exactly how old he is and seeing him struggle a bit with 12, I think I will use 8 for him in competition.

He is showing so much enthusiasm.  He grins so big during and after training.  It's such a blessing to work with him.  He is really a pleasure.  I've changed my training methods so much due to what I've learned with him.  I am looking forward to continuing our journey together.  Hopefully there will be many more play moments in our training from here on out too!