Morgan's Training

Morgan and I trained in agility today. We haven't done anything since I last wrote --with Thanksgiving and me trying to do the chapter edits on the book getting in the way. Anyway I was a little discombobulated because I didn't have the control for my e-collar and I was sure we would spend our time chasing after the Divine Ms. M. However, I put the e-collar on her anyway and off we went. She ran off twice but came right back when I called her. Yippee!

The first thing we did was the weave poles. She is getting better at it--even ran through a couple of poles that were in line with one another. The next thing we did was a jump sequence that Tom set up and ran it the same way we did the previous set up however it was facing a different direction but Morgan did it brilliantly. Except for the first time when she took the tunnel without going over the jump. I said aahhh and she tried to get away from me by going back through the tunnel. She saw me on the other side and turned around in the tunnel to go the other way and there I was again. It was so funny. She couldn't get away and finally gave up and played my way.

We then decided that we should try a pinwheel. As I remember with other people's dogs, she could do it one way but the opposite direction was a problem. It was at this point that Morgan discovered that Tom was the keeper of the treats. She couldn't get one if she didn't do the sequence right. She gave him perfect fronts, she looked into his eyes longingly, anything to get him to just give her a cookie. Tom stood firm, though. She, again, decided it was better to do it our way.

Morgan discovered something else today on the teeter that I'm not sure she was aware of before. She did an excellent job on the raised teeter that was actually tipping a bit more this time. I tried to call her and she came when I was half way down the teeter but we had to work through me moving further and further away. When I got to the second table and called her, she ran to me and I cheered and patted her on the back and she started jumping up. She made Mommy happy! I don't think she ever cared that she made me happy before but today, she wanted to make me happy again. This is a major breakthrough. If she can actually work up some enthusiasm for making me happy, that is truly half the battle. I've got to get some better treats so I can jackpot her when she tries to make me happy.