- Location
- East Sussex
This weekend I'm in Somerset with Rajah, travelling home tomorrow, at the Ilminster show. Yesterday we failed to qualify at L3 but today we scored 201 and came 4th. (In my mind I'm calling it joint-2nd 
as 3 of us scored the same mark so places were decided by time and we were the slowest of the three.)
I'm delighted with today but frustrated with myself for yesterday - it wasn't a disaster, only a few marks short of a qualifying score - but Rajah was lagging and tentative and I realised overnight what the problem was. I had my hand in the wrong place! When heeling he expects my left hand to be on my stomach and for some unknown reason I put it on my hip. He is so sensitive to any change in a cue either spoken or gesture, it was enough to confuse the poor boy. I also gave the wrong spoken cue for 'remain standing when coming to a halt at heel' - I stupidly said 'stay' instead of 'wait' and he sat down, so that was 5 marks lost for exercise incorrect.
I've unintentionally trained Rajah and Tess with different cues so I think I need to write myself a list for each dog and make sure I use the right ones!
Anyway that gives Rajah 2 excellents so far at L3 so we'll need one more which will have to wait till next spring now.
We've had a couple of good walks in the local country park too.
When I get home I'll put on some photos but the connection here is too erratic to do that.
as 3 of us scored the same mark so places were decided by time and we were the slowest of the three.)I'm delighted with today but frustrated with myself for yesterday - it wasn't a disaster, only a few marks short of a qualifying score - but Rajah was lagging and tentative and I realised overnight what the problem was. I had my hand in the wrong place! When heeling he expects my left hand to be on my stomach and for some unknown reason I put it on my hip. He is so sensitive to any change in a cue either spoken or gesture, it was enough to confuse the poor boy. I also gave the wrong spoken cue for 'remain standing when coming to a halt at heel' - I stupidly said 'stay' instead of 'wait' and he sat down, so that was 5 marks lost for exercise incorrect.
I've unintentionally trained Rajah and Tess with different cues so I think I need to write myself a list for each dog and make sure I use the right ones!
Anyway that gives Rajah 2 excellents so far at L3 so we'll need one more which will have to wait till next spring now.
We've had a couple of good walks in the local country park too.
When I get home I'll put on some photos but the connection here is too erratic to do that.
