Puppy Class

Yesterday we drove down to Atascadero--about a 2.5-hour drive if you don't stop--for a puppy class with my favorite puppy instructor, Rachel Sanders. She's been Tika's instructor all along, but she recently moved down there so regular classes aren't a possibility any more.

I convoyed with two agility friends and we met up with another one of their friends down there; they all have Australian Shepherd puppies from the same litter, born a day after the Booster. We had Boost (blue merle), Ruby (short for Rubicon; red tricolor), Jasmine (black tricolor), and Dylan (red merle), so we had quite a color collection.

Learned a lot, practiced a lot. Might get around to talking about it eventually; maybe not.

I also did a couple of half-hour sessions just with me and Tika. She didn't knock a single bar the whole session, even though we tried to set up situations where she might. On the other hand, it was a challenging surface (sandy) and it was hot so she wasn't always moving as fast as usual, AND it wasn't a competition. But, still, that was good.

We worked on my acknowledged overhandling issues. I have so far to go still in becoming an excellent handler! Argh argh argh.