Lance in 2010

A look back at Lance's accomplishments in 2010.

Rally
Did 1 last AKC rally trial to get his Rally Excellent title.  Was introduced to APDT rally and entered both of the 2 trials offered this year.  Lance got his RL1, RL2, and now needs one more leg in level 3.

Obedience
Finally got his last 2 legs in Open to get his CDX title in May!  I expect an ongoing battle with remaining down on the stays when we get back to open, but in the meantime we have been working hard on utility exercises.  Lance did his first trial with Grad Open in December and will continue to work towards utility next year.

This year I switched the way I heeled with Lance by keeping my arms swinging instead of up at my waist.  I also am continuing to work on forging issues and changed the way I reward Lance by having him go behind me to get a treat on my right.  I have also been playing around with what to do when Lance forges on me and while I had a little bit of success by slowing down I have just started walking backwards as soon as he forges and am liking the results better.

Early in the year I also changed Lance's go out from working with a target to having him do a paw touch to the wall/gate.  We babystepped distance and now Lance can do a full length go out but still needs practice on doing so with the jumps out.  Lance also went from only doing 3 metal articles to now doing the full utility scent exercise.

Agility
Did his 3rd ever agility trial in January.  Did mainly CPE and finished up all level 1 titles, level 2, and is halfway through level 3.  Did a few one day NADAC trials to get his novice jumpers, tunnelers, and regular titles.  In March I changed from a 2o2o on the dogwalk to 4 on the floor.  He did great with it but has recently started taking extra strides before downing in trials.  I have been proofing it a ton in class and have pulled him from doing the aframe and dogwalk in trials unless I can put him back over it (as in some CPE games, NADAC, and ASCA trials).  Lance's stutter stepping has gotten worse and I have started doing more jump chutes with him.  Of course I haven't found time to do enough of them to make any difference.

Tricks
Lance learned to discriminate between a nose and a paw touch back in January although I haven't done it since and he likely can't do it any more!  We also did a little bit of work with praying, limping on his other front foot, crossing his front legs the other direction, sticky target, moving backwards in a beg, jump through my arms, marching in heel position (need work!), and the past two months our focus has been on holding his paw on his nose.


I've also done quite a bit of work this year on sidestepping exercises.  Lance learned how to pivot and sidestep on my right, to sidestep towards and away from me while perpendicular across my body, and to face out away from me and sidestep.  Facing out is really hard for him but he is doing pretty well with it.




Other news:
Lance started seeing a chiropractor in June when he started to run by the contact obstacles at trials.  He now seems much much happier and continues to see the chiropractor every 1.5-2months because of his structure.  He is also getting cuddlier as he gets older (a whopping 3.5yrs!) and it's not uncommon anymore to find him sitting next to me on the couch or even on my lap!  Petting him doesn't even cause him to jump off anymore :)

Goals for 2011:
Enter utility by our club's October trial.  In the meantime keep entering Grad Open when it is offered.
Fix his 4 on the floor at agility trials!
Do jump grids!