My anchor event for this entire road-trip was a Rally-Free workshop in Corvallis. I won't go into a ton of detail on this section (I took pages of notes) but if you are looking for something fun and new to do with your dog, please keep your eye on this newest sport. I believe its primary intention is to increase precision in freestyle, but the benefits are way beyond that. I am really hoping it takes off as a sport.
The class was held in a building on the Benton County Fairgrounds. I could have camped there. The campsite was underwhelming, but there was a ton of walking options from the fairground that were really neat. Sunday morning we did a quick walk up Bald Hill after arriving early to the facilities.
The instructor was Julie Flanery and she is outstanding. I think pretty much anyone who has ever worked with her has benefited greatly from her encouragement and knowledge.
She helped fill in a lot of holes for me in how to use shaping/its your choice in the obedience environment. If you are into dog training you know what I mean, if you are not, suffice to say I strongly prefer this as a training technique whenever I can use it. Nim also seems to learn best this way.
I have not stopped thinking about all I learned at this event
We are getting ready to try our first Novice trial ever in Rally-obedience so any time I had a "free choice" sign, I performed a novice Rally-obedience station.
The last run of the day was a full Rally-free course. Before I ever got on in the ring I could see how glassy his eyes were but somehow we made it through, even the part in which he has to do figure-8s between my legs (pure chaos).
You will probably hear more about this new sport occasionally on this blog as I plan to keep experimenting with the training.
Sunday night after class ended at 5pm we loaded up and headed back out to the coast (Newport area) to spend the night in a yurt on Beverly Beach...
I love all the pictures of Nim looking out the top of his crate. So cute!
ReplyDeleteCindy
Thanks! That was our new discovery with this usage of the crate. He had pretty much only been in it once prior to this workshop.
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