long time no see- Baby D!

Ooops has it been that long???

My dogs are just fab and am loving having my time back to work on them. Detour had his first show (Ajaxs UKA) we did all but one run NFC and that run was a steeplechase that he won! Lovely boy. I also worked his at Thatcham UKA and ran a lot NFC but also did some 'proper' ones and he had another steeplechase win and a jumping win too. Mostly I was proud of other bits though. He managed to queue (albeit slightly out of the line) without stressing too much. He hit 100% of his weave entries which really made me smile- LOVE 2x2s! Startlines were good, I didnt push them too much but did lots of rewarding for them. What I was most delighted about was his jumping. I don't think D is a naturally gifted jumper, I still don't claim he is perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but for a young immature boy he is so fab! He chooses his bounce strides really well and will also select when to add a stride. Compression for a turn is harder for him so needs more work. He had some poles down at the lower UKA heights (none when I moved him to Maxi). But overall he is a pretty good proof  that jump training can help. I know it's unessasary, but just had to share this lovely comment from our training forum... "Detour is definitely a credit to you, I was queueing during one of his steeplechase runs and he is stunning to watch, there were actually gasps in the queue as he bounce jumped the straights where every other dog put in at least 2 strides! I can't believe he's so young still"! Well how chuffed am I with that! By no means am I trying to say D is perfect or going to go out and win, but I am totally over the moon with him. I have no lofty aspirations for my little dog, but I do love to see him confident and happy. I am so proud of how far he has come and what a lovely, willing dog he is to work with.