Echo and I went for a lesson with Patrick last night. I went out and worked her ... set up a couple of small "come bye" outruns ... and she looked great. Stopped her at the top and had her walk up ... I called her off, set up another one a little longer ... she was beautiful ... I never laid her down and she was pacing herself beautifully. Pat said she looks great, and asked me if this was the same dog I bought to his clinic a month earlier. That was a very nice compliment, however, I wasn't gaining any new information and ideas to work on with her. Then I said, "Well, let's see what her away side looks like." I set her up, and sent her, she ran tight, which was not unusual for her, as I always assumed she was just more left-handed. Immediately, Pat saw the problem ... of course. It's my body language on her away side. I am unknowingly continually putting pressure on her and not only anticipating the tightness on that away side -- I am causing it. (Gee, big shocker.) So we had a discussion of the very subtleties of body language, and I set it up again, being very conscious of how I was standing, etc. I opened it up real wide for her, she went ... but then stopped halfway, unsure of what to do exactly. So I gave her a short "ah" (per Pat) and gave her another "away" and she went just fine. Pat explained that she was so used to be putting a ton of pressure on her on that side that she didn't know what to do without it. So we'll have to work on that. And he wants me to open up the come bye side and lengthen it, so I'll go up to Janie's on Sunday and see how it goes. Anyway, a wonderful lesson. I look forward to the next one.
Happy tails,
JD
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