CWCCA National Specialty! Stout & Agility - Day 2

On day 2, Stout pulled out his first ever Q in Open Standard!

I have to admit that I have not trained his contacts all that well, so I didn't run him in standard for a very long time. Actually, that's not true  :)  I spent quite a bit of time in the beginning training a running contact... But Stout never made the connection. So now we kind of stop. Mostly. Or at least slow down. Well, I say the words & do the dance, and he may or may not touch the yellow.

But anyway, all weekend he got all his contacts! And this run was clean so earned him his first leg!

This is what I try to teach students: notice me leaning & turning? And notice where he is looking? Subtle, but he knows exactly where we are going.

Now that's the look I like to see on his face! Happy & engaged!

"Wheeeeee!"

See? Heavily managed contacts  :)

Super Snout!

Our last run of the weekend was Excellent JWW. I had considered skipping it & heading out for herding (3 hours away). But we were still ahead of schedule, and I was happy with the fact that he qualified, and I went against my gut instinct...

We had a total Snouters Meltdown.

He humped me on the start-line. He ran around some things. He couldn't weave. He visited the judge. 

It was just too much. I was so mad at myself for ignoring my gut. I'm sorry Stout  :(

But I am learning to see the signs & listen to what he's trying to tell me.

Here are the photos:

This was post-humping  :)