Gem's progress...

I only seriously started training Gem for agility within the last several months. When she was younger, I pushed too hard, too soon and she shut down on me. Lesson learned. I have had to wait until Gem is ready to be trained. She is soft and a real thinker. She needs to analyze everything for the most part until she commits to doing it. This is very different from the boys.

I have had to step back and examine how Gem learns and what the best ways are to plan training sessions with her. After months of training alone and with the occasional private lesson from Donna Rohaus, we finally got into a class taught by Donna. This has done her a world of good, for the most part. Also, being able to take her to other spaces to train has helped her confidence level. I don't expect her to be perfect, because Lord knows I certainly am not. I do expect her to try. This has been a problem in the past. She had a difficult time offering behaviors, but she seems to be more willing to do just that as she matures and becomes more confident.

Gem is learning a running A-frame, which is a blast to teach her. She is only getting better and better each time I train it. She is also learning 4 on for her teeter behavior and 2 on 2 off for her dogwalk. That may change as time goes on, but for now, these are my goals. She is also doing 12 weave poles as 6 and 6, separated by about 6 feet via the 2x2 method and Mary Ellen Barry's great Clean Run article. She is still rather Velcro when it comes to jumping, but her foundation is becoming more and more solid as we work it. Gem is sequencing only 3-4 obstacles, but it is a start.

My goal is to have her ready to trial in February or March 2014. I am planning on putting her in level 1 CPE jumpers in 2 trials at the end of this year to get her used to ring conditions. My goals are simple... to make sure she has fun, is stress free and that she stays in the ring with me. We have a long way to go for sure, but now I am positive we will get there...

Baby Gem at 8 weeks, April 2011