Summer Recap: Dally

Last week I updated you on LaMesa's summer, so this time I'll update you on Dally and her Corgi adventures. Then we'll get back to our regularly scheduled program and bring you back up to speed with some exciting news!

Dally's been a very consistent Corg in the agility ring lately, and I couldn't be more proud! We've whittled away at our points and our QQs. I've found that she has been excelling lately without much training--I took her to class, but she mostly laid there while I work LaMesa. Then, when class is over, I run the same sequences I trained LaMesa over with Dally. There's no stress, no repetition of the same training, but just running a course to get the practice in. Sure I'll work on a couple parts if I see she took a jump wide or I know she can do something better, but I don't have to repeat the same thing over. When I do that with her, agility starts to not be so fun for her and she shuts down.

I got caught up one morning watching videos from my YouTube channel, which span from our Excellent days jumping 8-inches, to dropping down to 4-inches, to now, and what an improvement she's made! I can tell she wasn't happy jumping 8-inches. I remember having to take her to the chiropractor after every trial to get her back together. She was running slow and unmotivated. Even when we dropped down to 4-inches there were runs where she crept along the course--you can hear my friends urging her on "Come on, Dally..." And now, to think she's blasting through courses!

At one trial at Queen City in August we even had an instance when she was running so fast, I took off after sending her through a tunnel and she came out blazing to catch up, knocking down a bar. (Yes, she knocked a bar at 4 inches...) I was bummed and surprised to have knocked a bar, but then when I watched the video, I couldn't complain because she was runn-nning! I can't fault her for that! (Unfortunately the video won't load onto YouTube, but if it does, I'll edit this post and add it later.)

For now, Dally's enjoying her "cross-training" as I like to call it--since we don't do much agility training, she goes for long walks and I take her through the park and make her work on her back/core muscles by hopping though the tall grass. Then, of course, we work on our "sprints" by chasing the tennis ball in the back yard or at the park.