Bella Rally Class: Week 4

We had a really good time in class last night. There were only three of us there so things went really quickly and smoothly. It is such a nice and relaxed atmosphere with only the few of us there. The trainer had laid out a course for us that was considered to be at the "advanced" level. However, in a true competition advanced is performed off leash while we did ours on leash. Bella and I went first. We, I, was knocked a few times for tightening the leash, and once for not paying attention to the sign in front of me, I did a right turn instead of a 270degree left turn. But overall the trainer said we did really well. There was also another jump in this weeks' course. The first time over I went with Bella, thankfully I didn't fall on my face as this one was pretty tall! After that though every other time I sent her over I was able to run past the jump and tell her to "over". She picked that one up pretty quickly.

Anyway we just really need to work on fine tuning our heel to be sure that she can do the whole thing without any leash corrections and we also need to work on her positioning for some of the sits, downs and stays as she tends to kick out to the side a bit farther than she should. Her "reverse gear" is also improving but I dint think there are any "back up" signs in Novice (I'd better check on that one just in case though) Her bad positioning should only result in a few points being knocked off, but it isn't good practice to allow it no matter what.

The other day I printed off my own set of signs, next week is our last class, so later on I can still make my own little courses at home to allow us to hone our skills. Hopefully some time in the next two weeks I will be able to send in our registration for our first actual competition. We have until May 1st to be show ready! We'll have to bust ass and work hard for the next month so we can kick ass at the competition!