Yesterday, we had a great practice.

We didn't even whisper the word T-r-i-g-g-e-r near the Golden child. I guess is worked.

I started doing some pattern work (was bored waiting for everyone to potty their dogs - storm was rolling in so they wanted to get them out one last time) with the jumps. Go, go, go!!! Toss ball, turn and point to first jump. Sure enough, he was hitting every jump and staying in the lanes even with things going on around. I'm hoping this means we won't have many problems with him breaking out of the lane later.

We started with the ramp, since he had such a time last week. He was dynamite! We did one run without a jump and then moved back one jump each time until he was doing the whole thing. Not only was he doing it, but he was running for the ball AND doing a little box turn on his own.

Duncan has maintained his direction switch. So his turn to the right is now a turn to the left. Craziness.

During the other dogs runs, we sat behind a little partition and watched together. Duncan got over his trigger noise quickly with other dogs to bark at and try to chase! He settled easily enough and was not aggressive in his interest.

Our second go around, we worked on the box, putting the ball on the left side (no t-r-i-g-g-e-r). We also put up the cone (which didn't make a lick of difference). The captain was saying "He may not even touch the ball on the box tonight" when he pounced up, grabbed the ball and wagged his tail. It was so funny! We got him up a few more times and then practiced on the ramp (not wanting to push it too far). Duncan's recalls are still beautiful. Turns out, his drive to be with me outweighs his love of treats or balls. Shelties are awesome.

For as badly as last week sucked, this week was pretty awesome. I'll need to remember that in the future when I have down moments. November is looking like the perfect time for a debut, but if it isn't to be - I'm good with that, too.