I had an awesome session with Bailey today.
We started with some friendly game to make sure she was feeling confident with the carrot stick. Next we did some stick to me and worked on our draw. The stick to me was pretty good but we needed to fine tune the stopping part of it. The draw needed some work as Bailey was a little hesitant before coming to me. I asked her to trot towards me and then gave her rubs and scratches when she was next to me. In about five minutes she was not letting the rope come off the ground and came to me without hesitation.
After we improved our draw we worked on driving game backward. Last session we achieved three steps backwards. I rewarded Bailey with a little rest and some rubs every step back she took. She licked and chewed almost every step. Buy the time we were done she would back up about seven feet with phases one and two and only a little bit of phase three when she was further away.
The last thing we did was a teeny tiny bit of circling game. The send was hesitant, but over all pretty good. Then I lounged her for two circles at the trot and simply stopped moving my feet. At first Bailey stopped behind me, so I turned around and resent her. When she walked behind me I felt her hesitate, for a second then continue to finish the circle. I disengaged her and drew her in.
She lowered her head and had a huge lick and chew. This was the first time she showed me more then the very tip of her tongue. She looked distant for a few minutes then looked at me asking a question, seemingly asking what's next? What came next was........ Go back to her stall and enjoy her well deserved cut up apple time! Needless to say she was delighted with her treat.
My goals for next session are: to refine driving game, friendly game and porcupine game and to explain circling game to Bailey a bit better.
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