Gettin' Addicted Again

The weather has been beautiful, freaky really, but I'm loving the 70 degree weather in November. Took a glorious ride up to Omaha, NE with Dee to get a private obedience lesson with Kathy. We packed up Moto and Caleb and headed off. We got hungry on the way and began searching for a place to eat. Surely in Hamburg, IA there was SOMETHING. Mind you in I-29 there isn't a whole lot to look at. We saw a sign that said FOOD - Stoner Drug and it cracked us up so we went to downtown Hamburg to find it. It was exactly the way I pictured it - an old-time store front and inside were a bunch of friendly elderly ladies managing a soda fountain. Turns out this place has been around since the 1800's. We ordered a hamburger and chocolate malt and I tell you it was the best hamburger I'd eaten in a long time...yum. We bought ourselves a commemorative Stoner Drug T-shirt and continued our journey to Omaha. It was a complete Obedience Heaven day. I enjoyed watching Dee and Kathy work with Caleb and their training questions and issues. Gary and Kathy rotated back and forth between Dee and myself. I'm awfully glad I went since besides the problems I brought to the table, they found some others that I wouldn't have noticed until it was a serious problem. Biggest was the setting up between exercises. He'd been pretty sharp at it for awhile and I started letting him slide and he was getting sloppy and I was letting him. He can now take gentle corrections and get right back to work without pouting or worrying which is great. Moto is getting to the point where he needs to assume responsibility for HIS end of the leash! Kathy said what I've thought all along - he's not a flashy boy, but he is very, very accurate. This doesn't mean I have a robotic dog tho - I work hard at making sure he's having a blast and I want him to ENJOY our time in the ring. He's just not like Blitz who high-steps when he heels or leaps into heel position. But his tail is held high, good attention (we still need to work at it) and Kathy says we look like a team AND...my posture is good! YAY! That is huge.
What thrills me is the technical perfection of this dog: his dumbbell pick up is to die for. His drive over the broad jump is to die for. His utility signals are to die for. I need to really, really work hard on the heeling. And of course fronts and finishes. If we can get the accuracy there - and we're not terribly far off - we could be on to something.
My mantra: don't be greedy. Be patient. All good things will come in time. Moto needs to mature. When he is ready - and it will take longer than I'd like - I believe it will be worth the wait. I'll try to get hubby to video his open work and post it here.
Off to bed with a mind full of training ideas. The fire is returning to my belly and I think Moto's little ember is turning into a spark!