Teamwork

We're just a few days away from our show now. Training has been done as if we were in the actual ring, including warm-ups and then "showing". It seems Moto is extremely literal (just like me) and is more confident when he knows EXACTLY what is going to happen in the ring. The only occasional variance that I do is weird heelwork "doodling" (I like my dogs to pay attention and think about maintaining position).
One thing of note with Moto - since we're doing Graduate Novice, he does a Drop On Recall. In all my other dogs and in all the classes I've taken, this exercise has been trained with either a straight recall or adding in the occasional drop. The purpose of this is to keep the dog coming in rapidly and not anticipating the down. But in Moto's case, alternating it makes him confused. So, every single recall has had a drop command. This makes him happy, which makes ME happy. Every dog is so different!
Overall I'm pretty happy with Moto's heeling. We're lucky to have a fun match the day before we go in the ring. We'll see if it translates over to the show site. If it does, I will be extremely happy.
Pinch is a very enthusiastic worker. He is an absolute blast to train and show. But his immaturity still shows so it will be at least another year before I bring him out. I'd so rather have this problem - too much happiness - than a dog who does not like to work. So, this weekend it's Rally and then we'll do Beginner Novice and after that the Wild Card classes until I feel he can handle being in the ring without any silliness. It's hard not to giggle when he's clicking his jaws and grinning while performing his exercises.
Most exciting of note is both dogs appear to realize we are a team. Moto is actually putting forth effort and Pinch is working on his accuracy. It's a wonderful thing.
I hope Shiloh will make his presence known from the Bridge. He so loved to show. I can only wait and hope for a visit, which cannot come soon enough.