I have had one of those weeks, where it suddenly feels as if things are slotting into place. A light bulb week for Ria, perhaps. It feels like she's really changed in the last week.....maturing I guess? I feel like I have more of the dog I've tried to mould - the way she relates to me, training, playing....life?

Ok the match on Tuesday was not good in terms of her reactivity, but beyond that - as I posted last week, she was awesome at agility.

I then took her to obedience on Friday because she has a competition coming up and also Crufts round the corner, and she REALLY needs the stay practise - her stays in themselves are fine, but she has done almost none with other dogs (it's the one thing I can't do on my own!) and I know she worries if a dog near her breaks, or makes a noise.

Considering it's a relatively advanced class, I haven't taken her for months and it was also a venue she'd never been to before, I was suitably proud <3 She was a little reactive, but not too bad - and didn't kick off at any of the dogs in her class :-) even the very large GSD!

She was the only one to do a nice retrieve, and it was almost perfect - waited whilst I threw, went out and picked up cleanly, brought it back with no mouthing, waited with no mouthing til I was told to take it, let me take it without moving and then did a nice finish when told.

She did the most fantastic send away, and she was the only one that did that without needing multiple commands or help.

I've been having problems with her recall cos she'd throw herself at my legs and then go into the most awful crooked sit, practically 90 degrees out. She now no longer jumps up when she comes back, which in turn is improving her sit and she's only very slightly crooked now.

Someone actually came up to me afterwards and asked why/how my dogs are always so obedient :-X

I mean she's not perfect by any means - her heelwork needs a lot of work - her about turns are crap more often than not, and she is prone to forward working (and then turning her head in thus her bum out), but that's because I have been able to do almost no work to the correct chair...so I really need to fix that.

We did one down stay which was fine, but I did throw in some extra commands to make sure it was fine (esp as another dog broke)

Went to a show on Saturday, and she was fantastic...for the first time in weeks she didn't move a muscle as the judge went over her, though she's moved better - typical, she decided she had an itch but didn't quite want to stop and scratch it! So we ended up with a few paces, try and scratch, few more paces :-P She still won't stand nicely for any length of time at the beginning/end of a class, but even there she was improved. Actually, I've never quite seen her as she was in the ring - she was sooo excited, so happy and enjoying herself SO much :-) Not that she doesn't always enjoy herself, but she was particularly happy. Plus, we got into and out of the ring without any drama, and the whole (large) class she only barked once - and that was when a Malamute in the next ring ran up behind her. She had a 5th which is actually her worst result to date, but c'est la vie - she beat dogs and wasn't unplaced! Not sure if it's true or not, but for the first time since I've had her I got the feeling that the judge was totally disinterested in these "little not proper gundogs". Meh, results aren't everything. I was delighted with her :-)

Elton had another typical Elton open show getting a 3rd out of 3, but then - under a different judge - followed it up with a 5th in a massive (20+ dogs) stakes class and some lovely comments from the judge.

Yesterday I took Elton & Ria and I think I had the best walk I've ever had - albeit literally 5 doors from home it had to spoil what had been an absolutely perfect walk when we met another dog on the pavement without room to divert and I had Elton on my lap so he decided to bark which didn't help matters :-P

I took them to the park, to get there we did some pavement walking but there is a grass area where I let them both off lead. We encountered two other dogs there, and Ria saw them but was really good.

When we got to the park I walked in and right near the entrance was a massive dog...I went "oh sh*t.....oh wait, I know that dog"! It was the Leonberger belonging to one of the trainers at the obedience club, and on lead - so that was really good for Ria. We chatted for a bit and she ran around and then got brave and came up to say hello (my two were both off lead) and it was a really positive experience for her, at her pace.

We had a lovely walk round the park, including one point where there was a man with a big black lab (big black dogs are one of Ria's worst), as we got closer he apparently had a chuck it and the dog ran off after a ball, so I legged it past as fast as I could :-P The dog had got most of the way back when we passed, and she didn't react <3 we then saw other dogs and she didn't run up to them or over react, so it was all really positive.

Also, not quite the play I am aiming for yet, but at both the classes I've been able to "turn on" play to some extent and reward in different ways than just food....and it's getting there. I also love the increased stamina and intensity she has compared to the boys.

I feel more positive about everything, and hopefully the future is bright :-)