More Startline Ramblings

This has been a pretty good week for Peyton in agility class. Tonight he was a little flaky, but not terrible, and in his defense it was warm and he was pretty hot before we even started running.

His start line stay is still bugging me...and it's not the fact that he's breaking, it's the fact that I know it's causing him some anxiety and I'm still not sure why. The only thing I can think of is that he really just wants to run and he's soft enough that it makes him worry when I stop him for breaking...so much so that he doesn't even want to go back to the line. Once we get going, he's fine...I'm not seeing any signs that he's anxious running - it's just the start.

Sooo, I'm still debating what the best approach is to fix this little issue. I definitely have to change his picture of the start line, but I'm not exactly sure how since everything I've tried up to this point has been less than successful.

In the fall I experimented with a running start, but quickly found that I got too far behind and that was not the best option for maintaining a connection on-course. I'm thinking if I train a slingshot type of start that might help a little for now, but long-term I really think that we're going to be better off with a solid stay and longer lead outs. So I'm not sure if I should just go with it for now and see if I can get him back to a happy place :) or if that will cause some confusion down the road. Thoughts?

I do want to thank all my friends who keep reminding me how far he's come. It really wasn't that long ago that we could barely do anything off-leash...and now we're running full courses. They might not always be *pretty* runs, but for the most part I think we're starting to look like a team. So while I'm sure it sounds like I'm obsessing over the start line (which yes, I suppose I am), really I just want to make sure he's a happy spotty.

Here's this week's video - Peyton has added his comments...I'm sure you'll enjoy. :)