I've started an actual training schedule for Baxter, with a bunch of different exercises we can do to keep things interesting. We will competing for the first time in November and I want to feel more prepared. So I'm going to post about our training sessions here so I can chart Baxter's progress. Last night's drills:

• Weaves - 6 closed poles, with guides (the last guide was missing because I miscounted although the missing guide did not seem to affect Baxter.) This was the first time I have tried training Baxter with the weaves closed using weaves. I tried once without the weaves and it was just awful. He responded really well to the guides, although he was very very VERY excited about the treats. He was so excited at times, I had to make him sit and wait for that crazy look in his eyes to subside. All and all he was very successful. He is definitely stronger when I am on his right side, although he did very well after practicing on the left for awhile. He had some problems at first in trying to figure out where to enter the weaves, although the guides were great because they wouldn't allow him to pass the entrance up. I ran along side of him, and by the end, I was sending him through without any problems. He never disliked the weaves before, but last night he just seemed to be in love with them. Even offering to do the weaves before I'd ask. Very good session.
• Collection and Turn Jump - After seeing this jump sequence on AgilityNerd.com, I was really interested in trying it out. Depending on my speed, Baxter would over run the last jump. However, the first time we did it, it was perfect. Afterward, it was hit or miss. I'm not sure if he just got overconfident, but he stopped paying attention to my positioning. We got it back on the ball, but with me directing him more verbally than I would probably like. However, I tried this sequence with Baxter on the right at the beginning, and rear crossing him when he took the second jump. He would always hit the third jump correctly when we worked it that way. This is definitely one we'll be working on again.
• Go On and Right Turns - I made this sequence up from two jumps to send him over followed by a final jump to his right. When I started the exercise with Baxter on left, it worked great. When I switched sides, it was not as clear to him to take the final jump. After a few tries, we got it down. I'm hoping to reiterate his rights and his lefts through these types of exercises. We'll be practicing either rights or lefts during every session.
• 270 - We only did a couple of 270's jumps last night. He has this type of jump pretty well. I will have to make up a box drill using 270's to make it a little more challenging for him and for my handling skills.
• Threadle - Treadles are something that Baxter can do very well because he can work the sequence while staying very close to the jumps. Working this sequence with Baxter on my left is very strong. Working it with him on my right is less good-- we kept missing the middle jump. I tried two methods for this, the first being the push and pull (which works great when he's on my left.) The second I tried was the backing up method. Again, worked great for working when he's on my left. Neither method seemed too great for working with him on the right. For each try, I would be very vocal and clap and call his name to make sure he would remember not to Serpentine the jumps. This was the last of our training that night. It was a little difficult after the extensive weave work and the jumps, so when we do this drill again, I will put it in ahead of the others.

Overall it was a great training session. I think it lasted a bit too long though, just under one hour. Atfterward, I did a training session with Ziggy. We worked on sits, downs, rights/lefts, roll over, shake, and we started to learn the "bang" command. We also worked on "wait." He is very good at waiting, but still having a difficult time getting that long body of his to properly roll over. =)