Figured I'd do a Groovy only update...
Disc work: She's doing great. She really loves to play and that's what she wants to do most when we are at home. If we are in motion in the house in any way and make any motion towards the front door she runs and stands there looking at you like "I'm ready to play - you wanna?". It's so cute and just what we wanted in our next dog. Yesterday was agility class day so she wasn't allowed to practice disc like the rest of the dogs. She was pretty upset about that and snuck out the door twice running into the front field to play. The first time she came back voluntarily. The second time however I think she had figured out she wasn't playing that day so there was no volunteering to come back. It was Jack who let her out so it was Jack who got to wrangle her back in. He told me that by the time he got out there (he had to put shoes on first) she was way out in the cow pasture. That used to be a problem - her going after the cows - but for the past month or two she has chosen disc over cows every time. The problem still comes when we aren't out there to play disc... she opts for cows. Anyway... she was WAY out in the cow pasture just running (no cows around this time). Jack said he grabbed two discs and clapped them together and the moment he did she came haulin' butt back to him. Very cool. It'd be nice if she responded to her name that way but alas... we'll get there someday!
As for her disc skills... she's doing much better about not circling as bad. She can now stop in front of you and wait for the next move. This seems like a small thing but seriously... she would get started circling and never stop. She's like a shark or something that way (or worse yet - a Border Collie :) ). She's getting the hang of butterflies and catching the disc at varying angles and spins. I think she'll likely never be as accurate and agile as Tali is. Tali can read the discs so well and adjust her speed and direction very quickly to get the disc. Groovy is more of a freight train and can't adjust her body as quick - however she is still under a year old and seems to be getting better. She's faster than Tali that is for sure, so disc placement is more important in terms of getting them in front of her - whereas Tali you just don't want to get them too far ahead of her. It's definitely a different game with Groovy and Jack is really enjoying learning ways to work the differences. Below is a video of her from this past weekend.
As soon as she conquers or at least gets a lot better with her fear of people in public and she'll be ready to compete in toss n fetch. Fingers crossed that her disc drive is going to start overriding her fear stuff.
Agility:
Groovy is doing very well. Our weak areas are stay, weaves, men near by and loud unexpected noises. Stay - we are working on. Weaves - well we are starting to work on them. She isn't quite yet a year yet after all. Men and noises... well we've been working on that from day 1. She's playing tug a lot more in class now and if she does freak herself out seems to be able to recover better. Her teeter the other night was quite good considering what a scary obstacle that has been for her in the past due to the loud noise it emits. Overall I'm pleased with her progress considering her age. In another month or so I'll (get this) "decide to assume" that her growth plates are closed and start getting more serious about weaves, jumping, etc. She'll be 1 on April 2nd so I think it's a pretty safe assumption. I really want to get her hips pre-limmed (and thus know her growth plate status) but I can't imagine that whole process will do anything to bolster her confidence about strangers so I haven't done it yet.
All in all the kiddo is doing well... of course as always it's a few steps forward and a couple back but we are indeed making progress and having fun along the way.
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