Devon and Erie, 3 year old BC from USA

Sorry, I got super sick this weekend. The training looked good! He definitelly needs some stumulation before being asked to sit&wait. In a long run we will have to find ways to activate him without doing crazy balls first, because obviously you won’t have the space to do it, so let’s experiment a little – in the next training start the actual sequences wihout the stay and do them separatelly. Do some running first before you first ask for a stay. Try to “pump him up” as much as possible without throwing the ball, but use it to tease him. You can have him chase, tug, do active tricks (you can reward that by a direct throw towards him to catch)… I saw you can also ask him to bark, so include that too – ask him to bark and let him chase as a reward a couple of times. At one point (when you notice his enegrgy is good) ask for a sit, do that one or two obstacles in front of him and reward with crazy balls. Than you can do some more sequencing without the stay, before doing the sit routine again.
You2 had perfect understanding this time! 🙂

“ typically when using a stay on a full course he’s slow to start and builds speed as the course continues. I’m hoping to be able to change that and have him racing the whole time.”
Yes I know. We have to figure out those starts, but I think we are on the right track!

Yeah that looks good! I would include chasing around you more often – I saw you did it in the beginning but later not so much. I would also try setting him up really far from the first obstacle. You wait for him somwhere in the middle or 1/3 of a distance away from him, so when you release him you can still run full speed towards the obstacle yourself. I think that would give him extra push. Also have you ever in any situation done some real reastrains with him… is that something that works for him in any situation?
As for a pattern – my gut feeling is more for random vs a pattern… he just seems like the type of dog to me… like it would actually calm him down not hype him up. But you can try and see what happens if you make it more predictable. One can never be totally sure about those things. 🙂

Awesome! I think those were his best starts so far! Chasing you (and the ball) around really works great, especially since you can change direction randomly and he must stay alert all the time. Do you have to enter the ring with the dog on the leash at your trials? If so, we will try to implement that in your routine as well. I keep doing all the same things (either holding the very end of the leash or dropping it on the ground at some points to have more freedome in movement) and unclip the leash as smoothly and quickly as possible as soon as he sits so it is barely any different to how it looks now.

Great opportunity for training and awesome Erie! Those were some great starts, almost better than at home even… It is really funny how easy it is for him to stop and wait out of full speed. I admired that already before when you stopped him in the middle of full speed running. But if that is what he finds easy, who are we to object. 🙂 Experiment with what is best time to unleash him. But yeah, your plan sounds good and minimally invasive. For just in case practise chasing with him on leash as well. Given that he stays close I think it should be possible for him without struggles, it is more about your coordination.
And it is great how much you spent playing and how intense that was (until you got lazy if I use your words. :D) I didn’t think it was so bad even than, but it really makes a difference how much of ourselves we put in preparation routines and rewarding.