Since he no longer needs super duper treats as a bribe to pick up and bring the dead ball, for the first time ever Walter's boxwork was rewarded with the tug instead of treats. (He's always tugged for the recalls.) It worked great! C. held him behind two jumps (we only had two jumps per lane today) while I was close to the box, then we ran back together after he got the ball. Like at other recent practices, a couple of times he didn't pick up the ball, but a simple "where's the ball?" and he'd go right back for it. No signs yet of him dropping the ball early in anticipation of the tug because a couple of times he accidentally dropped the ball after clearing the last jump but immediately picked it up and brought it all the way to the tug. Fingers crossed that that holds. He seemed to really enjoy this because he was doing his excited agility-start-line bark while C. was restraining him and he tugged harder than ever, seriously digging in and even vocalizing while tugging.
Head to head and opposing recalls went well with Zara although he was definitely aware of her being in the other lane.
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