WHOOOOOO!!!

Today Diamond and I did circling at LIBERTY. They were small, about 6-10 feet between Diamond and I, and at a slow walk, but WE DID THEM. I did turn around in the middle of the circle so I could really keep the connection between Diamond and myself-I think if he'd gone around my back he either would have come to me or walked off to nibble grass :P At first I only had him do one lap then brought him in, but at the end of our session he circled three laps and came right to me when I asked! I am just so excited. I didn't really expect it-we were just playing a little stick-to-me at a walk/trot and I randomly pointed to a pole on the ground and trotted right over it, turned around and came back. So I thought "if he'll do that, maybe he'll circle" so I just held my arm out and wiggled my stick like I do when asking for a circle on line, and 'round he went! He got LOTS of treats, and I am so proud of him! I could tell he was really focusing on me which is hard for him-normally he gets so easily distracted by little bits of hay that have fallen, or nibblets of grass. Its funny, I find that he normally shows me the greatest things he has learned/is ready for when I'm not really expecting it/asking it. A lot of times I really think he looks at what I ask him to do and says, "You want me to do THAT boring old thing again? I'll do it for a treat of course, but look at THIS, isn't THIS so much better than the thing we have done a million times before?"