Directional commands

Last night we were doing lots of stuff that needed directional commands be it with our body or actual verbal lefts and rights, I really enjoyed this although I think Mac was about to resign as our instructor cos boy were we crap to start with, not so much with the commands but with remembering the courses and they weren't even that hard :)

Tom is really starting to whizz ahead of me and I was having to work really hard to either get ahead of him to get a turn or combine verbal with body language. The thing I was having trouble with was whether to say his name first then the direction or just the direction. Saying his name seemed to work if I wanted to turn him towards the side I was on as it made him look back slightly but if I did this to turn him away from me he needed an extra stride so he could glance back then turn. Any ideas anyone?

It's so much easier with Dudley as I'm nearly always ahead of him so can push or pull with no problems and Suzi seems to turn in mid air and isn't as far ahead of me as Thomas so a quick 'here,here,here' usually gets me out of trouble.

As Dudley knocked some poles on Sunday I decided to train him for half the class last night as I think the trouble was we were at a UKA show the weekend before and his jumps are lower with them. He went very well although his weaves were slow but I put that down to the surfaces and the fact the big dogs leave a rut and I'd forgotten to fill them in. He is so funny as he ran along the dog walk slowed down as if he was going to stop on the contact and then leapt off from about 6 inches before with the biggest grin on his face. He's a very naughty border terrier who makes me laugh a lot, what more could you ask.