Blink

As my decision making skills are at an all-time low (which is saying something since I’ve always been a champion waffler), and no one appears to want to make any decisions FOR me (…wusses!) I started trying to figure through things a bit.

Then I started reading the book Blink. This is by the guy who wrote Outliers, which was depressingly interesting. So far Blink lacks the same depression factor but is similarly fascinating.  His topic this time is instinct and impressions. What I gather so far is that you need just 2 seconds to come to the same gut decision on something or someone that you might take weeks or months to arrive at by carefully thinking through.

What’s not to like about THAT?

***

My gut tells me lots of things.  Besides when to eat and when to find a restroom, that is. 

Your gut probably tells you lots too. Connected to our guts is this whole subconscious decision making process that knows each of us better than our stupid conscious minds that take forever to make themselves up.  Basically it’s in charge of how we stay alive each day but it could do so much more for us if we would only listen. Disclaimer: Sometimes it’s bad to listen to your gut, like when it tells you to spend gobs of money you don’t have on pointy shoes you will never wear. But that’s why we have a brain too. The gut though, can be verrrrrry helpful aside from these few and far between situations.

Like, for example, when you need to decide what you really should focus on with your doggie for the next year.

***

While I tried to weigh things and ask advice and actually think everything through, it just made the whole question of what to do murkier. After showing Saturday (and after weekends of showing without any clear focus or respite) I went home and sat on the couch, exhausted, and just felt. No more thinking. I ate pizza to feed my gut and then some Cinnamon Toast Crunch (shhh, it’s what my gut WANTED) and then I just knew I was going to focus on AKC this year.  And now of course it makes total sense.  Even if I really don’t get anywhere with it, I can see it’s a better path.

It will ensure that I work hard on The Dog’s conditioning.

I will need to finally put in the time to educate her on jumping.

I’ll definitely need to keep improving my handling.

The Pup will be happier because she will get to show.

I can just see this other side of complacent behaviors if I focused on USDAA where all I have to work towards is titles. I can see messy confused jumping and handling if I try to do both. I can also see losing a LOT of crate pads because of Angry Pup not getting to show.

So there. Ahhhh. Thank you, gut.

***

Oh. Yes, we still will show USDAA if it fits. The August/September months will be dedicated as I’m still going to the Regionals and Nationals. She will be jumping 22” for those events and our club’s giant spring trial.  If I enter Grand Prix at any time before Regionals, that will be 22” but otherwise I will run her 26”. 

And now we have a whole glorious month off. Yaaaay! And then if I am lucky (uh, smart?) we won’t have back to back shows again for a loooong time.

***

As for the last hurrah- She ran really, really well on Saturday. Not a super Q rate because of ME and my tired-unfocused-nonsupportiveness but she ran REALLY well. Very good dogwalks and Aframes and table.  (Side note: Saturday was TITLE DAY for everyone else at least! Congrats to the fresh ADCHs and a special smooshy kiss to Black Dog for her Gold ADCH!)

Sunday she ran less well (not as fast and sloppy contacts) which I managed better, sadly, so we had a nice Q rate.  I was surprised at the difference from one day to the next (granted the one dogwalk Sunday wasn’t an ideal set up but high leapy Aframes?) but tragically figured out that sad burned pads were the likely culprit. Sure wish she would limp or something…ever.

BUT she doesn’t care.  Not as much as me anyways. And she has a new Bat Cape so she will have extra enhanced R&R.  She really likes her Bat Cape.



I can haz hat too?



MAC Gets a 4 Star Updo: Highlights and Lowlights

So. Much. Agility.

I just counted, 20 runs scheduled, 19 actually ran.  No wonder The Dog and I are dead. Really dead. Certifiably dead. Like, the coroner is filling out the paperwork right now.

I’m really not sure what I was thinking when I filled out the entries (Probably something like “lalala, we are amazing and 20 runs is only like 10 minutes of work and we work for an hour sometimes! Lalala”)… but rest assured this was a onetime incident of psychosis.   I’ve found our limits of how much agility is TOO much  and I doubt I will be forgetting any time soon!  

In fact, there was SO MUCH agility it’s pretty much impossible to give any kind of play-by-play.  The internet would overflow and all the technology would spill out onto the streets and the world would drown under the deluge of words I’d need to use to give that much detail.  So instead a spiffy recap is in order à la those “Previously Seen On” segments they show for complicated Smart People TV shows.

First up, Lowlights. 

1) Hot.

Sweaty.

Ick.

2) Did I mention too many runs?

3) Sunday was basically our Worst Single Day Ever. See above for the reason. Many pretty parts, no individual Qs.   Oh well. At least I have the pretty parts. 

4) Sad/scary moment where The Dog zinged her wrist on the chute entry AGAIN and came out gimping up a storm AGAIN and had to be carried off early.  It was the CLONK heard round the world, but luckily was just a stinger.  I think she was more traumatized by the judge looking at her after it happened.  Rest of the weekend spent shoving her into the chute at perfectly straight angles only.

5) Two otherwise lovely runs lost to missed DWs.

6) Sun burn for all. Ouch.

Hehe, mega sunburned me, mega cute her. 

And now, the beautiful, shiny highlights!

1) At least there were no sirens or severe storms, which have ruined many a weekend around here recently.

2) I got my wish- super challenging courses- proud to say not one off course or similar naughty pants incident (I’m forgetting that Sunday Gamblers happened, it’s better this way). 

3) While a few DWs were missed, she had NO super sticky DWs like last weekend, gorgeous Aframes and even nice teeters.  Weird.

Sticky hot, but no sticky DWs (Thnx JLove for the pics!)

4) She actually was able to find difficult weave entries ON HER OWN! More than once! An OMG is in order.

5) Before the sun doldrums ate her, she was flying!  Excellent times for the first part of the weekend, then a noticeable dip, then good again for the last few runs. Don’t get that, except that maybe she felt more rested after I pulled her from one Snookers class.

6) Excellent results in the team competition- Third place overall for her team with Black Dog and BFAM, and she was ranked third for overall 22” dogs!  

7) We ran both IHC classes for fun and she stayed on course for both! WOW! AND she ended up 2^nd in Standard and 3^rd in Jumpers. In both classes I caused refusals at dumb places but she survived all the hard challenges. Pretty good and very fun to run plus I enjoyed getting the special ribbons that have the confusing European color (or should I say colour?) scheme. 

(Here are the maps- such bad quality I can't POSSIBLY get sued for unlawful reproduction, right?)

IHC Jumpers

IHC Standard

8) And the very best part? She got the last 8 qualifiers she needed for her Bronze Lifetime Achievement Award! Not too shabby for only being in Masters a little over a year. 

So yeah.  It was a 4 star weekend, and I’ve got a 5 star dog. She’s such a good little teammate.  She tried very hard all weekend (except the one Gamblers run that didn’t really happen) and I only wish the interwebs were big enough for me to detail ALL the awesome without running the risk of sending us all back to the Stone Age.   

TIRED. Running and running and running is hard work.

***

And, exciting, it’s about to get even awesomer (really, that's not a word??) around The Project.  Dogwalk supports have been built!! 

Ta-daa!! It's even adjustable! Thnx Boyfriend!

Next weekend’s project is procuring, painting and pining on planks!  So we will soon have the most amazing DWs on the planet.  Plus, we’ve got REAL weave poles so no doubt those will be the most amazing too.  (I’m excited to start on weaves with The Pup now too- my plan is channels without guides as a slight variation of what I’d normally do.  Since its channels and they will be VERY wide with no chance of actual weaving for a long time we don’t have to wait for silly old growth plates to close. Diabolical, no?)

REAL weaves! Adjustable! Oh, the awesome!

***
The Pup had her highs and lows this weekend too.  Lows included biting me in the face (hasn’t happened in a LONG time!), screaming awful bloody murder whenever I ran The Dog and running away. Highs include her coming back, letting me scale her teeth, popping out the last of her evil baby shark teeth and being a cute cuddle monster last night, sleeping on my lap for 2 whole hours.   We also got to meet another Clone sibling and her 'mother' which she LOVED, and attempted a cute but short lived photo shoot. Is there anything wigglier than a BS? Why yes, there is! TWO BSs!

TIRED. Screaming and running away are hard work.

***

On the docket now is one week of rest for The Dog and a trip to the chiropractor if I can swing it. No doubt she needs it after all the twisty turny courses.  Then a show in two weeks, and after that, very low key up to the Regional in August.  We have some training points to hit before then- I want to make sure we go into that competition with our best feet and paws forward.  

Besides, I am not going to be able to focus much on agility anyways going forward.

Harry Potter…so soon…

And the aftermath will probably be me in a HP coma of delight for another few weeks. 

I might not even remember agility at all. 

Going to MAC!

Three day USDAA trial this weekend. I decided that I should have some goals for the weekend. Or rather I should have some reasonable goals. Since we are changing our approach to performing (emphasis on speed and fun, less so on Q rate!), I can't ask the same things now. For my own accountability, I had better put this in writing...

In line with my new philosophy, I want to see:

*Dog RUN from start to finish. To achieve: I will stay out of her way as much as possible (rears instead of fronts, TELL not show what to do). I will pick courses in flow when I have the option. I will mark it ("YES! GO!") asap when I see her committing to the the right obstacle. I will run and run some more.

*Will Dog's contacts will hold up. We've been doing a lot of racing, especially on the DW to enforce it in her mind that she no longer should stop. Will they be fast? Will the show hit % be as good as the practice %?

*Competitive times, particularly in Jumpers. So many jumps, so many options, makes for so much thinking aka hesitation. To achieve: set lines and let her run ahead. Hopefully the courses will allow this!

We have a Texan this weekend; from what I can see the judge's courses favor the "run from behind" method so that should help me.

My issue here- I am a control freak! Normally, my dogs have had personalities that allow me to, nay, force me to be in charge and demanding. But it turns out, Dog is a control freak too. So as a compromise, I have to let go of the control a bit in order to let Dog GO. There you have it Dog, you get some free reign, er... leash, back. I trust you to pay attention- this is going to be a bit different than the other shows (but more like practice where you have lots of fun!). I will still be there, telling you whats up, but you are going to get some independence to make your own choices.

I think if I do my job this should work out OK.