Surviving the Wasteland

AKC show over the Memorial weekend. I worked really REALLY hard at not thinking about the fact that we are in a QQ wasteland (and remain there still, hint hint). I worked really REALLY hard at dismissing the NQing runs and recovering positively.  Since I got a lot of practice in over three days I can say it is all getting easier.

In fact, I held on to a pretty nice mental state all weekend.  Despite the fact that tempers ran hotter in correlation with the temperature, I did not let crabby people ruin my fun.  (Seriously though- SIDE NOTE- what the heck? Dog show equals dogs which equals some amount of barking. Stop giving my Pup the evil eye! She didn’t even display her full lung capacity. You got off EASY! And please don’t further suggest I move her outside when it’s either a tornado watch or 90 plus degrees.  I’d have had a quiet corner for her if there weren’t so many saved spots for people who didn’t even come until Monday. True fact! Side note done.)  I turned it around and just decided to make it all about me and my little Dog.

Let it be known that while we are in a QQ wasteland, I’m ridiculously happy with how she is running.  I’d be an idiot to be any less than pleased at this point.  Her jumping was very good. Back at 20” she is making nice choices about her take off points and I’m making better choices about motion and location.  I decidedly spent zero time worrying about ‘supporting jumps’ and instead focused on just handling regularly.  Clearly, something is working. No bars!

Other fun results- I tried a new (to me) concept for walking courses. Usually, I walk lines and try to handle in the way that gets the most efficient A to B line.  And then I find the challenging points and figure out the multitude of survival plans so my backups have backups. These methods have been leaving me horribly disengaged from the average AKC course for a lot of reasons.  And also, left me working WAY too hard.  Basically I have been trying to get places to collect when I don’t really need it, and in doing so was not always  ‘there’ to cue the true collections points.  So my new challenge to myself was to walk and then find the true collection points. Imagine my surprise when I found one or two ONLY per course. WOW.  So I worked on being at those points and relied on my motion and location for the rest. And wouldn’t you know- brilliant! And because we had an excellent balance going on, she was super tight- even at the times when I felt like I was letting her shoot clear across the ring. She went, but no further than necessary. And no hesitation!  Ahhhhh…synchronicity! It was awesome, totally enabling me to get downstream. I only felt unintentionally behind once all weekend.

AND (the best bit comes now). After struggling on start lines for what feels like years (oh, wait, it HAS been years), we may have found something that works to get Squishy Start line Dog up to full speed before hitting the timers.  She was boiling hot and looking dead on Sunday before our last run, and since it was FAST I decided it wouldn’t hurt to try something to wake her up a little. We went on course; I put her in a stay, moved ten feet behind her (she said WHAT?? Ok I am awake now!) then took off without her, eventually releasing when I was well into the course. She approved. Highly.  I employed this maneuver Monday and she was so intrigued she forgot to squish in her desire to race. So grateful to our friend who has been using this start line for giving me the idea!  

I put many of our runs in here to mostly show the difference between the old and new start lines.  Typically, starting with JWW bums her out to no end. Especially on Day Three. ESPECIALLY when there are no tunnels in JWW on Day Three. But the third day, no tunnel JWW course was her absolute best run of the weekend and her time really reflected it.  In general, in fact, she was much a Dog on Fire for her runs. And really, the NQs were so WEIRD that I’m not worried. Next time.  I feel the edge of the wasteland nearing. 

***

Pupdate- nothing to report. Pup sad. AKC hates Frankenpup and the people were readying their torches and pitchforks.  Pup, much like the original Franken Monster, only wanted to get out a little bit but NOT to eat anyone.  She was just a smidge unhappy being crated SO CLOSE to a tunnel, but never being able to take it.  Actually, I’m not sure WHY but she definitely was pretty high anxiety. I can guess that she was sad about not playing, or wanted the tunnel, or was bugged by all the traffic in front of her crate.  But who knows. All I know is that I left her home yesterday, but now she is sick and I really think she is sick from anxiety- too much stress.  From the being there, or being left though?  Not sure what to do with her now.  Snuggles sound like a good idea. 

More media seems required, I've been QUITE lazy with that recently. 

Dog park the other day (after I finished my 5k- without stopping! I am totally awesomeness. The dogs were unimpressed since they ran a marathon from lake to lake at the park that day. Pfff.). The Pup swims next to The Dog like a baby dolphin. Cutest. Swimmer. EVER. 

***

The Dog's butt AFTER the dog park. POOF.

Yes Dog, that fur DOES make your butt look big. 

***

Koi fish trying to eat my pal at the tattoo parlor! Ok, so they SAID they are friendly and want pats, but do they have to swarm like that??

***

And my new little tattoo. 

Yes, it's in Kryptonian. 

Yes, that is the language of Superman's home planet.

Yes. I am a nerd. 

Totally Like Me.

Dog show number 2 of 3 in the series is complete. Didn’t I say I wasn’t going to do this again??

But this time around doesn’t seem so horrible. The Dog is holding up well and is looking more and more comfortable at 26”.  She does well in practice so really, at this point all we can do is trial and see what we have and where we are at.

And I think we are in a really good place!

***

Going into the weekend, I was working off of goals from last weekend- control “self-talk” being the main one. For me, this means thinking in positives and if things should go downhill, not letting negative thoughts cause a traffic jam in my head.  I can’t say I have the easiest time letting go of bad runs, especially if they pile up. This of course leads to MORE bad runs if you don’t let them go. Hence the traffic jams. So I wanted to work on just letting the less desirable flow through. Learn my little lesson and move it on.   I decided it was totally like me to be that way.

And I totally was!

***

While we didn’t have any ‘bad runs’ we left Saturday with lessons learned but otherwise empty handed. This is the sort of thing that I would usually think about after a day like that, while driving home, maybe even when trying to fall asleep- why did I do that- of COURSE she would knock that bar, dumbdumbdumb, etc but because it’s like me now to just let it go, we came back Sunday and I had a totally clear head. Yup, mistakes happened but goodness! I didn’t have to relive them again. We all know how crazy-making Groundhog’s Day was. Important life lesson somewhere in that movie.

***

The result of moving on?

Fantastic Dog! Qs happening! Good team work on all sides!

Amazing what you can do when you start dropping some baggage.

Things that I am REALLY happy with, therefore allowing to make a home in my brain:

Driving her dogwalk! Yay! Here is a video-

Yes, criteria was not exactly met on the first. BUT this is a situation where she would have crept before. Now, from a standstill, she works her butt off to get up to speed and run ahead. (And hey, he didn’t call it so if you are going to miss, miss it FAST. Hehe!)   All of the other dogwalks for the weekend were really good. Like, REALLY good.

Jumping! And my handling of her when jumping!  No video, but she had an AMAZING Jumpers run. Clean, fast, perfect.  I even found the ‘secret’ to rear crosses- cue her for them from ahead. Sounds weird but people do it all the time.  She keeps her bars up when I stick downstream of her because she has better information then.  AND I remembered to trust the doggy. She is responsive. SHE IS.  No need to talk to her (or lose my head and scream at her) when jumping.

Our front crosses just keep getting better and better. She is picking up my collection cue now too- like, for real! Collecting! Once again, I have Daisy to thank for this little gem. And probably Tracy too.  It all mushed together for me finally though.

And can I just say again that she is responsive?  I am so, so proud of this. Remember when she wasn’t a few months ago? And went to China? And didn’t know how to pull past anything because she was so obstacle focused? ALL GONE! She feels so different.  She follows me! Sunday’s Standard course was very trappy and by golly (heck YES I said by golly!) she just went right where I did.

***

STILL looking for a solution to start lines. This feels like the last missing link to complete and total awesomeness.  I’m hoping that the change of venue next weekend will provide feedback either way. She was MUCH zippier during our last out of town show.

***

Speaking of a change in venue- super excited for next weekend! WTTO! FEO fun time for us! Cheering on the competitors (ESPECIALLY BROTHER DOG)! Face melting courses!! It’s gonna be awesome.

Oh, and in the spirit of NOT throwing anything at your dog for the first time in a show…

Homemade viaduct jump!! Haha, heavy emphasis on the DUCT.

I may go into business. “Love agility? Want to train more at home but can’t afford such luxury materials as rubber, metal, PVC and wood needed to make your own equipment? Well, here is your answer!  Cardboard Cut-out Agility! Dog tested. Homeless person approved.”

I’m thinking millions. 

Electra Woman and Dyna Girl (A Star is Born???)

So glad I was sent a link to a clip of this obscure 70’s show last week.  Hilarious! But totally relevant. Since running agility with The Pup is totally like a cheesy crime-fighting duo of chicks battling villains. 

Our Arch Enemy…the TABLE! Dastardly scoundrel.

Now each week we will employ our top secret gadgetry against him in pursuit of justice, honor and a Standard Q.

***

Yes, The Pup had her debut.  If you missed it… you missed a great show! In true Pup fashion, she did it with flair, originality, and just a touch of amazing to ensure her continuing survival. 

First of all, I’d like to say to everyone who secretly rolled their eyes at my seemingly bizarre behavior before we ran…TOLD YOU SO!!!! Mwaahahaha! And YOU thought I was paranoid!

Ok, so while I had HOPED that my Pup would show her mad skillz and be a complete rockstar, I suspected that, having her first run ever in Standard, at the end of the day, in front of actual PEOPLE and around working DOGS would result in some theatrics.  My main worries were a friendly maiming and mauling of ring crew, picture takers and judges, running amuck and skirting attempts to secure her leash upon exit, general escaping, and chasing furballs.  In order to prevent any of the above I may have gone a bit (some might say) “overboard” by briefing ring crew, competitors and bystanders with a Pup Protocal and testing the integrity of the ring barriers.  So what if this meant I had people closing off the exits, ring crew hopping out of the ring or squishing themselves into little invisible balls?? AT LEAST NO ONE WAS HURT!!!!!

The judge was the only one who didn’t listen very well… and look what happened to HIM!

Lesson learned.  He was new; he was going to learn one day anyways, why not now?

NEVER LOOK AT THE PUP!! NEVER EVER!!!

***
She fulfilled every one of my worries into fruition in Standard. Furballs- chased. People- maimed. (And maybe smacked in the junk a little.) Amuck- run. Leash- Avoided.

Oh, wait, taking it back. SHE DIDN’T ESCAPE THE RING!  That’s why we tested for integrity, people.

WHY did this happen in Standard, you ask? Gee, aren’t you the one that works so hard on the weaves and contacts and table and yadda yadda? Yes, that’s me.  And we do. But, what I hadn’t foreseen was that a five second wait is ETERNITY to a Pup who loves people and wants to see people and ooo, look, a person! Walking over and talking- must want a friend??? Well, she nearly made it to “go.” Sigh.  Pups require constant motion, apparently. Even though the table has been our #1 friend since she was 9 weeks old, the count is simply too long and boring when there are friends to be made.  And when I just stand there.  Perhaps I needed to use some Electra Woman moves to keep her attention. 

***

At any rate, she did a lot of good things.  AWESOME start lines.  NICE contacts, though adrenaline put her departures a bit higher than normal. HOORAY WEAVING. Jumping and response to handling was good too.  And of course, she was the Angel of Attentiveness is JWW.  Perfect little girl.  She is always sure to throw me those bones.

So for next time. DON’T LOOK AT THE PUP!

Or maybe we will train that little issue.

***

The Dog had a Weekend of Sadness.  Q in the first class, where she took awhile to get into the run, Q in the last where she tried her butt off but was more careful than I’ve ever known her to be.  In between…ugh. Sadness.  I thought she was being particular at first, then stressed, but after a whole weekend of signs I have settled on sore.  The weekend before we had a HUGE practice outside and I think that did her in.  So we are resting now. Chiro next week. Then she gets to be my running partner because I think she just needs real exercise.  I should put some video up in comparison of the last trial, but I don’t want much to look at it again. Once was enough to know I’m right in my diagnosis.

She did have this one dogwalk though…shazam.

We both liked that part the best.  

Mad Scientist Caliber Experimentationisms.

Experimentationisms.

It’s a word.

Now.

***

Agility experiments are granted ‘Mad Scientist’ designations when they cost a lot of money and involve travel. Only crazy people go so far.

Our need to experiment with the 26” thing took us to a CSA trial last weekend.  We had many variables to test: Trial environment, Turf effects, Class load, Changing Heights, to name a few.  A big test would be held to determine the impact of actual courses on handling, therefore jumping. So many variables there!

All very scientific, you see.

***

With any good experiment comes a hypothesis.  My thought was that her jumping would best be represented by an upside down “U” shape on a graph, where the x axis records the amount of runs and the y axis shows the jumping proficiency.  That is to say, in non Mad Scientist words, jumping would start out not so hot, improve to a peak, but would drop off as she got sleepy from all the running.

Scientific AND mathy.

***

Interestingly, I was wrong, wrong, wrong.  I think I’ve conclusively proven that The Dog is a good girl, and I’m somewhat of a durp (see South Park if that word has no meaning for you).

Her jumping was not affected by turf, being at a show, class load, the unexpected heat, changing the heights on her, or the courses we ran.

Her jumping WAS affected most by…

ME!

To be mildly fair to myself, I’m not used to running her on full courses with actual yardage yet. I didn’t have much of a feel as to timing or what I could or couldn’t do yet.   I DID learn as the weekend went on though and redeemed myself a little. 
***

In order to make actual sense, a recap.  With Video!!

Saturday we ran Gamblers, Standard and Jumpers. Gamblers was the run of the weekend she needed to figure her jumping out and knocked two from poor judgment. Luckily, they were in the opening so we qualified and she even won!  Two amazing things I noticed in this run after the fact: first, she tried to wait on her teeter both times (I’ve been rebuilding her 4 on this entire winter) and second, she FOLLOWED ME!!! I ran somewhat across the ring, bypassing jumps and stuff and she came with me without obstacle shopping. Holy Crap.  Payoff.   (Note: One of the reasons that I’m a durp is that she tried to wait on her teeter a LOT over the weekend yet I ripped her off every time. Ga!!)

In Standard, I (wo)manned up and tried some blinds.  Another theory was that fronts aren’t going to work as well now (more later) so it was time to try. And they worked!! She actually had a really nice run, but the dogwalk and the jump following became a hot mess so 10 faults there. My theory is that her load (after the triple), coupled with the tunnel under the exit of the DW (her new thing that makes her LEAP) just were a perfect storm for what happened.  No worries, homework.

In Jumpers, she jumped BEAUTIFULLY! No bars. Yay.  Enter here one of several REFUSALS for the weekend though.  Totally set a bad line and let her land too long to save it. Oops.  Big “good girl” for though because she followed exactly what I showed her. 

***

Sunday was a full day.  We started with Jumpers and I did THE SAME THING and once again she responded and came into me instead of taking the tunnel.  After that hiccup she knocked a few bars and I started to see that  crushing her momentum (with stopping and squishy squashy front crosses) kills her ability to jump.  Dog requires consistent flow at 26”. Interesting. This was further expounded in Snookers. Two bars and a TWEET after an opening with lots of squishy squashy and no momentum. 

Pairs was a return to awesome: 1^st with the Black Dog, super fast run and clean! (No video unfortunately.)  The Dog was filled with momentum and was super happy.  After getting walked off in Snookers this was a wonderful thing to see.  

Grand Prix, back to 22”, followed. (Er, partial video- camera malfunction!) It doesn’t look super controlled, but I felt in control 100% so that should count for something?  This course annihilated most entrants so I was pleased beyond reason to survive and Q and have a speedy time.  Just a stinky little tenth of a second from that other bye I wanted to get!  But glad to know that I can push her as much as I did on a course like that and get such good results.

Our last run was Standard.  No bars! I tried to carry over and push her on this one to test a new theory and I think it worked! She did really well, detoured to a tunnel but CAME BACK before it was an off course. Then she ran by the aframe- what?? Silly silly. But. I didn’t tell her to and clearly she was in ‘I’m a good girl and I pay attention’ mode. Plus we’ve been working on her following me when I take off so it was the right thing to do.  She did come back to end on a gorgeous DW to a triple so we had a big party. 

***

I learned a LOT. Totally worth the endeavor.

- Most importantly, I got to see that she is starting to show me some focus- I didn’t have to constantly battle with the obstacles for attention.   Now to remember this.

- Blinds are our friend, squishy fronts are not.  A rear will do as well, but getting ahead to show n’ go is key right now.

- Along with that, I really need to shape her takeoff more. Ugh. I can’t wait until she is jumping or even her takeoff point- she lands SO much further out now.  More information, earlier.

- She can do start line stays! Without getting sad and refusing to leave the line!! And no first bars down.

- She’s competitive, time wise.  A big, good group of 26” dogs and her times were there. So hard to tell with refusals, but best time in Stnd Sat and probably would have won Sunday.  I was worried, but not so much anymore.

- Still so far to go on the DW training. So many circumstances to drill!

***

On The Pup front, we spent a LOT of down time practicing walking in to the building nicely, not like a crazy animal who’d never been on a leash before.  Tons of attention and focus work while dogs were running. A few tough love moments, but by the last class we were able to sit ringside while she focused on me the whole time.   She was able to do tricks while fast dogs ran and the practice jump in the middle of the hustle and bustle.

Foooocuuuuus.

 I’m taking the emotionless behavioral tactics of ‘real’ clicker trainers and it works.  Treating her like a ‘reactive dog’ rather than a naughty puppy has helped too- the naughty puppy route just put us both in unhealthy overdrive.  

11 days to go!

Can we go now? Me and Face ball are ready!! 

Then the beast is unleashed. 

Pig-nosed beast.

Tunnel of Love and a Peep Show

Another weekend without a show! I’d say a girl could get used to this but it does get a bit dull by Sunday.  After one plays with the dogs, watches sci-fi and naps, there is little left to do but clean.

Ick.

Don’t worry though. Successfully avoided for another weekend.

***

After kicking around some fun looking international-style courses with Smooth Sailin’, the girls and I ventured out to run a few.  We chose courses by Kees Stoel; I like that there are the typical scary elements, but all the courses he designs seem to also have huge lines to open up and run too. Part of my struggle with The Dog has been balancing those transitions so I wanted to see if there was any improvement there. Other goals for the day were watching her jumping and orbiting (a.k.a. China trips) as I attempt to start moving more again.

Course #1: Agility!  

Course #2: Jumping!

With The Dog, it’s survival mode. I try to drill individual obstacles in most practices so when I get the chance to do coursework I can see how far we get. I think this has made the biggest difference in our turnaround in Standard courses (we get through them now!) and boosting her attitude (stopping for every oops bummed her out).  First time through is always the ‘real’ one; we stop only for off courses, then we go back and pick it apart (er, in a fun way).  

Tunnel of Love!

Well.  I’d have to say that if it wasn’t for tunnels and grotesque over-handling we might be on to something! In ‘Agility’ we survived until #15 when I called. So. Hard. and sent her into the other end of #17. Upon visiting it again later, I needed to only run to #15. No call. No stopping. Sigh. The right thing was so effortless!  Aside from that, if you watch the video you can see her veer off to the right after the dogwalk. One might THINK she was headed to the #11 jump but no. She was in fact zooming off to the tunnel bags and tunnel piles. So much tunnel love now!  Part of the zooming was due to me crowding her at the end of the contact. It seems that on the right she just needs her space. It took a few tries to work it out, but the right answer turned out to be layering the jumps.  Then she had a lovely dogwalk and nice lines.  (This ‘space’ thing keeps coming up off the dogwalk… you reckon someday I will actually remember and handle accordingly?? Bets, anyone?)

The Jumping course was fun! Pipe tunnels, wee! I tried three variations of a lead out to start, and the best was the one on video (video is our third time through).  I wanted SO badly to be on the landing side of #13 and call over, but she had NONE of that. Tunnel, tunnel, tunnel… Tunnel love! Once I got my butt down to the takeoff side tunnel vision was gone.

***

It was good learning. I hadn’t realized how much of a tunnel sucker she was becoming. And now that she uses them as her self-reward...yikes! Even more incentive to keeping upping my own personal ante.   But her jumping was good, and held up well.  Unsurprisingly, the bars she took were on the Jumping course and the cause was her having that darn tunnel vision. Like I said, good learning!

***

Oh man, then there was The Pup.  This was the first time I’ve run her on such a wide open layout. It definitely presented a new challenge. All the space was very inviting to her and she wanted to expand to fill it.  I can’t say she’s ever run around anything but her first time on her baby version of a Standard course featured a LOT of runarounds.  She was incredibly high after watching a BC run and it took a spin around the block to get the engines firing on all cylinders. Even then she was a bit of a mess at the start and finish (all the dogs and treats and toys and people were at the start and finish area!); she had to inspect things and say hi. We did get through it in a respectable fashion eventually but I can pretty much see what her inaugural run will be like!

Peep show!

Other learning points: Pup cannot be ringside before she runs. Not sure how this will work but other dogs running before her will be harder to overcome that anything the judge lays out. My hope is that small and highly unmotivated dogs run first.  Otherwise I may stand in the bathroom with her until her name is called!

Pup also must be very carefully set up and collected after her run. I can’t manhandle her on her set ups. It makes her insane.  Calm letting her self-control is key. I must be extremely diligent that she comes to me after the last obstacle. No excusing herself.   And for the next month, any ADHD resulting in her exploring ringside dogs/people will be met with a crate trip.  Also I read up on some interesting attention work I think I will start on with her. Sounds like more fun than crate trips.

Also apparently this was the first time she has seen a double with wings. You’d think it would be hard to miss the giant spread with wings but no. Totally invisible.

***

Oh, we did have much fun. Worry not. It is a blast to run her, even if she is a nut job out of the box.  If I remember to let her settle in before I push her, she does really well. Then she needs to be pushed. As you see in her JWW course, she was mentally ready to go and I wasn’t on the ball.

Many good things for her overall.  Her weaves are great, she is still picking up speed and has figured out her footwork.  Her contacts are AWESOME! Her dogwalk is finally there without Marvin and she is driving ahead! It’s hard to tell in the video, but it’s down to five strides now and all four feet are running through the zone. I checked out slo-mo and her back leg separation is text book. (Ugh, I can’t keep up with her anymore so it’s time to start working on her getting herself on straight.)  Aframe is good, a nice untrained freebie. Teeter I am really happy with. She hasn’t had any issues with maintaining her stop there (view with envy my wicked lead out from the teeter, heheh). So while dialing in to her brain from the get go is our biggest challenge, thank goodness our obstacles are reliable.

Er, except the double. What’ up with that?



Private Eye

Sometimes when you don’t know what’s going on under the surface you have to hire a private eye to investigate and get to the bottom of things.

And sometimes, similarly, when you can’t see what’s happening in your training, it takes a private with somebody that has a great eye to point out what’s going on.

Yay wordplay!
***
I’ve been training mostly on my own for awhile now (as in, not seeking continuous, deliberate instruction from someone duly appointed to provide feedback- thanks for being a training buddy though mommy!) and I’ve felt that some of our lingering gaps are the result of this. I feel good about a lot of things, but uneasy about some things. And while I have REALLY enjoyed absorbing training thoughts and tips from those with different backgrounds this past year and have been able to incorporate a LOT, I needed help with my established ‘system’ from an expert coming from the same ‘system.’ So when the option came around to get a private eye from the exact person I would have picked if I could have picked anyone, I grabbed it (and wrestled it to the ground and refused to let go. Everyone was just very lucky that there was an opening…).
***
Going into it today, for my part, I was pretty open. I tried to come up with things to work on to maximize my time but all I really ended up asking for was thoughts. I might have squeaked out words like “dogwalk,” “ring stress” and “jumping” but who knows. The hour directed itself anyways and because of that I probably came away with much more.

The Dog, for her part, displayed her true self in full- complete with start line weirdness and show quality dogwalks (high and leapier than in normal practice). She was NOT Perfect Dog but this was the perfect time for her to be herself.

Results? I came away with some of the best observations and suggestions I have ever gotten. Let today go down as the day that Daisy Peel got the scoop on The Dog. If she was a REAL P.I., she would have showed me pictures of The Dog canoodling with a married politician in a seedy hotel. With blackmailing and extorting people. Maybe some drugs. Watergate of dog agility. Yep, she is that good of a P.I. Like a real P.I., she came in, threw the reality down and didn’t disappoint. No excuses, just the truth.
***
Seriously though, we have homework. The good news is that I am super familiar with a lot of what we need to do (enter the bonus of a similar foundation!) and now that it’s been pointed out I feel comfortable diving in on my own.

More good news: the scoop is, she doesn’t think The Dog necessarily has ring stress. Remember in the summer (ok, you can lie) when I said I thought maybe The Dog was fooling me to some extent and not as stressed as she appeared? Yep. Though not so much fooling me (she isn’t THAT evil) as playing with a different set of rules (which of course I’ve been unknowingly reinforcing).

I’ve thought that her ‘circling’ thing (where she takes off and circles the ring at certain times) was her burning off stress. It actually seems to be a little game she plays. Dog makes circle so Leader calls Dog back. What fun we have! I never thought that me calling her would be rewarding for her since she never used to enjoy coming in. Times have changed I guess. The REALLY interesting part is how that behavior fits into practices. When she makes a mistake, she will take off for a circle. I always thought she was feeling pressure from the error and marveled at how she would circle back to just before the section where we made the mistake to restart (“She is so clever, look at her self-correcting!”) and would make circles until I called her to reset. But it’s actually more like, “weee! I am right since I came back from my circle and now we go again, how fun are second turns?!?!” So in her fun world, she is always right.

Interesting!!!

We went to go work handling, but then the start line thing came up right away (Dog sits and stares at me when I lead out, maybe eventually trotting out around the jumps to say hi) so we did little exercises where she declared The Dog not quite ‘getting’ jumping an really isn't getting what I'm doing. Not stressed. Just not educated. This has been my recent fear and I was sure I’d need to somehow understand Salo to teach her to collect and extend and WHEN. But again, good news is that there are things we can revisit that I already understand from our foundation to show her this. There are some holes in her understanding of location which seem to be the cause (at last, a real cause!) to her China trips. Previously I filled the holes with verbals and arm waving but those are just bandaids and don’t solve the issue that she isn’t really watching my motion and I’m not making her. Now we need to clue her in to me again. Hola Dog! The best part is that I wanted to just be able to run and not rely on the other stuff and this will get us there. And her jumping form IS good so the bars won't be an issue once the rest is in place.

I don’t think it will be a long disgusting road to retrain all of her jumping/handling foundation; she started catching on and remembering after awhile. Likewise, she started catching on that circles don’t get anything now. No more circles!

As far as the dogwalk, apparently I haven’t been picky enough. It scares me to get picky (and risk losing the running that took so long to get if she shut down) but with the newfound thought that she probably isn’t a stress ball anymore I might venture into pickiness yet. She thought I could select for a lot more rear leg separation AND teach turns. She showed me an interesting way to shape turns that I think could work for The Dog.

There was a lot more too, but I seriously doubt I’m making much sense so I’ll keep it to myself. I’m totally thrilled that everything makes sense to me which is probably what matters. I suppose I could feel discouraged by all the things she found wrong or lacking, but really I feel better about where we are then I have in a long time. It's like I've been fumbling in the dark with a flashlight but finally someone switched on the floodlights.

Oh yes! There's the door. Lets go already!

Happy.

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?



Tired.

A) Exhausted.

B) Worn out.

C) Sleepy.

D) All of the above.

The correct answer is “D.”  I am so very all of those things right now.  I’m hoping it doesn’t also mean that I am (secret hidden answer E) burned out.  I might be. Not really sure.   What I am sure of (in a not so sure, non committal way) is that I’ve probably really overextended myself recently which usually leads to me being burned out.

I’m a lazy person.

I don’t handle a full schedule very well.

Where is the time for watching sci-fi and napping?

Those things are important for mental health.

What’s funny (in a not so funny way), is that I usually only get burned out over work.  Never dog stuff.  My old job was so consuming- it was always bleeding over into my personal life and I let it. Now I’ve got a job with reasonable demands and lots of support and the ability to have a personal life and I’ve gone and gotten consumed on the other end of the scale. Now I think about what to do at class and appointments for the dogs and training drills at work. Because there aren’t enough hours in the day to think and do otherwise. Sigh. All things in moderation (apparently is something I never thought of).

***

I kind of have this complex. When I was little my dad would tell me my eyes were bigger than my stomach. I always want to try everything which sounds good but in reality it just leads to barfing.

I get that what I actually should do is, you know, say no once in awhile.

Everything looks so good though.

So then I fill my plate.

Oops.

Now I pay for it.

What’s the mental version of barfing?

Being sleepy-

I am spewing incoherence.

***

What this actually means (in my attempt at cohesive thoughts) is that I probably can’t continue to focus both on two completely separate agility organizations, with completely different and conflicting aims in each, AND teach classes AND train two dogs AND work AND sleep. Forget about watching sci-fi, it just isn’t going to happen.

I look at my list and obviously, at this point, I need to work. And sleep. I can’t show and not train. I could train and not show, but I love showing and that’s kind of the point of training. I could not teach, but I love teaching, plus the extra money lets me show two dogs. So it kind of seems like the thing to do would be to pick either AKC or USDAA as the focus.

Good lord. It’s Sophie’s Choice.

***

I’m here though, because I don’t think we can be good in both right now. I cannot show every weekend and The Dog certainly cannot show every weekend. 

The Dog cannot be expected to flip around from 20” to 22” to 26”. I don’t know if I am ok with her jumping 26” in every show, especially if our trial load will increase this year.  I don’t think I can adjust that rapidly and frequently to the timing differences either.

We need to train, but again, she is a little dog, not a robot. She can’t train every day.

I feel that without some focus here, we are just going to be mediocre in everything.

Ick.

***

If it isn’t obvious, we didn’t do so hot at the trial this weekend. Rather, I didn’t. The Dog was good. I was just so tired and…unfocused (see?!?!).  I honestly can’t remember much about our runs. That says something, usually I remember everything. But here I barely paid any attention to her.  No matter how hard I tried to turn my brain on and get engaged, I just couldn’t get it jump started. I did dumb things; completely horrid timing on her jumping, so she took one bar in 3 of 4 runs.  All. My. Fault.  I realized what I was doing (finally) in our last run. First, I told her to wait on the teeter and took off. I got to my position and expected her to be there for a front cross with me… but no Dog. No Dog in the chute? Where is The Dog? Awesomely waiting on her teeter. Which I’d forgotten I’d been drilling but she didn’t. Then, I cued her to collect. Over the double. Off the dogwalk. Why? Because I wasn’t thinking. Just spewing incoherence.

I also figured out that I hate Jumpers. That’s a whole new bag of…worms? Is it a bag of worms? Is that really the phrase? That doesn’t sound right. Can? I don’t know. I’m so sleepy.

Someone tell me what to do.

K thanks!

View from 26"!

Going to new heights- often a bit scary but quite exhilarating both in pursuit and actualization!
***
The start of the beta phase of our endeavor was largely positive. I'm glad... I suppose... To see that most of the bars were ME and not her lack of ability. Easier to work with I guess.

We had four runs, five bars. We've done worse at 22" in a single day, so I can't say it was some huge decline. Two of those were first bar down and I blame our frienemie the dogwalk. It was looking at her and she was looking at it. And in doing so looking through the jump. Homework!

The other three (and really, part of one of the start line bars) were me, me, Meee. Call your dog over a jump. Bad. Drop support while your dog is jumping. Bad. Give your dog a crap approach. Stupid and bad.

But I will learn to adjust, just like The Dog.

Part of MY issue is engaging myself more fully. While I can't be in her way, I can drive better and cue earlier. No lazy allowed. I was hoping these courses would be a bit more technically difficult ("international-y") to force my engagement but they were more speed kills and random spacing. But it's probably better this way, more telling!
***
We ran two rounds of standard type, one of Snakes and Ladders (where point robbing occurred and pipe tunnels blew her mind!) and one jumpers type. Strangely it was the jumpers course where she figured out the jumps the best (but I was smart to the engagement thing and providing much more information to her about collection by then) and didn't take any down. She was most off the pace there which isn't unusual in 22" either though she has been closing the gap there. I assume once she gets better at jumping at 26" there will be improvement in the new height too.

Her times were very good for the standard classes though, right in the mix (which uh, is saying something if you look at our 26" dogs around here). I think I was worried about an overall issue with being fast enough (since that's kind of required if we take this the long haul) but no need. If anything she was faster than at 22".
***
Observations for the record: I noticed that she puts in odd little collection strides here and there- not when called for. Probably in the name of being good and ensuring she keeps the bars up? But really need to find exercises to build her confidence to extend more and know what's appropriate for the situation. In slow motion it seems these are the times the jumping looks inverted.

A least things make sense. Nothing that makes me lose sleep asking WHYGODWHY??? (Not that I do that about agility. Well. Maybe the dogwalk. Once or twice.)

AS for her dogwalks. They were good! Her first (on her good side) was perfect. (Bad management after by me but no need to get into that.) Her other two were on the right, one was good though seemed slower to me and the other seemed off. "In" but strange, and in video it seems that she collected before getting on which makes no sense with the load (WHYGODWHY) and that threw her off enough to go to six strides instead of five. Odd. Something to ponder.
***
Overall, I'm happy and encouraged and all that. No one seemed aghast at my jumping her at 26" so it probably looked as ok as I think it did. AND. Her mood was excellent. She had fun; I think she likes jumping big. She had a naughty and ran around the ring while they were setting bars and she should have been setting up before our run in the last class- she only does that when she is high in practice. Good sign, bad timing. Nice judge, thanks for not E-ing us!
***
At this point, given all that, we will go ahead with The Plan. Some 26" from now until April, then 26" in AKC after that. FEO at WTTO if they will have us, and see where we are at around July. I DO want to go to Tulsa so if it isn't going well we may have to evaluate the long haul and resume 20". Likewise if she doesn't hold up physically we will abandon ship.

It's nice to have escape clause riders.
***
Video!

Eat, Pray, Run.

That about sums our lives up!

So. Much. Eating. 

The Pup had her first Thanksgiving. Tragically, tryptophan had no effect on her. 

The turkey overall though... mmmmm.... Happy puppy.

Um, did you guys want a bite or something?

The Pup continues her study of White Dog's counter surfing techniques.

Well, no one said White Dog had a perfect record.

The Dog is also an old hat when it comes to counter surfing. However, typically not as successful due to her stubby little legs.

 

 Black Dog would like it noted that she takes no part in naughty counter surfing.  

When people are looking, at any rate.

The Pup was able to catch on fairly quickly...

Curse those short legs. 

 Hope everyone else enjoyed their Turkey Day as much as we did! Is anyone else currently subsisting on sweet potato casserole? I know I am!
***
So basically I have some new great things to be thankful for.

Enter the 'prayer' segment.

I've been crossing all available appendages, hoping and praying for an offer on a position I'd recently interviewed for. I didn't dare mention it in case of unintended jinxing, but it's official:


The Project has a new payroll funding our weekend antics!

Yay!

I'm so excited.  The pretty much best part? TONS of vacation time!

You know what that means...

More three day agility shows!

Double Yay!

The Dog was helping to celebrate. She is such a booze hound.

Sorry, Pup, none for you.  I just don't trust you with a glass bottle...

 ***

And then there's the running. 

Who says that just because it's nearly December in Minnesota you can't play agility?

So much practice recently.  I've triggered my favorite recurring injury of shin splints- or whatever, someday I might figure out what's actually going on- running so many dang dogwalks.

Just in time for a show this weekend!

Luckily it was *only* AKC, so I figured it was safe to navigate all of four runs spread out over hours and hours. I actually fared pretty well, only having spiky pain after those dang dogwalks.

The Dog was, I think, having her own pains as well.  I'm not sure; she may have been full of turkey, but she wasn't moving exactly right this weekend.  THREE rounds gone to knocked bars.  Weird bars too, not her normal in/out of tunnels or ones down due to me getting in the way.  Her first standard run looked pretty good and she had a nice fast time but one weird bar at the end.  Her JWW run looked terrible to me, many bars.  After Saturday I got clever and enlisted kind folks to take video.  Both runs showed some odd jumping style- chin down and head very high. Not a lot of power.  I want to say that there is something funny in her front or neck- she stretched out really well in her shoulders and rear so something that I don't know as well. A new problem area?

At any rate, she held it together for a pretty nice last run.  Still the odd jumping form, but it was a pretty friendly 'Dog course' so she made it through and ended up in first. I must say, she turned it on for the dogwalk and aced that part. At least I know she had a little fun!

Video:

Another AKC show next weekend. Potential to finish off her MX and MXJ this year, which would be fun!  Mostly, time to start working on 6 double Qs... since the plan is Tulsa 2013. Exciting!
***

 In Pup news, she's still being awesome.  In this brief respite from updates, she's turned 11 brilliant months old.  Her big breakthrough has been on the weave pole plane. Here is a super crappy clip of her weaving 2 sets of 4.  Sorry if it makes anyone barf.  It's quite Cloverfield-esque.

Since the video, she has gone on to weave 6 poles.  I'm so proud! We aren't doing too much since she's still young (though thankfully not growing anymore) so I'm impressed that she has caught on so quickly.  Clearly she is doing her part to get ready for the big debut set for 3-31-2012. Woo!  The BEST part is that she's weaving and running for toys now! And bringing them back! WOW!
 ***
We're all having fun with tricks now too.  After taking the summer to train, you  know, agility, it's time to get back at trick fun time.

I'm thinking I'll get some adorable video of the girls at it this week- The Pup is learning 'bow' and 'hug' and moving on to the next step in cik/cap turns.  She's also learning how to chill out ALONE when The Dog has a turn.  So far we haven't gotten to the point of any doors being shut. Solitude makes The Pup VERY sad.

The Dog is finally learning the shut doors.  Now I'll have one dog trying to slam my fingers in drawers and another trying to to lock me out.

My favorite, though, is 'hug sister' where The Dog is supposed to put her arm around The Pup.

She's getting pretty good at not mauling The Pup's face!

Click, Treat!

A Step in the Right Direction

It seemed fitting for some reason that this past weekend’s trial was held on a test track.  Kind of helped get me into the right mentality looking at all those banked turns and upside down cars.  When I first got out of my car, I thought… on your mark, get set….GO! Let the 2012 tournament season begin!

Yes, for whatever reason, our qualifications for next year are starting in August this year. OKfine. Gives me plenty of extra stress free time to get those scary Grand Prixs.  Since its August and since outside and me and The Dog are not usually friends in August I decided to just enter the first day with the tournament classes.  Good move I think, and we were even rewarded with some unusually decent weather.

Good move, because although I felt a bit sad to not be coming back for day two, I ended up having two pathetically exhausted dogs on my hands Sunday.  Based on their extended tours of duty on the couch yesterday, I can’t help but feel that two days of up early, long car ride and tons of runs would have been too much and counterproductive to the whole ‘funpositiveagilityexperience’ which was the ONLY goal after the dreaded Regional. 

That being said, I think The Dog and I both had fun and maybe we won’t all quit agility to go join the circus after all. 

*** 

We began the week with some really amazing practices. Tuesday I decided we would go to class and run our sequences and that was it- no toy, no babysitting, just go.  Result? She was perfect on her dogwalks. PERFECT. It even rained and she was still running.  Perfect on everything, actually.  I didn’t worry about her doing her thing for one second.  Wednesday wasn’t *as* good- I think class gets her far more excited and I can get more out of her then solo practice time.  But she still hit/ran all the dogwalks.  Friday I took her out and set a course, warmed up and walked in as though it was a trial. Perfect!  No looking for the toy after the dogwalk, good reps, happy dog, it was a blast.

So I was really confident that THIS time, THIS trial, we would surely get SOME level of transference of behaviors.  Not just on the dogwalk, but also hopefully on our other scary spots (weaves, starts, controlled sequences).

You know what? I think we did.

 ***

We started in Jumpers.  Normally, I can’t get a good “GO DOG” worthy run if we start with Jumpers. She’s not as into the class (where are the CONTACTS???) and it’s harder for me to focus too until I get the 5 Hour Energy coursing through my veins.   I was extra concerned this time because she was first dog in the ring, which she has never been.  I like letting her get revved up watching other dogs; I’m pretty sure that is her Zen moment. Without that, it was just me worrying about forgetting the course and her with zero excitement level/agility focus.  So we went, and it was surprisingly nice for all it could have been.  Then I heard the timer didn’t start.  Another first- she’s never had to rerun.  And we had to go again immediately.  I literally walked away from the line asking for advice as to whether this rerun would crush her soul. Which sort of put me out of position and forced me into my original plan B for handling. Which was actually kind of awesome. How often do you get the chance to try a course again with the alternate plan? And how often does that plan totally work and end up being the winning run? For us? It’s a first.

Next was Snookers- it was a crazy plan, one that could go either way as far as shut down/over excite. Happily- over excite.  Unfortunately I dropped the ball and fell into ‘watch the pretty doggy’ mode for a second when I forgot my plan. NOT the course to forget your plan on.

Next we did Gamblers, Grand Prix, Steeple and Standard all boom-boom-boom (…boom).   I decided, for the first time EVER, to throw the Gamble to work the dogwalk (gasp, shock!). I needed a good set up, which meant negating the Gamble, and I knew that if she happened to do the dogwalk even remotely close to how she should I would need to finish up and reward pretty dang quickly. No time to bother with the gamble there. (Plus, really, we’d had a bit easier version of this gamble a few months ago and we failed that one.)  Tragically, she apparently lost a leg off the dogwalk going up and spent some time scrambling which killed the speed, but considering that? Her recovery and end performance were really good. So we ran out and got the ball.  Happy dog.  Then in Grand Prix she had probably the closest thing to home performance yet. It was a little high, but worthy of much woo-hooing anyways.  In reality she probably missed it, but my woo-hoo was very convincing so the judge gave it to her. What is given may then be taken- followed up by a glorious refusal (totally my fault… stupid tiny invisible wingless jump! I knew I would miss it!). 

Steeple was lovely and clean with a nice time, so at least we are down one qualifier for next year.  Standard was also clean, even with me getting LOST (WAY too similar to GP!).  Not an amazing time- she was weaving sooooooo slowly.  Kind of all day. But definitely noticeable there.  This dogwalk was ‘in’ by a lot, but more of a collected stride. I *think* that was the combination of running into nothing and me cueing a front cross.  I’ll take it though because she COULD have leaped (which, into nothingness is pretty common still) but was very certain that she had to finished the plank.  Foundation peeking out? Maybe!   

Here’s a montage (sorry, no kicky 80’s song to accompany) of her dogwalks: 

I’m going to take this as a sign that we are on the right track for now and keep on keepin’ on.

***

So yeah.  Overall, very good courses for her- certainly they were interesting for me. Footing was really hard on the dogs though. Especially for a full day of running. 8 runs (pairs was in there, but it was a disaster), two bars (both absolutely me), NO missed contacts, NO off courses, NO sad dog. Except for the weaves.  I’m choosing to blame the footing- it was very pokey and slopey and she is a sensitive soul about footing in the weaves.   And since she didn’t seem sad anywhere else I think it’s a fair guess. 

***

Oh, and after some careful R&D recently, I’ve designed a new motto.  It seems to have helped.  It certainly encompasses a lot of thoughts and realizations I’ve had lately.

“Worry about the course- not the dog.”  

Really, it’s quite deep.