First Trial!

Nike & I

I'm very happy with Nike's first trial. We had fun and started and finished the courses together. I entered this trial to gather information and that was a success.

We only entered a Starters Jumpers run on the first day and a Starter Gamblers followed by Starters Jumpers on the second day.

Nerve wracking! First run she was AMPED. It was cool still in the morning and she just watched a dog run and very much wanted to chase the BC's at the warm-up jumps. Just taking the leash and collar off is hard sometimes.

Had a bit of a bobble/weirdness where she pushed behind the tunnel instead of taking it but she didn't realize she was wrong. The rest of the run was gorgeous and fast. 23 seconds. Speedy girl.

Gamblers was FEO. My goal there was to reward contacts on each new piece of equipment. She hit her contacts. Frame and Teeter were great! DW she was worried on. I need to run faster and figure out the sweet spot to support a jump but not push her off - but she did nail the main gamble and there was a good chance of carrying out past that second jump, so coming in on it and paying attention to me was fantastic.

After Gamble it was hot. We went for a swim in the canal after, but it was still HOT and little Miss does not like to work in the heat. I was also slow and tired, running on 3 hours of sleep. We didn't warm up at the jumps (they were put away) before our run. Whatever the reason we were more disconnected on her last jumpers. She wasn't precisely slow, but on a easy course that should have been fine she flanked out around 4 jumps and didn't really want to play. We started well, ended well but the middle was a bit of a miss.

I'm happy with how I dealt with it though and we just ran through and finished up. She stuck with me and didn't disappear off sniffing.

I could probably cheer lead less, but hey, I was happy!

She played the game for me and to do that in a super distracting environment for a baby who is still maturing and developing focus is awesome.

Pretty baby!

Looking back to Spencer's First Trial I find it somewhat amusing that these posts are very similar!

Butterflies

One week to go until Nike's debut trial!

<3 my rotten red girl!

I'm not concerned about "the Q" - I do want her to have fun and not check out/stress out.

We've hit the location that this trial is going to be at a couple of times now to practice, just to get her as used to the venue as she can be.

When practicing agility at work now she is getting much more consistent with working and not checking out. I'm also making a point of actually working through the Fenzi Classes we are "taking" this month:
Jumping Gymnasics and Tapping the Hidden Potential

If that wasn't enough dog related goings on; Nike and I are also enrolling in a 6 week agility class at a new location to hopefully help generalize our agility behaviors to new places with new distractions. We aren't in a very high level class and I may or may not continue with classes, but right now I wanted to tone down the difficulty and make it easy for her to win to build confidence. Maybe I'll be bored to tears but hopefully not.

Class starts tonight! So exciting!

Confidence Building

Something very much on my mind.

Alicia, an agility friend I had the privilege of meeting and training with last winter summed it up very well in this blog here: Are you Nagging Your Dog?

If it is not exceedingly clear to Nike how to earn reinforcement, then she has zero patience to work through something. She does not work through confusion - she'll leave.

So:

Ignore the bad, celebrate the good and of course, the dog is never wrong. If she gets something wrong, stop on something she can do and and reward that.

Build the dog up.

In an online class with Sarah Stremming, she talks about a dog stepping to the line with their human partner and giving 110% playing the game with reckless abandon. Never take for granted what you are asking the dog for.

That focus, the relationship and the trust necessary for that are built. They're nurtured and grown into that. Sometimes it's like a delicate flower that needs some pretty specific needs met to grow and thrive. Other times maybe (due to the dog's desire to do-the-thing) more like a weed that seems to thrive in very desolate conditions.

The dog is always right. They are trying. When they get it wrong it is a direct reflection of your training (or coaching.) Pay the dog!

So:

As we embark on this chapter of Nike's career and start to test performance with some agility trials, remember this. Do not correct mistakes on course, build confidence. Do not worry about anything but the dog beside you and making her feel like playing this game with you is the best thing in the world.

Run fast, give it your all!

Be brave, you can do this!

Fly high! The journey will take your breath away.

No matter what happens, it'll be fun!

Aaand ... Back!

I stopped blogging about stuff last August, so it's fitting that I start again in August, right?!

Stuff happened, but really, nothing has changed. Back this week from holidays in the 'Pass. 9 days of 30 degree heat, no smoke (from the crazy forest fires) and no work. It was great. Time to get stuff back on track and try turning over a "new leaf"so to speak.

1) Facebook is an EPIC time waste. STOP wasting so much time on it. Hence the blogging. Pictures can go here. Training stuff goes here - and really I don't share that stuff on FB anyway.

2) It's helpful to be able to look back on things. Nice to look back on things where I'm not as concerned about other people's reactions/thoughts.

3) STOP caring about what other people think. My dog - our journey. Was it what I thought it was going to be going in? Nope. But that is not the point, the point is getting to where I want to be.

Also, Survey Monkey for class improvement.

So. Journal the training with the dogs. Take pictures. Synopsis here - once a week.