I just do not have words to say how grateful I am for all of you that left such nice and supportive comments to my last post. All of you just made me feel so much better, how do you all know just the right things to say? Agility people and dog people can be the BEST! I was just plain down thinking about how hard this is all seeming again, I really felt like the last trial knocked us down a peg, but it was a good thing because it really has highlighted what we need to do to get to the next level. Thanks so much Morganne for the suggestion about the rear cross exercises, I am going to set those up the first of next week. If I finish teaching the weaves so they are taught better and not just taught good enough that would take care of more then half of our refusals ;-), so no way around it I am going to have to make that happen.
WE HAVE A BUSY WEEK with agility things ;-). I am resisting the urge to run out and try to fix all the holes I saw last weekend by the next trial. Realistically, that is not going to happen, four days that are also full of lessons and where the heat is going to be well over 100 just is not four days where we can do anything more then tweak a few things in how we are running and I do not want to start to feel like agility is a pressure cooker for us. So this week I am going to play some stay games, we can do that in the house. We will do some playing around with the weaves and I am playing some games with the table because it would have helped so much to be able to have her send to the table better like she does to the tunnel. For some reason at home she LOVES the table but at trials she will twirl before she jumps on or waits for me to tell her again to jump up. I do not hover over her, in fact I usually step well away from the table and she does just jump up and gets into a position and holds it, and she releases with a blast, it is just she waits for me to get there and to resay to jump on the table. I figure that is about all we can handle in addition to all the classes we have this week. The last week of classes for a long time ;-(.
Hopefully we can get some things worked on during our classes this week, but I am not looking for huge things to happen before this weekend at the trial and I am leaving a few more weeks open for training before we get another trial lined up. SOOOOOOO Friday and Saturday are the big days of the next two trials. Friday esp. promises to be a real scortcher, I am dreading that. The trial is at the same place and Friday is going to be a one ring at a time trial, so it will be a little more low keyed and it will be easier to park and we will not have to hike in as far. Saturday is a two ring trial and will be a lot less low key and it will be way busier then last weekend or then Friday will be.
10 comments:
Kathy,
This is in reference to the comments you made on my blog regarding the deceleration. If you look up the series of Clean Run articles Linda M. wrote on her handling system (2009), or in her jumping book, DJS, in one of them she talks about how to train a Forward Send which is what I was cueing in my practice drill. Even though the handler is decelerating and eventually will stop and change direction, the dog is trained to continue ahead and take the single jump, turn, and follow the handler's motion. The forward cues are shoulders forward facing jump, inside arm, and a verbal "jump" cue.
THANKS, it explains where we were we would run into problems sometimes ;-) and were missing a piece of the puzzle. I hope you dont mind my asking but I feel like I have learned a lot from you and when I looked at those exercises I knew that we would have trouble and I must be missing something, you are the best for taking the time to help. ;-)
Actually sitting and thinking about it, gosh that just makes so much sense.....and no wonder we have had such problems, I was thinking it was just me not being good and having to stop, but then there were times when how could I avoid stopping??? So it is like a huge lightbulb went off, so glad I asked because now I see what we were missing....
You sound like you have a great plan. You certainly can't fix everything before your next trial, but you are now aware of the areas in which you need to work and I think next weekend you will be really successful. Sorry I missed commenting on your last post, I've been reading but I've been in sort of a blogging slump where I just can't think of the words to say to people - but believe me, you are a SUPERB agility handler and you and Breeze have gotten so far, and will only go farther and farther!
I can't imagine trialing in July - I hope it's not too hot for you guys next weekend!
Anytime Kathy! I enjoy the exchange of information. You know the hardest thing for me to learn was WHEN to stop forward motion. I tend to want to run all the time and stopping and waiting (patience) is just as important with these fast dogs.
I'm so glad you are feeling better about things, and having a plan always helps! I don't know where I would be without my blogging buddies. It's great having my own personal cheerleading squad!
Im glad you can see the positive. Sometimes that is such a hard thing, esp. for me. Sometimes when Ive left the ring and feel terrible, I walk up to Meagan and she finds something, in the mist of disaster, that was great in my run. She isnt fishing either. She'll just say, "wow, your dog was one of the few dogs not so spin coming out of the tunnel". So I try to be like her. When I see someones run and they seem down, Ill try to go up to them and tell them something I liked about their run.
You guys are doing great. It takes a long time to run like a well trained team. Im sure things will come together this weekend. Diana
I know what you mean about coming home from a trial or a class even and wanting to run out and train and try to cram lots in and make huge progress happen quickly! It's definitely all a process and once we get one thing, there is something else to learn/relearn but ultimately that's what makes it fun, I think. You bond more with your dog and become a better team from all the hard work!
I enjoy Morganne's comments and watching her run - she makes me understand the APHS better! What she said about the forward send is great - the dog has to have LOTS of forward cues in order to go ahead and take the jump when the handler decels. And if the dog is Ricky, I often have to get really close to the jump to send him over as his commitment point is so late!
Good luck this weekend!!! Hope it ends up being not too hot and hope you and Breeze have lots of fun!
That sounds like a great plan. Good luck at your trials and enjoy your games this week. :)
Down times are hard. The important thing is staying optimistic and looking ahead, which you're doing a great job of! Have fun with training this week and stay cool on Friday! We had a hot spell last week (insane heat, especially for Canada) and it wasn't fun!
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