I decided to opt out of doing any agility trials this weekend. No doubt, that as I read my friends texts or Facebook posts about how well they did - I started to wonder why I didn't enter... but it was the right choice. I didn't because I was tired - I did a 2 day trial, 4 days of the Susan Garrett Seminar, then the 3 day USDAA SC Regional Trial... I had enough for the month.
Steppin' Back or Jumpin' around?
But to be honest - I have really been trying to take a step back and figure out how to address some of the issues we are having. As much as I wanted to qualify in Steeple and Grand Prix for Nationals - Jumping from one trial to the next with getting maybe one class in between wasn't going to address some very fundamental foundation issues we are having as a handler/dog team. Matter of fact - I think it was steadily increasing some of the bad behavior, both on Hemi's part and mine!
I stepped back, wrote down some things I wanted to address and made a plan...
Workin' Hard.
I spent some time at home teaching Hemi what I want to see at the end of a contact... reviewing video showed me two things. One: that in a rush to get to the next obstacle, I consistently released her before her feet hit the ground. A few of those and her criteria for what I want has already become very grey. Two: at the end of the contact is where she tends to sass me and as I mentioned in my last post I wanted to give her a job to do! - Now - I know what I have to see before I release and she has a job.
In addition to contact work my training this weekend I took two other things into consideration.
One, working on keeping my eye on my dog as we ran (I couldn't think of any foundation to do at home to help with this.)
Two, forward focus for Hemi. If she sees obstacles in front her her, I need her to drive forward and not look to me - again - this is where I saw some more of the barking. Driving forward until my body tells her otherwise should be her "job".
Gettin' er done!
I made my plan and put it into motion. We packed up our bag o' toys, video camera, treats, water, journal and headed to the field. Unfortunately - my camera was full so I only got one good video taping session.
I did some interactive playing with her (Susan Garrett calls this important moment before training 'relationship building') and did a speed circle with her on the jumpers side. Wow - it felt good.
Then we did some work on the standard side! Forward Focus - I strategically put a toy in a front of some jumps and drove toward it - falling back a bit so she would continue driving forward!
Success! - again this time toy on the table - Success! Contact Work - nose touch--nose touch--nose touch! She did her job very well. Success! One time I got her to break her contact with throwing the tennis ball, but the next time she wasn't going to fall for it. Success!
One... I repeat... One Sass the entire 45 minutes we were on the field. Amazing! I even bobbled to try to make her sass... nope.. quiet as a mouse. I am really curious to see how that comes into play in class on Wednesday when she has an "audience".
I wrote down my notes, played with Hemi, threw the frog ball a couple of times and headed back home feeling pretty good about the morning!
A few more of those - and I think Hemi and I will be a different team to be reckoned with! Common USDAA courses - Bring it on! :o)
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