3..2..1..Contact

My life is ruled by contacts, running ones, 2 on 2 off ones, trying to make business ones :)
Contact training with the boys is a never ending task, at the last trial, Rival hit 3 out of 8 dogwalks-not bad for a boy who had been on the dogwalk once in the past month. AND, he picked the important classes to hit-Team Standard and Grand Prix (although I really wanted one in Advanced Standard to finish his AAD). He only missed one A-frame and had one teeter fly off. Brink on the other hand, hit all his dogwalks (although not always holding a 2 on 2 off position) and only hit 3 of his A-frames and probably 2 teeters. I can't remember how many A-frames and teeters he did in the weekend but considering it was a 3 day USDAA trial I bet there were a lot.
So, I have added a hoop to Brink's A-frame box training, in hopes that he will learn to keep his head down and not try to one stride the down side. I also hope that Santa will bring me an A-frame for Christmas. I just don't think I can keep his running A-frame consistent without one at home. It's amazing how a perfect running A-frame can disintegrate in ONE week without training. For his dogwalk, I'm trying a more upbeat 'feet', rather than telling him harshly to 'feet'. I'm trying to get thousands of repetitions over the holiday week, using the down side of the teeter with the up side stabilized so it can't tip. So far Brink seems to be enjoying the drills and understanding the position. Today we were able to progress to having a tennis ball about 6 feet away from the end of the teeter and Brink still hitting his 2 on 2 off position. The next test will be throwing the ball while telling him to 'go feet', and then the squirrel will come out. Last time we proofed his contact with the flying squirrel, Brink decided he couldn't move, all he could do was stare at the squirrel.
After setting up the teeter contraption, it struck me that this also would be good for drilling Rival's running dogwalk. I'm so excited that I figured this out, I'm hoping it will make Rival's dogwalk a little more consistent. He really was fun to run with at the USDAA trial, the new attitude is really paying off with him.
We're taking a short break from trialing, so with all this contact training, I'm sure the boys will be 100% by January:)

Turning Over a New Leaf

This weekend I went to a small, local AKC trial. Friday was excellent only and I have to admit I wasn't too excited about running Rival. The past two ASCA trials with Rival have only been mediocre, with moments when I felt like he really didn't want to run. So on Friday, I wasn't motivated, but I also wasn't nervous. The standard course was tricky and there was a lot of complaining going on. I tried not to add to the complaining, but there was one area that every time I got to it, I just thought, "Rival can't do that". Even though we need two Standard Q's to get his Excellent A title, I decided I just wanted to go out there and have fun. I was going to run how I wanted to run and hope that Rival had fun, too. Success! We were no where near a Q, but Rival really seemed to have fun, he kept his speed up and he never shut down.
That night I discover Daisy Peel's blog. I saw Daisy Peel compete at the Utah Regional this past summer and can honestly say that not only was I impressed by her skills and her dogs, I was impressed with how she handled herself around the ring. I never saw her upset or complaining. She really was the epitome of a good sportsman, even when Solar's running contact caused on off course in Grand Prix. I decided I need to change my philosophy on agility plus change my mental management, and Saturday was my first day to experiment with it.
On Saturday, I would be running both Rival and Brink. Brink is still in Open and I really would like to move into to Excellent, but running safe and babysitting would do nothing to help our long term goals. On Rival's course the dog walk was the 3rd obstacle and led to tunnel. My goal: run like Daisy Peel and beat Rival to the tunnel, run as aggressively as possible and keep Rival having fun. Again, this run wasn't a Q but it was FUN! I beat Rival to the tunnel (he did get called on the DW contact) but I didn't babysit. If you want running contacts, what's the point of be next to the contact, trying to get the dog to slow down and hit? I ran the rest of the course aggressively pushing Rival everywhere I could. He did have some off courses, but he even kept his speed up in the weaves. With Brink, I couldn't stay quite as relaxed as with Rival, but I had the same mindset. I know we are having issues with our A-frame, but what's the point of standing there babysitting just to get the Q? I ran aggressively and we had one of his best dogwalks ever, but dropped the #5 bar. We continued to push and he did miss the A-frame contact. It wasn't a Q, but I was happy with how ran and my attitude. In jumpers, I wanted to be just as aggressive, but I believe he was still wound up from standard and he dropped 4 bars. It was hard to maintain a good attitude after this round, that is something I need to work on. I wonder if I just don't like jumpers as much as standard and that carries over to the dogs.
I know the things each dog needs to work on, but the trial is not the place to work on it. Next weekend I am going to continue this philosophy and we will have just as much fun. Oh, and we will be working all week on reinforcing hitting the contact zones. :)

PS: I have to give credit to Elicia Calhoun as well for this philosophy. Years ago she would tell me run, have fun, be aggressive, pretend this is the last run of your life. I guess it just took 5 years for it to sink in. ;)