Some Days You're the Dog; Some Days You're the Hydrant

Crappy day at work.  Semi jack-knifed on the Don Holt Bridge.  Traffic at a standstill.   Drive home took over an hour.   On arrival, discovered that landscapers cut privacy shrubs down to nubs.  No time for dinner.  On the road again.  Late for class.  Tropical Storm Beryl threatening rain.  Exhausted.  Why am I here?  Ugh.

And so it goes.  All the “stuff” we human partners bring to the agility field and to our canine teammates.  Frustration.  Bad moods.  Job loss.  Death of a loved one.  Illness in the family.  Break-up.  Divorce.  Marriage.  Birth of a baby.  New job.  Final exams.  Big presentation at work.  Filling orders for clients.  The list goes on...given all that “happens” to us in our lives, it is a wonder that our doggies run agility for us with all of our human baggage.  But, they cheerfully oblige and are happy to be with us.

For many of us, we became involved in dog agility because it is fun to train our doggies and to escape from all the trappings of the real world.  During the hour or so we spend in classes and practices, we focus solely on our relationship with our dog and how to be a better team when running agility.   If just for that little piece of time, we are (or should be) oblivious to all the outside “stuff” in our human world.

But, if it were only so simple...I was exhausted and plain ole “didn’t want to be there” during Tuesday night’s class.  Of course, I did not tell anyone (especially Jefferson!) but he had trouble running a simple 5-7 obstacle jumping exercise without running off and sniffing.  At first, I blamed it on all the yummy treats on the ground from Intro class; next, I determined that he must be “stressed;” lastly, the instructor recommended I give stronger commands to get him focused.  All these explanations were probably true to some extent; but, the biggest reason for Jefferson’s lack of attention was me and my “didn’t want to be there” attitude.

As a handler, my biggest responsibility is to be true to my teammate:  to want to be there.  I have the good fortune of owning such a sensitive, soft dog who knows my mood even before I acknowledge it.  So, it is up to me to be in the moment whenever I am “doing” agility with Jefferson.  He picks up on my attitude – for better or worse – and sometimes we do not get a desired outcome. 

Dr. Phil would say that the first step to overcome any undesired result is to acknowledge it.  You cannot change what you do not recognize.  So, from now on, if I do not “want to be there” then I owe it to my partner, to not be there.  If I am unable to give my best to my doggie during a practice or class, then I should respectfully not attend and wait for another day when I am better able to be there for my dog. 

Sometimes we can tune out all the outside “stuff” and sometimes we cannot.  It is up to the human to make an informed decision that is for the betterment of the dog agility team.  

Sometimes you're the Louisville slugger; sometimes you're the ball!

 

“The dog has seldom been successful in pulling man up to its level of sagacity, but man has frequently dragged the dog down to his.”
~ James Thurber 

Will you succeed? Yes you will indeed! (98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)

We had the best trial experience to date this past weekend.  For the first time at our “home” field of Low Country Dog Agility (LCDA), I was relaxed, no upset tummy and no real nerves.  Yippee!!  But, most importantly, Jefferson had a few great runs without shutting down to stand and look at me.  In fact, in three of his runs, he was the fastest I have seen him run in a long time.  I was particularly proud of his debut in Advanced Gamblers – winning 1^st place, 25 points and running fast and confident.  That’s my boy!   During the 25 second opening, I had planned a lot of running and a flowing course that would encourage him to keep moving.  My strategy was successful - he “got” the gamble except that he launched off the down contact of his running dogwalk.  Hey, that’s the chance I take with having a running dogwalk that we have not proofed in a while.  (I have been focusing on the motivation part of training more than reinforcing obstacle performance.  Lesson learned.)  Here’s the awesome run:

Still another run that I am equally proud of is our Snookers run.   This is the best-looking 4^thplace finish I have ever seen and am as proud of this as I am of any “Q!”  Again, I planned as flowing of a course possible based on the position of the three red obstacles.  Jefferson stayed with me, ran fast and even was not offended, i.e. “shut down” when I called him back to take the tunnel in the opening (which he did!)   Unfortunately, after he made it over jump 7-A, he hauled butt past the 6 weave poles (7-B) so we earned 31 points in this Snooker run.  But, boy can he run…and fast too!  

Finally, I was so proud of our jumpers run - we were running so smooth and fast.  Again, Jefferson was quick, confident and staying with me while we ran this course.  Oops…J-Dawg rocketed too fast around the pinwheel near the end and headed straight to the finish jump.  Oh, well…we both had a blast and were running together as a team.  Yay!!  

I could not be more proud of Jefferson.  I can see results from our training and my implementing Stuart Mah’s advice to run whatever course Jefferson and I have made-up and have a party of praise and cookies at the end (outside the ring of course!)  I set Team J-Dawg goals and accomplished them all; not a one of them was to earn a “Q.”  Ironically, we performed more as a team and ran better when I changed my priorities.  I wanted us to run together as a team, to have fun and to reduce the amount of stress on Jefferson (and me too!).

For me, I have learned the biggest lesson of all – to remember to have fun and to not compare myself and my dog to other competitors.  So what if we are still in Starters?!  What’s the rush to move up anyways?  We have a lot of “kinks” to work out and being in Starters gives us the opportunity to perfect our team so that when (notice I did not say “if”) we advance, we will be well-prepared.  Much like whenever I ran the Savannah Half-Marathon last November, I was content to just finish and enjoy being in the moment during my 13.1 mile run.  I ran my own race and did not compare my performance to the lithe and nimble Kenyans.   

So, too, is agility a half-marathon of sorts…handlers and their doggie partners develop their unique training plans, log in the hours of training in order to gain the satisfaction of running their own race.  This weekend, we truly enjoyed running our own race and having fun being in the moment....that is what it is all about.  And all the rest is just gravy!

'Cause Mama I'm Sure Hard to Handle Now...

During the Lynne Stephens Seminar on Sunday, she led a discussion about dog agility handling systems.  She threw out names such as Greg Derrett, Linda Mecklenburg, Stuart Mah, Greg and Dudley Fontaine.  But, what, pray tell, did any of these have to do with Jefferson and I running a dog agility course!?  I have taken lessons with Stuart Mah; read Linda Mecklenburg’s book, Developing Handling Skills for Awesome Agility Teams; watched Greg Derrett’s DVD on jumping; even walked an AKC Time2Beat course with Greg and Dudley Fontaine (not really “with” them, but they were out there strategizing while I was walking the course).  So, I began to think about handling systems and how having one, would help Team J-Dawg.

To me, a handling system is a method that a handler consistently uses to communicate to his or her dog the path to correctly, safely and most efficiently run an agility course.   But, which “one” do I use?  Hmm…maybe, herein lies one of our biggest problems:  “consistently uses to communicate.”  Of this I am sure, I am not consistent but am consistently trying to be more consistent...talk about irony!  I have continued to work on front crosses, rear crosses, RFP’s, acceleration and deceleration cues, directionals and the like.  As we continue to practice and work together, I will become more confident and consistent with my handling; Jefferson will be more responsive to my methods and better able to read what cues I am giving.

Still another part of my handling that needs improvement is that I am watching Jefferson too much while running the course rather than looking ahead at the next obstacle.  I somehow developed this habit lately because I have subconsciously been worried about him not taking the obstacles or shutting down so I want to figuratively and literally “keep an eye on him. “  I need to improve on watching him with my peripheral vision and not turning my head to glance his way.  This results in him losing speed and feeling “pressure” from my not trusting him to take the correct obstacle.   Last night, I ran a sequence during class without my “evil eye” glaring down - his speed improved and our run was smoother.

Now, back to Lynne Stephens...I appreciate that she acknowledged that there is not "one" way to handle a dog, a sequence or a course for that matter.  It seems to me that learning what handling system works best for you and your dog is part of the fun (and challenge) as we press onward in our awesome agility adventures!




“The finest qualities of our nature, like the bloom on fruits, can be preserved only by the most delicate handling.”
~Henry David Thoreau 

The Dog Agility "Soup Nazi"

I feel like the dog agility equivalent to the "Soup Nazi" from one of Seinfeld's funniest episodes:  "No treats for you!"

This has been another week of successful training without food in the ring.  During our practices, classes and run-throughs, I have been sticking to my pre-trial routine and treating Jefferson prior to our runs and none during the performance of the course.  He gets his cookies after we have completed the run; I have verbally praised him and patted him for up to 15 seconds; I place his leash back on him; and we exit together and go get the cookies.  He seems to be responsive to this new, cookie-free training.  

We did replicate a breakdown of sorts during Sunday’s run-throughs.  He ignored the weave poles and ran past them (they were obstacle #2), refused to perform a “down” on the table, and sniffed around the field for a bit.  Again, this indicates he was stressed.  I was glad to take note of his behavior because I was not a bit stressed like I would be at a trial.  In fact, I was enjoying the day and talking with friends so there is no way he could have “picked up on a stress vibe” from me because I did not have one!  Jefferson’s observed stress behavior further pointed to the issue of food in the ring as a big obstacle to our trial performances.  I think that to him, he is “stressed” because he wants to know where the food is when he performs all the obstacles for mom:  a difference between practice and the real deal at a trial.

As I continue to work on and reinforce the absence of food in the ring, I would also like to begin to add toys and play as a reward for agility behavior.  Even though Jefferson just turned three last month, he is one crazy, playful pup around the house.  From the moment I come in from work until bedtime, we play tug, fetch, chase and other games around the house.  And when he wakes up the next morning, he jumps out of bed and races to grab one of his toys to begin playing with me before I even can crawl out from under the covers.  It seems to me that I want this same enthusiasm (and same crazy dog!) on the agility field.  So, I am training him the proper “tug” method from reading Susan Garrett and other trainer’s materials and working on “tugging” in other environments.  This will be exciting to add to our agility repertoire! 

We have an evening/night trial next weekend and I could not be more thrilled to put all our recent training to the test.  Stuart Mah warned me that I will have to “eat” a few trial entries to establish a new pattern with Jefferson but that is okay with me.  It takes the pressure off of me to “Q” but rather lets me assess how well the teacher and student are doing in playing the fun game of agility!

"Who dares to teach must never cease to learn."
~John Cotton Dana

Run Forrest Run!!

We have just returned from an agility marathon of sorts – class on Thursday night, an AKC trial on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, class on Monday night, and finally, helping out with the Intro to Agility class on Tuesday night.  Whew - I am beat!  I could not be more proud of how well Jefferson has performed during the last 5 days.  He is a real trooper!

As per our modus operandi, we aced our classes on Thursday and Monday nights.  He was especially fast during Thursday night’s class and Standard run – finishing clean in 35 seconds.  Not too shabby for a Cocker Spaniel!  I was so excited about our 3 day AKC trial and looking forward to the implementation our training plan from Stuart Mah.

We were signed-up for 4 events each day:  Open FAST, Novice JWW, Novice Standard and Time 2 Beat.  I knew it would be a challenge for me to uphold my end of the training plan – whenever Jefferson took an off-course, I am to “go with it” and make-up my own agility course without attempting any corrections; rather, keep running fast and with enthusiasm like this was the planned course.  I have to say – by the end of the weekend – I was getting pretty good at agility course design.

Despite this, we did have a few good runs – especially in Open FAST and our last Time 2 Beat when he finally ran the actual course that the judge designed.  I especially enjoy FAST (much like USDAA Gamblers but not as fun) because the handler gets to make-up his/her own course in order to accumulate points to gain the “Q.”  We missed the send bonus on the following run – by missing the first jump – but he accumulated 42 points in 27.7 seconds (course time is 35 seconds and 55 points needed).  Such a fast little boy…so proud of his enthusiasm!! 

Run Forrest (ahem...Jefferson, I mean...) RUN:

One of my favorite runs is “our” Novice JWW because it is totally made-up but looks like the actual course.  My goal was to keep Jefferson running and happy so here is this one:

By the end of the weekend, he was running very fast and even made it through the last Time 2 Beat course as it was written.  Unfortunately, I did not get this run on video; instead, over 5 minutes of grass, talking and views of all our butts and shoes….

Overall, this weekend was such a training success for Team J-Dawg.  The temperatures were in the mid to upper 80s all three days and I was very worried about keeping Jefferson running.  Last year during a very hot trial, he either slowly trotted the course or just stood around looking at me.  Cocker Spaniels especially are known to get tired pretty quickly and not be too keen on the heat.  So, the mere fact that he ran – and ran fast – is a huge accomplishment. 

Another competitor came up to me after one of our faster runs and said that she noticed how well I was handling Jefferson to keep him motivated to run.  She shared a few nuggets of wisdom with me that really hit close to home. 

In order to get a clean agility run, your dog must run with joy, confidence and speed.  Most of the times when your dog blows a contact, will not go “down” on the table, or refuses the weave poles during a trial, it is due to one of those three things lacking:  joy, confidence or speed.  As the team leader, the handler is responsible for ensuring our partners are experiencing joy on the run.  If they have joy, the dog (and handler) will run with confidence and speed.  I was so glad to hear this – talk about the “right words at the right time.” 

 

A good book by Marlo Thomas by the way…

Looking forward to keeping up with our training plan and continued success during the coming months! 

"A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver."

~Proverbs 25:11