Challenges

Well, this weekend’s Carolina Piedmont Agility trial was one of the most discouraging events in which Jefferson and I have participated.  While I was not at all preoccupied with “Q’s,” I was expecting Jefferson and me to at least run ONE course together.  One out of fifteen isn’t too much to ask?  Apparently, for one Cocker Spaniel and handler it is….

We were eliminated in nine out of fifteen runs.  We only received 3 ribbons because there were two or three entered in our classes.  I was really surprised he did not run with me because on Thursday night’s
For Exhibition Only run, he got his weave poles, stayed with me, and caused me to have absolutely no reason to doubt our upcoming trial performance.  So, after months of our training and working on running a course as a team, we are officially back to square one.  

Here's a sample of our meltdowns:

On the positive side, our problem is not primarily my handling our Jefferson’s obstacle performance; rather, his not running a course with me  - refusing to run is more like it.  He would start out great, running fast and performing the obstacles, until, BAM…he would stop in his tracks and refused to go on.  Until you have a dog that does this, it is so hard for anyone to understand how that feels.   He has had very good practices over the last several months, only shutting down after a bout with diarrhea.  I have officially tried different pre-trial routines and none has really made any difference.  We don’t practice for a week; we practice the day before; I don’t feed him breakfast; I feed him breakfast; he gets steak as a reward; he gets peanut butter; he does tricks for me; he doesn’t do tricks for me; he gets brought out right before his run; he stays out a long time before his run; we enter a couple events; we enter five events; the list goes on and his running for me is still as unpredictable as ever.

 

 After this emotionally exhausting weekend, I have seriously been considering not running him in agility anymore.  When do you give up and throw in the towel?  It is interesting to me that I like to run and even have completed three half-marathons.  I am a runner – an extremely slow one, but I really enjoy the personal satisfaction in training my body to run 13.1 miles to accomplish my goal.  I am keenly aware that I am not in competition with the Kenyans – even more – I am not in competition with my thinner, faster friends.  I am aware of my physical limitations and have accepted that fact.  Instead, I am proud to run and finish any race I enter.  Even if I finish last, I am far ahead of the person who stayed in bed that morning.  

But, with dog agility, I have not accepted our team’s limitations and am still trying to compete with the “Kenyans” and my thinner, faster friends of the dog agility world.  It would be one thing if I knew that Jefferson did not possess the technical agility skills.  He does.  While my handling is not the greatest, I do pretty well for a beginner and understand how my body’s motion works to give my dog information about how to run a course.    The thing is, I KNOW that we can do it and CAN run great together as a team.  We do well in practice.  Herein is the extreme frustration of not being able to transfer that behavior to a trial. Truthfully, it is pretty embarrassing to always be the dog and handler who make a fool of themselves at every trial.  He is so darn cute and cannot hide in the sea of shelties.  We stand out like a sore thumb!  

A few good-meaning people casually asked me if I had considered “getting another dog.”  OF COURSE NOT!!  Did my parents exchange me for an Asian child prodigy whenever I did not turn into a piano virtuoso!!??  Keep those “working” breeds.   I want to run agility with MY dog and I want him to WANT to run with me.  

I have started re-reading a few good dog training books such as "Don't Shoot the Dog!" to refresh my training repertoire.  We have a lot of work to do!! 

“Don't give up! It's not over. The universe is balanced. Every set-back bears with it the seeds of a come-back.”
― Steve Maraboli