This week we finally got some agility practice in…kinda. Since we have taken off the latter part of July and most of the month of
August due to the heat, I was a bit concerned that maybe Jefferson “forgot” how
to “do” agility. Boy, was I wrong!! Our club had run-throughs on Sunday and I was worried that we were probably going to be a bit rusty, so I decided to take him out to
the field on Saturday evening to try a couple jumping exercises, including
weave pole entries. When I arrived at
the field, there was a 14 obstacle course already set-up and I chose to try our
luck with this rather than move all the heavy equipment off the field. It was a nice course – giving me
opportunities to practice front and rear crosses; send to the weaves; the
dogwalk; and teeter.
I used our pre-trial routine (changed a bit since last trial…holding
him before frantically dropping him for our running start.) Much to my surprise, that boy was off – and I
mean running fast, as the country sayin’ goes “like a bat out of hell!” I could barely keep up, but he and I ran
together – smooth, fast and most of all –
he nailed it! Clean run. First try.
Beautiful weaves. Confident
teeter. Lightning fast dogwalk. Whew!
I was tired but thrilled that he had not “forgotten” how to “do”
agility. In fact, it was like he missed
it and was running with wild and free abandon. On our next few runs, I did break the course down; working weaves from different angles (got ‘em
every time!) and the running dogwalk. Well, the
dogwalk performance started to deteriorate as he got faster; he starting
leaping on the downside and not getting his contact. Looks like the dogwalk is our next obstacle performance training for us to focus on so that he knows what the criteria are….I plan on pulling out the clicker
to “fix” his running dogwalk performance.
On Sunday afternoon, prior to my getting lessons together to
teach for my high school students, Team J-Dawg went to run-throughs. I was glad that the temperatures were not too
hot. Our club set-up a Starters Snooker
course from the trial in July. This was
the course that I did not even attempt to earn a “Q;” rather, I just wanted to
get Jefferson to happily run with me and stick by my side. In fact, during the actual trial, we just
completed three (3) obstacles. Here is
the map (the pink is the “course” I ran in July and the orange is the course I
ran on Sunday):
I was really looking forward trying to run the opening (1-7; 1-7; 1-6; closing) and
earning 37 points during our practice. The
first time, he dropped a bar (2nd #1) but we kept on going through the opening - close and he
stayed with me, was fast and confident.
On our second run, Jefferson was such a good boy! He stayed with me; we were connected and ran
as a real team. It was one of our best
runs (too bad I didn’t get it on video…) I was just so proud of my little
boy! He was having so much fun (and me too!!)
I believe that our agility-free month was really good for
both of us. It gave me time to not be so
focused on being the perfect agility handler and time to spend hanging out with
Jefferson. It gave Jefferson time to
enjoy being a “dog” with no performance expectations. In short, we both needed a break. And the great news is that Team J-Dawg is back
and excited about training with renewed enthusiasm for a successful trialing
season. Now, of course….we must start
our homework so I don't have to tell my students that "my dog ate it!"
"Rest when you're weary. Refresh and renew yourself, your body, your mind, your spirit. Then get back to work."
~Ralph Marston
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