The "Trials" of "Trials"

Momma wants me to get extra sleep before this weekend's trial!

Well, we have almost made it!  In a few days, we will be participating in our first trial since July and I am really excited (and not nearly as nervous as I have been before past trials).  This week makes me ponder why the agility competitions are called “trials” as opposed to “meets” or even “competition.”   But, in reality, “trial” is an appropriate term because agility “trials” can be, well….”trying!”   First off, the handler is concerned about how ready you and your dog are going to be to meet the challenges the judge has set forth in his or her course design.  Will there be a threadle or a serpentine in the Steeplechase or Grand Prix?  Will Jefferson be able to read my rear cross like he did during last weekend’s run-thrus?   Will he successfully complete his weave poles or act like he has never seen them before?   

Secondly, the heat of the weekend is enough of a “trial” for a heat-aversive Cocker Spaniel (and handler, too!).  Local meteorologists predict temperatures to top off in the mid to upper 80s.  This is a bit of a concern, especially since we are running 4 and 5 times each day.  It has been a real struggle to keep Jefferson motivated in the heat and humidity, so I am prepared to keep him cool by bringing our fan, keeping him in the shade, cooling his belly frequently and especially before he runs, rubbing an ice cube under his arms. 

As for me, I am going to drink lots of Gatorade – I may even try rubbing an ice cube under my arms too!

Also, another “trial” is wondering how will Team J-Dawg deal with the stress of the environment, including all the humans and doggies.  By this, I mean all the other handlers canoodling about, talking and analyzing “how to best run” the course.  Asking questions like, “What is your Snooker plan?  How are you going to get the Gamble?  Did you ‘Q’?”  And my personal favorite after a not so good run, “What happened?  He did so well in practice…”   (Yeah, believe me…I know!)  Handlers can ask all the questions they like to each other; but ultimately, the only person who knows how to run your dog is you!  So, if and when I do not have a clean run, it is up to me to determine how to improve my handling to better communicate with Jefferson.  It sounds so easy; but yet, it is so very complex.  This is what keeps agility challenging, exciting, interesting and F-U-N! 

And, once you have gotten it…I mean, finally conquered the “trials” of the “trial,” it is a great time to be had by humans and doggies alike.  Let the games begin!!!


"A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials."
~Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Gettin' Ready for a Trial!

This evening I received the running order for next weekend's trial.  I am so excited about running Jefferson and looking forward to meeting new training goals for this agility "season."

We attended run-thrus on Sunday and had another successful weekend.  I have identified a few more points needed for additional training.  First off, the running dogwalk definitely deserves more of my training time.  In particular, learning how to better handle the obstacles at the end of the dogwalk.  For example, this weekend's Standard course (all three levels) had a 90 degree entry to the weave poles upon the completion of the dogwalk.  We did get our down contact, but had trouble getting the entry since it was not straight in front of the dogwalk and required  a sharp right turn.  So, I have read Sylvia Turkman's training tips for how to handle obstacles at the end of the dogwalk and have a training strategy to implement as soon as I can get the extra time.  Luckily, I have trained Jefferson verbal directionals so this would be a great time for me to use them.  For some reason, I only seem to use directionals when approaching jumps or tunnels - they work for contacts too so I need to remember that while running a course.  Overall, I am pleased with Jefferson's increased speed; he seems really enthusiastic and happy to be running agility (even without treats on the field!)  I have also determined that I need desperately to get a back in shape with my own running.  With the added stress of work, I have neglected my own physical fitness and can no longer continue down this path if I want to be able to "keep up" with Jefferson and have any hope of completing a front cross!! 

So, for next weekend's trial, I am going to be realistic that I will not have had time to learn how to better handle the turns at the end of a running dogwalk.  Instead, I am going to do my best, have fun and party like a rock star at the end of our runs!   Go team J-Dawg!!





"There are only two options regarding commitment. You're either IN or you're OUT. There's not such things as life in-between."   ~Pat Riley

Ahoy, Mates! A Fun Agility-Filled Week

Ahoy, mates!  In honor of International Talk Like a Pirate Day, I thought I would smartly (pirate translation = "do something quickly") share our week's progress in agility.  We had a blast in Thursday and Saturday classes.  I have been so impressed with  how well Jefferson seems to be reading my cues, even if I  might mess up once in a while.  Looks like Jefferson had been "unleashing his inner buccaneer!"

Thursday night we ran a Master Level Standard course, and Jefferson did a wonderful job in getting his weave poles and staying motivated for me during our run.  I was exceptionally proud of his getting his weave poles; more importantly, if he pulls out at the 10th pole, he "lets" me come back and have a do-over.  This is HUGE for Team J-Dawg since he has been so sensitive to my mistakes and reluctant to any do-overs.  Aye!  Aye! (pirate translation = "I'll get right on that!")  Another training tip I gleaned from Thursday night is that I watched Jefferson run rather than looking at the next obstacle.  My looking at him caused him to stop, look at me, pant and avast (pirate translation = "stop and give attention...get off!")  This is another a-ha moment (as Oprah would say).  Once I focused on the obstacle ahead and trusted Jefferson to run the course with me, he did and we were extremely successful.  So, my goals for the next few weeks are to use more of my peripheral vision and trust Jefferson to take the obstacles.  

Still another learning moment occurred when we were performing the running contact on the dogwalk.  I have to admit, I have not taken the time to train the running dogwalk as I learned earlier this year during the Daisy Peel seminar.  Between work and other obligations, I have not put in the time needed to gain the consistency in Jefferson's performance.  However, I did experiment with some handling moves this week and noticed that when I applied pressure to Jefferson when he was running the down portion of the dogwalk, he got his contact.  In other words, no matter how far out I started when he ran up the dogwalk, when he was on his descent, I pushed the line to apply pressure.  Of course, this will not work if the dogwalk is in the advanced gamble similar to May's gamblers course.  I will need to work making sure J (pirate translation = "Jefferson") knows his criteria and bring out the clicker and a training buddy to help me.

Saturday we ran a Master's level jumpers course and J did so well!  I handled the serpentines and threadles fairly clean and J read my handling.  Arr! (pirate translation = "yes!")  We did not do well the third time we ran the course...Arrgh (pirate translation = "sound you make when you sit on a pin!")  I was tired; J was tired; and honestly, Team J-dawg does not thrive very well with repetition.   We both get easily bored.  If we got it right the first time, why keep doing it over?  Oh, well...

And on Sunday, after an "elimination" 1st run (pooping right before entering the ring and finishing up with peeing after about 3 obstacles....Arrgh), we had a nice 2nd run and J stayed with me.  Only one stoppage on the course, but rather than stand there, I looked at him and used our new command, "Here" and he took off and we finished clean.  Success!!!  Although we still have to set the sails to be (pirate translation  = "more work to do") this week's training had made me so Grog-filled (pirate translation = "happy").

 "To err is human, to arr is pirate!"  ~ Captain Crook

A Peanut Butter-Filled Kong and an Icy, Cold Beer!

Today was a rough day for me - professionally.  As a teacher for over 17 years (ouch!), this school year has been one of the most challenging I have ever endured.  The demands that have been placed on me and all my other colleagues is immense:  long meetings after school; weekly lesson plans turned in to the principal; weekly observations; no classroom; serving the students breakfast; lunch duty; in school suspension duty; hall sweep duty; and double duty (haha!)  All of these arduous activities leaves me with no time to even have a "potty" break!  To say I am stressed and overwhelmed is an understatement.

After venting to my mom after work (thanks MOM!), I feel more positive and have "turned my frown upside down!"  What changed my attitude was playing with Jefferson.  Sometimes, all it takes is your dog to remind you of what is really important in life. 

Here are a few things that Jefferson has taught me:

1.  Patience in all situations.  Jefferson really did not mean to eat that $100 shoe!

2.  Live in the present.  Tomorrow is a new day and he has already forgotten that he ate my shoe seconds ago...

3.  Rewards count.  Mmmm....cheese!!! (And liverwurst, chicken, apples, fishy fudge...hey, Jefferson is a Cocker Spaniel!)

4.  Take time to rest and re-charge your batteries.  Spending most of the day crated, Jefferson gets his beauty rest and time to re-charge his energy.

5.  Have fun!  Life is too short to not run as fast you can through the weave poles!

6.  Roll around on the ground and act crazy.  This gets Jefferson excited every time before we play tug, hide and go seek, and fetch.

7. Detach from the outcome.  Our agility ribbons are extremely pretty; but, I learned more from the runs that did not earn any ribbon.

8.  Exercise often.  Walking, running and moving as much as you can helps relieve pent-up energy and stress as well as burn those extra calories (keeps Jefferson from eating paper out of boredom!)

9.  Spend quality time with family and friends.  Jefferson loves spending time "playing" agility and learning new tricks with me.  It helps us both learn from each other.

10.  There is nothing that a peanut-butter filled Kong and an icy cold beer won't cure!!  No explanation necessary....

 

These are just a few of the life lessons I have learned from my lovable, sweet doggie Jefferson.  He continues to teach me daily....




"Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude."
~Thomas Jefferson

Great Agility Instruction is an Art!

This week, all the Dog Agility Bloggers are tackling the question:  What makes a good coach/instructor?    As a fairly newbie to agility, this question caused me to reflect upon our past two years of trialing, taking numerous classes and attending a multitude of seminars.  All of these instructors have impacted Team J-Dawg’s agility performance.  But, to me, there are a few traits which make a good instructor.

First, I believe that an effective agility instructor has to possess passion for the sport.  This really impacts me because if the instructor is passionate about agility, he/she keeps up with the latest handling trends in agility. For example, the instructor will share International-style courses or a Master’s Level Gamble from a recent trial.  He/she also loves to learn about the various handling techniques; different obstacle performances (2o2o vs. running contacts); teeter learning aides; and the multiple ways to teach weave poles just to name a few.  

In addition, I feel that an agility instructor should be a great problem-solver.  Many times, we agility students go to our instructors for advice about a particular hurdle we are having with our doggies.  Whether our dog experiences motivational issues or obstacle performance issues, it is imperative that an effective instructor has “been there…done that” in order to help us overcome our particular barrier to earning the “clean run.”  Sometimes, an effective instructor may not have the answer, but he/she recommends the resources to us to help us help ourselves.  Great instructors understand that effective teaching is not a science but a form of art.

Also, I consider an agility instructor “good” if he/she has the ability to relate to the people and their dogs.  In reality, the instructor is training the handler more than the dog….the dog is the easier part of the equation!  As such, it is imperative that the instructor have exceptional interpersonal and communication skills.  He/she should be able to clearly communicate the expectations to the handler as well as the dog.  One of my professors in college used to tell his students this three-prong axiom that sticks with me to this very day:  1. Tell them what you’re gonna tell them; 2. Tell them; and 3. Tell them what you told them.

"But, Mom...I don't wanna take that tunnel!"

Finally, an effective agility instructor is an active competitor and is able to see you and your doggie compete in trials.  Many times, doggies perform clean runs during class but choke during a trial.  It does make a difference in the quality and relevancy of the advice you get from your instructor if he/she has had the opportunity to watch your runs during a trial.  Being a good agility team during an instructor’s class sometimes does not always translate to a good performance in a trial or a more stressful situation.

Overall, being a good instructor is contingent upon the instructor having passion for the sport; being a good problem-solver; possessing excellent interpersonal and communication skills; and competing actively in the sport.   If an instructor has these “magic” ingredients, he/she makes a great impact in the sport of agility by assisting many teams learn to have fun working together and earn clean runs!

"The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery."
~Mark Van Doren 

You Deserve a Break Today!

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   

Eatin' 3rd Place Ribbons!

Jefferson wants to play so he eats his 3rd place ribbon!

Today was the first day of school for me and my high school students.  It was a great day – the students were engaged, smiling and interacting with each other and we all had fun.  Overall, one of the best “first days” I have had in my 17 years (gasp!) as an educator.   As I reflect about what made it a good day, it all comes back to me and my attitude.  To put things in perspective, I do not have a “classroom” but am a “traveling” teacher with three preps spread throughout the very expansive building.  But, rather than see this as a negative, I chose to make it a positive.  My traveling cart becomes “Queen’s Chariot;” my long walk around the school becomes a chance for much-needed exercise; my lunch duty becomes a chance to interact with more students and learn more about their lives.  It is all about me and my attitude that made the difference in my day and in turn, my students.  

So, I want to carry this attitude of re-framing a “negative” into a “positive” in my agility training with Jefferson.  Much of the skills I use a teacher carryover to my skills I use as a dog trainer.  It’s my attitude about our training session that could either work for the betterment of our team or work toward the detriment.  Whenever I am excited and looking forward to working with Jefferson, he is happy to work for me and ready to learn.  The same goes for my high school students.  But, if I let the “small things” in life get me down, my students and my agility teammate are not willing to work for me.  

Enough already!

I am going to wrap up this little blog for a few reasons:  1. I need to eat dinner and watch "Jeopardy";  and 2. I want to spend time with my poor boy who has spent 12 hours in his crate the past two hectic days.  Chicken is for dinner so I am quite confident that Jefferson will be thrilled for our much-anticipated “Jeopardy” mini training and play session. 

“The greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances.”

~ Martha Washington