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Rough weekend

Discussion in 'Agility' started by ortegah, Mar 11, 2013.

  1. ortegah

    ortegah Forums Enthusiast

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    Well my poor daughter Jordan was 0 for 6 this weekend. We had to have a long talk about her stressing out and not practicing and all sorts of other things this weekend. She's rushing the weave poles and it looks like Maverick's weaves have completely come undone, so we'll be retraining hard this week. Here's her videos. They are all together and we didn't record FAST or T2B because of conflicts.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VLHAmi_gNA

    Trax was 1 for 6 this weekend. He should've Q'd yesterday in Standard but the judge Scott Chamberlain, who's a stickler(and a AKC rep), called him on a refusal on the second to last obstacle and it wasn't in front of the next jump and he kept his forward progression. He just spun after the dog walk on his way to the jump...as many Shelties love to do. He was calling everything though. I was quite angry as I felt we had it. But oh well, such is life. I've gotten Q's in the past that I didn't deserve, so I guess this makes up for one :biggrin2:

    So after all this struggle with Maverick and his weaves(and even crying) on Saturday, I asked Jordan if I could run Maverick and she could run Trax in Time 2 Beat yesterday. So she was before me. Well my Trax, MY TRAX, that always does weaves...couldn't complete them for Jordan after three tries! Which tells me, it's not poor Maverick that isn't getting weaves, but Jordan is messing him up. She rushes up on the weaves rather than letting him find his entry and then he pops out. I ran Maverick in Time 2 Beat and on the second try he got through all but the last weave pole. It was my fault though as I cheered a split second too soon and he pulled out early...whoops! LOL!

    I think we learned a lot this weekend. First and foremost that Jordan needs to stop stressing out and just have some fun. She's only 11 and too young to be stressing about this. Also, if she stresses too much longer, Maverick is going to stop working for her. The second thing I hope I got through to her is that if she doesn't take the time to practice, at least once a day, that he's never going to get better and he will just continue to spin his wheels. Our goal this week is to practice each and every day, even in the rain or cold to get him ready for this upcoming weekend and hope that we see some improvement, but even if we don't, that we came to have fun and fun is what we'll have :yes:
     
  2. corbinam

    corbinam Moderator

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    We trialed under SC not too long ago and I agree that he is really strict on some of the rules. I don't know if they were necessarily unfair, just more strict than other judges have been in the past. For example, he called a refusal when I put in a FC before the weaves, and Lexi ran into (just skimmed) my leg before getting in. I will say that he is fair, and critiques everyone the same.

    I'm sorry that Maverick and Jordan are struggling. I think that the mental game is the hardest part of agility. I'm 28 and I still haven't mastered it yet :) I wonder if it would help if she would set little goals for herself? Like Maverick getting a nice contact, or less refusals, etc. it might help her feel positive. Also, could you look at really old videos? It helps me to see how far I've come. And maybe she could try to name 1-3 good things about each run. I'm just trying to think of all the things that have helped me.

    Sometimes I forget that my dogs don't do this naturally. They do it for me. When I was really struggling I wrote "no matter what, I'm taking the best dogs home" on my hand to remind me of the bond my dogs and I have on AND off the course. Looking at it throughout the day really helped.
     
  3. ortegah

    ortegah Forums Enthusiast

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    All very good suggestions! Just one problem...I'm her mother and I don't know diddly squat! LOL! I will mention your suggestions to our instructor though and let her tell Jordan. She'll probably listen to her better :wink2:
     
  4. Jess041

    Jess041 Forums Enthusiast

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    Oh 11... such a great age. I remember when my mom didn't know anything either! She would just relay anything important through my aunt. My aunt is/was way cooler than my mom.

    Sorry you and your daughter had a rough weekend. I think we all have to have them once in a while, unfortunately. But it sounds like you know what needs to be worked on for the next trial!
     
  5. Mitchy

    Mitchy Forums Enthusiast

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    They were still very nice runs....she does great!

    When I ran as a child, my mom would make me and the dog go for a small jog prior to day.....it took the edge off myself and the dog....helped a ton!

    I still have my husband and Willow go for a small jog....as they have the same issues....it's his first dog to train and trial with, and he lets his nerves get in the way.
     
  6. Justicemom

    Justicemom Forums Celebrity

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    Ah poor Jordan. I have been there and understand the frustration. I think anyone who has competed has at one point or another has. :smile2:

    I used to do the same thing to Diva, I rushed her into the weaves. Drove me crazy when she would never miss an entry in practice and was blowing them at trials on a regular basis. Then one day , I messed up and had to do a 90 degree turn rear cross into the weaves and then cross behind her. Should have been impossible for how she had been doing in trials but she nailed it. Umm. I realized that day that I was the problem. When I was even with or in front of her as she approached the weaves, she focused on me a little too much and missed the entry. If I was behind her and totally out of the picture, she almost never missed because she was focused on the weaves. It took so much patience to force myself to hold back and let her find it herself. Especially when my adrenaline and stress was at it highest. But it is almost a habit now.

    As my instructor told me along time ago when I started obedience. "If you have prepared there is nothing more you can do once you're in the ring, anyway so relax and have fun and then go home and practice more. I figure if they don't a) run out or zoom around of the ring b)bite the judge or another dog or c)foul the ring it is a good day. :smile2: " Words to live by I think. :smile2:
     
  7. labgirl

    labgirl Forums Sage

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    Bless her, she is doing so well and we all have bad weekends. Hasn't she just move up an agility grade as well?

    I know at my second comp with Merlin I messed it all up because I was expecting big things after our 2nd place rosette in our first comp. I wanted to prove we could do it again and so I messed up the course and confused him.

    Next time along I told myself my one and only goal was a clear run. We weren't going to worry about speed or anything like that, just take it steady and make it clean - well we ended up with a second rosette.

    Now if only I can remember that for next time!!!!
     
  8. Greenepony

    Greenepony Forums Enthusiast

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    Setting a goal may be a good idea. And it might not be what anyone wants to hear but a weekend like that might be what gets her practice more.

    In late middle school (I still qualified as a Jr by 4H standards so 13?) I blew off practicing in-hand patterns with the horse I was showing at the time until right before the big county show. He refused to move out and trot the second half of the pattern- lit a fire to actually practice on a regular basis, even if we didn't do showmanship again, it helped with the trot up after a hunter division.
     
  9. SheltieChe

    SheltieChe Forums Sage

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  10. corbinam

    corbinam Moderator

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    Oh yes! I totally forgot about this. For MONTHS after I was feeling really down I would take Lexi out and play fetch with her before her runs. It really got us "connected" and I couldn't help but smile at her because her enthusiasm is contagious.
     

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