Open Standard Title

[SheltieChe]

Congratualtions! Great job on 3 out of 4, very nice. CR would be nice but Q is a Q
regarding refusal on JWW my guess you have been thinking about that FC and moved away too soon and her commitment point to the jump is only couple feet which pulled her off.

 

[corbinam]

Open STD: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKnZznd1VOM

I knew she would have trouble going into the weaves. The A-frame was right next to the weaves and she loves contact equipment because we're always working on contacts. That is why I led out while she was on the table, yet she still went for the A-frame.

That was a great run! I loved her heading into the tunnel--perfect! I will say, though, that your lead out actually made it seem like you were headed towards the a-frame. I think asking for an entry on that side may have actually been harder. You're asking for convergence there, and you moved a little late. You may have been better off shaping the entry by staying on her right.

We also earned a leg in excellent JWW. Really nice run. Our time was 33 something and 1st place masters was 28 something. So only 5 seconds less. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Obgoi4UURak

That was AWESOME!

We almost earned our excellent JWW title the next day, but for whatever reason she had a refusal. I watched it a bunch of time and I can't figure out what I did wrong to make her refuse the 4th jump. I know I was very nervous about this course. I was really worried about getting that front course in between 5 & 6. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbSaEWS0uq0 Other than that refusal, I think she did a great job.

I wouldn't think too much about this--I watched it several times and I think it was just a one-off. She just looked at you at the wrong time, and read things incorrectly.

What I am most proud of is letting me easily put her leash on at the end of our runs. I finally got my Julius k9 harness this week, so it was our first time using it. While we were waiting in between runs, I would treat her for letting me put the harness on. At the end of our runs, she ran with me to the chair and let me put on her harness with no issues. She also seemed very relaxed at this trial. I think she really likes this harness.

That's great! Where are the pictures?

Trials make me very nervous. I'm like a basketcase right before our runs. I'm going to finish out this year, but I'm not so sure if I'm going to compete next year. I'll still train because Bailey loves it, but I don't think trialing is worth the stress for me. We'll see how the rest of our trials go. We have 4 more days left.

I totally get it. I get that way sometimes, too. What helped me was to trial more. There was much less pressure to succeed if I knew I would trial again in the somewhat near future. I didn't like when I would end up thinking "no one sees me run except once every few months, and this is my only chance, etc."

 

[Sharon]

Nice job Randi and Bailey!!You guys looked great!!

 

[Toffee's Mom]

omg, srsly you are amazing!
about watching you, you're in the TV business!?
Anyhow, have you seen me run? lol, you're much more fun to watch I assure you Naturally eyes are always drawn on Bailey anyhow being so gorgeous, so people often get stuck forgetting to watch the handler

The group I train with has a Psychologist, she's a friend who has been able to give some of us nervous wrecks some pep talks, lol and she doesn't even charge YAYYYYY
A lot of breathing exercises and some mental prep that has worked, although I am usually not one to worry too much about what others think, and I don't mind public speaking etc. So, it's easy to say these things for me, but if a person is really stressed it's tough!
My Coach says pffft people are so involved with their own runs and dogs, very few are actually even watching your runs!!

I hope you'll have more fun if you give it a few more tries, I agree with Ashley it gets better with a few more trials under your belt, plus after a while you get to know more of the people competing and it's so much more fun when you can cheer for the real nice people and dogs!

 

[ortegah]

You guys look great!

I know all about the nerves, but I think you shouldn't give up. Work on slow breathing before the courses and as you're walking out to your start line. Remember that this is just a game...a game that you get to play with your best friend!

 

[take4roll10]

That was a great run! I loved her heading into the tunnel--perfect! I will say, though, that your lead out actually made it seem like you were headed towards the a-frame. I think asking for an entry on that side may have actually been harder. You're asking for convergence there, and you moved a little late. You may have been better off shaping the entry by staying on her right.

I re-watched it and I think you're right. I think if I stood on the other side of the weaves and cued with my left arm, she might've understood it better. It was a tough one. A lot of dogs took the A-frame and Bailey loves contact equipment.

I wouldn't think too much about this--I watched it several times and I think it was just a one-off. She just looked at you at the wrong time, and read things incorrectly.

I think you're right on this as well. While we were running, I thought I pulled her off, but after re-watching I don't think I did. She just picks up the tiniest cues, so I think she just read it incorrectly. I don't usually buy my NQ videos, especially when I know what I did wrong, but I just needed to know what happened in this one because I couldn't recall if I pulled her off or she misread me. I love that they record your runs now. Much easier than hunting down a friend to record my run for me.

That's great! Where are the pictures?

I gotta take some. Bailey doesn't like posing for pics.

omg, srsly you are amazing!
about watching you, you're in the TV business!?
Anyhow, have you seen me run? lol, you're much more fun to watch I assure you Naturally eyes are always drawn on Bailey anyhow being so gorgeous, so people often get stuck forgetting to watch the handler

That is why I work behind the camera and not in front.

The group I train with has a Psychologist, she's a friend who has been able to give some of us nervous wrecks some pep talks, lol and she doesn't even charge YAYYYYY
A lot of breathing exercises and some mental prep that has worked, although I am usually not one to worry too much about what others think, and I don't mind public speaking etc. So, it's easy to say these things for me, but if a person is really stressed it's tough!
My Coach says pffft people are so involved with their own runs and dogs, very few are actually even watching your runs!!

I hope you'll have more fun if you give it a few more tries, I agree with Ashley it gets better with a few more trials under your belt, plus after a while you get to know more of the people competing and it's so much more fun when you can cheer for the real nice people and dogs!

I totally get it. I get that way sometimes, too. What helped me was to trial more. There was much less pressure to succeed if I knew I would trial again in the somewhat near future. I didn't like when I would end up thinking "no one sees me run except once every few months, and this is my only chance, etc."

You guys look great!

I know all about the nerves, but I think you shouldn't give up. Work on slow breathing before the courses and as you're walking out to your start line. Remember that this is just a game...a game that you get to play with your best friend!

Thanks guys! I'll see how the next few trials go. This was my first time doing a trial on both Sat & Sun. Usually I just enter 1 day of the weekend. I was better on Saturday, but much more nervous on Sunday. I don't know what it is because I'm not one who cares what people think. In novice and open, a lot of the dogs and handlers are green and the dogs have the zoomies, disconnect and stuff, but in excellent/masters, the handlers are so much more serious and the dogs are amazing. No one has been mean or rude to me, they're all respectful. It's just a different atmosphere walking the course and waiting to run.

 

[k9kreationz]

Congrats on getting out of Open. Hey, if it makes you feel any better, Koji and I are still in Excellent Standard. We've been there, OMG I just looked we have been there since July 2011!!!! That's when I got our third OA leg. Jeez. That's just sad. And no, I don't have any Q's either.

I agree with others, that with the JWW run, it looked like you turned sharp which pulled Bailey into you. No worries, it's just something that you gain with experience and how your dog reads you. Koji used to read everything I did. Either I'm better, or he stopped reading me so literally. LOL.

May I make one suggestion. And if you have something like this already, nevermind. I saw on your STD run you were having some issues getting Bailey back into the weaves. I saw that you were backing up, to give her room, then sending her through. I know, with Koji, he would never go in right when I did that. I had to learn to circle him around (meaning, I'd get him on my side, walk away from the weaves, then circle back around to face them), then send him off (worked every time after). Or, teach Bailey to go around and behind you (like ortegah/Heather does with Trax) and then send her off. For me, the backing up, just never worked.

You guys looked great out there! I can't say the nerves go away, but it probably gets easier over time. I still have massive nerves, especially when I'm trying to work on something.....like Koji's 2o2o. I try to calm down, but ugh, it never works. I started taking Koji's L-theanine, LOL. Didn't do much.

ETA: It IS a very different feeling running Excellent/Masters. I think for myself, going from an average of the 15th dog, to the 40th, was huge. It added a lot to my stress because I had to watch the ring constantly to make sure I wasn't passed up. 40+ is a long time to wait. I was once the 75th dog. Yikes. And then, you run JWW in the AM (oh wait, I run 16", I run first thing in the AM). I liked that because I'm half awake, lol. No time for nerves. Now with T2B and FAST before everything else, my nerves start acting up. You're not alone. Gosh, I've been doing this since 2009 and I still get nervous. Especially when it's an important run.

 

[take4roll10]

ETA: It IS a very different feeling running Excellent/Masters. I think for myself, going from an average of the 15th dog, to the 40th, was huge. It added a lot to my stress because I had to watch the ring constantly to make sure I wasn't passed up. 40+ is a long time to wait. I was once the 75th dog. Yikes. And then, you run JWW in the AM (oh wait, I run 16", I run first thing in the AM). I liked that because I'm half awake, lol. No time for nerves. Now with T2B and FAST before everything else, my nerves start acting up. You're not alone. Gosh, I've been doing this since 2009 and I still get nervous. Especially when it's an important run.

I think that is another reason that is adding to my nerves. In novice and open, I was running as early as 2nd and no later than 10th-15th. So basically after the walk-thru, I got my dog out and was ready go. There wasn't much time to really stress over the course, but in excellent, I'm like the 30th or 40th dog to run, so there's so much time. I stress more about forgetting the course and watching all the other dogs run makes me starting doubting how I walked it.

 

[seashel]

I thought that looked really good and congratulations on your win! What a great team you two are!

I used to get really nervous when competing in obedience and when we were pushing for a win it did get a lot worse because I put too much pressure on. I agree with Corbinam that doing more shows helped because it took a lot of the pressure off thinking there was another weekend to come. Now I've found visualising the training field at home and pretending we're just doing a training round really helped, plus breathing slowly and calmly.

Great result - you should be really proud!

 

[Tabitha]

...I had to learn to circle him around (meaning, I'd get him on my side, walk away from the weaves, then circle back around to face them), then send him off (worked every time after)...

This is what I did. It worked very well.