Spirit Joy

[Lanie]

Lanie, yep, I totally understand being nervous about different equipment! I agree that we're so lucky to be able to do the run throughs. Even though it's an hour and a half drive each way during the week, for 3 minutes worth of ring time. But hey, whatever it takes.

And I promise I'll let you see the video no matter what *gulp*. Hopefully she'll hit her contacts. She's been very consistent in class and last night she did them perfectly. But who knows what will happen in a trial environment with all that adrenaline flowing! The hard part, for me, will be trying to think as a trainer and not a competitor, sticking to my criteria, and pulling her out of her run if she blows a contact. And since she won't even get on the teeter, I doubt we will have an issue with a fly-off at this point But if she blows the dogwalk or the a-frame, the only way I have to correct her during the trial is to make the fun stop. Really hope it won't come to that though! But that will be an investment in her future career. I would rather pull her out of her first few trials than allow her to get away with blowing contacts in the ring and risking an injury.

I'm really happy to hear you say that. Most people just continue on and finish the run. I was leaning toward stopping if she does a fly-off and was being told, "Hey, you paid your ring fees, you should finish your run" But I was thinking that I'd just be teaching her that it's okay to miss contacts in a competition environment.
We're going to do another 6-week league at the gym starting February 13th and I got the okay to have her repeat the obstacle if she misses the contact. They allow 60 seconds in the ring and even if she repeated both the dog walk, (which we aren't having problems with) and the A-Frame (where all of the problems are) we could still finish in way under a minute. Unfortunately they are going to put the Teeter in the course because there are only 4 or 5 dogs out of the 18 competing this time that have the teeter down solid. If I can work out that last bug on the A-Frame, I'll be a lot more confident at an AKC trial.
My trainer told me yesterday that we could compete in a month if I worked really hard. I had the impression that she'd like us to wait a little longer, though. So I'll work hard and see how it goes.

 

[Cara Sandler]

I'm really happy to hear you say that. Most people just continue on and finish the run. I was leaning toward stopping if she does a fly-off and was being told, "Hey, you paid your ring fees, you should finish your run" But I was thinking that I'd just be teaching her that it's okay to miss contacts in a competition environment.
We're going to do another 6-week league at the gym starting February 13th and I got the okay to have her repeat the obstacle if she misses the contact. They allow 60 seconds in the ring and even if she repeated both the dog walk, (which we aren't having problems with) and the A-Frame (where all of the problems are) we could still finish in way under a minute. Unfortunately they are going to put the Teeter in the course because there are only 4 or 5 dogs out of the 18 competing this time that have the teeter down solid. If I can work out that last bug on the A-Frame, I'll be a lot more confident at an AKC trial.
My trainer told me yesterday that we could compete in a month if I worked really hard. I had the impression that she'd like us to wait a little longer, though. So I'll work hard and see how it goes.

I 100% agree that allowing blown contacts in the ring teaches your dog that they only have to do contacts correctly in practice I was actually pretty shocked that Spirit did them correctly at the run through, since it was a new environment. But in hindsight, I shouldn't have been surprised since she has done stopped contacts her whole life. In her eyes, stopping at the bottom is just part of the obstacle. Kind of like the table.

I can't wait to hear how things will go in the league. The a-frame will come. Every dog does things on her own timetable.

As far as trialing in a month - here's the criteria Spirit's trainer set out when I asked how to decide when the time was right to trial with Spirit:

1) Does she have a clear understanding of all the obstacles, and the ability to perform them in a new, exciting environment?

2) Am I clear on the handling skills I need to use in various scenarios on course?

3) Am I 100% certain that my dog will stay connected to me when I take her leash off (not necessarily be perfect on course, but be connected and working as a team and not run off to say hello to the ring crew or decide to do the course as SHE sees fit)?

4) Can I stay connected to my dog for at least 2 minutes WITHOUT the use of toys or treats?

Hopefully this will help you with your decision

 

[Lanie]

Unfortunately they are going to put the Teeter in the course because there are only 4 or 5 dogs out of the 18 competing this time that have the teeter down solid.

Just saw this typo. Should have said they are not going to put the teeter in the course.
Her teeter is great. I never have a problem with her missing her 2 on 2 off on the teeter or the dog walk.

 

[Cara Sandler]

Just saw this typo. Should have said they are not going to put the teeter in the course.
Her teeter is great. I never have a problem with her missing her 2 on 2 off on the teeter or the dog walk.

LOL, now it makes a lot more sense

 

[Cara Sandler]

Just saw this typo. Should have said they are not going to put the teeter in the course.
Her teeter is great. I never have a problem with her missing her 2 on 2 off on the teeter or the dog walk.

Spirit now does a 4 on at the end of the teeter because she is too light to keep the teeter down with only her hind legs on it unless she positions herself exactly the right way. For the dogwalk and a-frame she does a 2o2o.

 

[Lanie]

A lot of the small dogs have to go almost all the way to the end to tip it. Looks scary, like walking the plank. Echo is a giant so It tips right after the steps into the contact zone and she just rides it down. A 4 on is so much safer on the Teeter. It always freaks me out when I see a dog go flying off of it while it's still moving.

 

[Cara Sandler]

Well, very limited success tonight with the teeter. Spirit is very clearly nervous. We did get her to do it a few times with us holding it still and just letting her run up it, then we very slowly lowered it. But I think this is just something that will take time. She has 2 private lessons scheduled, 1 run through, and a full day of camp at her agility school before the trial, so hopefully that will be enough to get her confidence back up. If not, I'll have to decide whether to just withdraw her from the Standard runs or figure out a way to run by the teeter without asking her to get on (even though it will be an NQ, at least she'll get ring experience). But if she's not confident going into the trial, there's no way I'm going to ask her to do it.

 

[Lanie]

Well, very limited success tonight with the teeter. Spirit is very clearly nervous. We did get her to do it a few times with us holding it still and just letting her run up it, then we very slowly lowered it. But I think this is just something that will take time. She has 2 private lessons scheduled, 1 run through, and a full day of camp at her agility school before the trial, so hopefully that will be enough to get her confidence back up. If not, I'll have to decide whether to just withdraw her from the Standard runs or figure out a way to run by the teeter without asking her to get on (even though it will be an NQ, at least she'll get ring experience). But if she's not confident going into the trial, there's no way I'm going to ask her to do it.

If it were me and she still wasn't comfortable with the teeter, I'd still run her in standard and just skip the teeter. Then you guys still get the ring experience with the rest of the obstacles to see how she does with them and figure out if you have anything else that needs work. I'll trade you: You can have our perfect teeter, but you have to take our flying A-Frame, LOL

 

[Cara Sandler]

If it were me and she still wasn't comfortable with the teeter, I'd still run her in standard and just skip the teeter. Then you guys still get the ring experience with the rest of the obstacles to see how she does with them and figure out if you have anything else that needs work. I'll trade you: You can have our perfect teeter, but you have to take our flying A-Frame, LOL

LOL! NOPE!!!!!! NO BLOWN CONTACTS!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, I agree that running the course without the teeter is the best option. Tonight we did a private lesson and I got her to get on the teeter, then we slowly lowered it. Then we got her to just practice banging the shakier teeter without asking her to actually walk up it. She did really well considering how freaked out she was a week ago. I think if we had a month to practice, she would be totally fine on the teeter. But since we have less than 2 weeks, we'll just have to see how it goes. We have a run through tomorrow but our trainer recommended that we not even attempt the teeter at all. So we'll just work on everything else. Spirit still has a full day at camp on Friday and another private lesson next week. Whatever happens, I'm so proud of her and I know I'm so lucky that I get to be her mom.

 

[Cara Sandler]

Well, we had our second run through last night. It was actually quite an experience! Some good, some not so good. We did not do the teeter, but we did everything else on the course.

Spirit is trained to do a 2o2o on the dogwalk and a-frame and very rarely blows a contact. But for some reason, last night, she went ALMOST to the end of the contact - well inside the contact zone, but not all the way to the end to do a 2o2o as trained. So I repeated the "touch" command (which is what I use for a 2o2o) and she just jumped off the end and started yelling at me. So I took her back over the a-frame. Same thing. I made her do it again. Same thing. I realized we were not going to fix that problem in 90 seconds, so I made her sit, then let her continue on the course. Other than that, she was amazing in her first run and SO FAST!!!!!!

The second run she lost her mind a bit, doing a 10th pole popout and then deciding to go visit another dog at the end of her run instead of letting me leash her up. So we're doing a LOT of the collar grab game this week (every time I grab her collar she gets a piece of hot dog). Hopefully that will fix this problem as well. She's been really great about letting me leash her up at the end of the run but I think last night she was just over excited.

All in all, tons of fun, but I have to figure out what to do about the contacts. That was our last run through so I don't have another chance to work with her in that setting. She does have a full day of agility camp tomorrow, and we have a private lesson scheduled for Tuesday, so hopefully we can fix it (though I'm not entirely sure how to fix a problem that only happens in a different setting). I think the only solution will be to stop the run whenever she blows a contact so she understands that no matter where she is, blowing a contact means the fun ends. It's going to be really disappointing to do that in a trial but it's an investment in her future.