Spirit Joy

Calliesmom · Jan 10, 2016

Cara Sandler said:
More good news! Yesterday was the "sheltie olympics" - basically a day of fun activities for the local shelties. Spirit walked away with 2 gold medals (obedience and agility), a silver medal ("musical squares", which I used as a practice for sending Spirit to "place") and a bronze medal (best trick - she waved hello). But the absolute best part was the agility!!! It was just a tiny bit of a course for shelties who had never done agility, so Spirit definitely had an advantage. But she worked off leash, within 6 feet of other dogs and handlers, and stayed connected to me the whole time. She also allowed me to leash her up afterwards. So, the verdict is - I'M ENTERING HER IN THE TRIAL AT THE END OF JANUARY!!!!!!

Boy do I ever hope I'm not making a mistake on this. I'm trying to keep my expectations low and just have fun, but I really do hope we perform well.

awesome that she let you leash her :yes:

for our very first runs for all the shelties, my goal was just to keep the dog with me and they all did that- even Destin at his very first trial :winkgrin:

Cara Sandler · Jan 10, 2016

Calliesmom said:
awesome that she let you leash her
for our very first runs for all the shelties, my goal was just to keep the dog with me and they all did that- even Destin at his very first trial

I was actually more proud of the fact that she let me leash her up than I was about her performance on the course!!!! I'll need to remember that going into our first trial

Cara Sandler · Jan 11, 2016

Well, the deed is done. I entered Spirit into her first agility trial! January 29th, 30th, and 31st in Miami. I entered her in JWW and Standard. I REALLY hope we're up for this!!!!!

corbinam · Jan 12, 2016

Cara Sandler said:
Well, the deed is done. I entered Spirit into her first agility trial! January 29th, 30th, and 31st in Miami. I entered her in JWW and Standard. I REALLY hope we're up for this!!!!!

How exciting! Go out there and have fun with your girl!

Lanie · Jan 12, 2016

Cara Sandler said:
Well, the deed is done. I entered Spirit into her first agility trial! January 29th, 30th, and 31st in Miami. I entered her in JWW and Standard. I REALLY hope we're up for this!!!!!

From all of the stuff I read, the problem with trialing too soon is that it could put too much pressure on the dog and ruin it for them. If she's stressed, you can just finish the run and give her lots of praise afterward. The whole idea is that it's fun, right?
Check out this video above the article of Kristin Kaldahl's newest Sheltie, Aenon:
I just love it that she looks at the ring and says, "I'm gonna make this place your home."
http://hubpages.com/animals/When-is...itfalls-of-Competing-too-Early-in-Dog-Agility

If you haven't seen the videos of her first 2 shelties, Aslan & Asher, go check them out too. Amazing dogs, amazing handler. She's one of my favorites.

Cara Sandler · Jan 12, 2016

That's a great article, thank you!

And yes, really, all I'm hoping for at this point is connection in the ring. I have no expectations to Q (though that would be a nice bonus). I just want Spirit to get out in a different environment and have fun doing what she and I love. We've been doing much harder things in class than novice courses, so I know she's capable of getting through a novice course even if she isn't performing her best.

Even though she's been doing agility for over a year now, I do keep in mind that she's really still a puppy and even though she's extremely talented, she (and I) are guaranteed to make mistakes along the way. If she is stressed out the first day, I'll just run her straight to the end, have a party, and withdraw her from the rest of it. She has been going to agility trials as a spectator since she was 10 weeks old, so she's super comfortable in that environment and I suspect she'll handle it just fine, but the only way to find out is to try it.

We have run throughs at the venue for the next 3 weeks before the trial, so I think that will help too - she'll get to actually be in THAT ring with THAT equipment. Hopefully this will be a good experience for her.

Lanie · Jan 13, 2016

Cara Sandler said:
That's a great article, thank you!

And yes, really, all I'm hoping for at this point is connection in the ring. I have no expectations to Q (though that would be a nice bonus). I just want Spirit to get out in a different environment and have fun doing what she and I love. We've been doing much harder things in class than novice courses, so I know she's capable of getting through a novice course even if she isn't performing her best.

Even though she's been doing agility for over a year now, I do keep in mind that she's really still a puppy and even though she's extremely talented, she (and I) are guaranteed to make mistakes along the way. If she is stressed out the first day, I'll just run her straight to the end, have a party, and withdraw her from the rest of it. She has been going to agility trials as a spectator since she was 10 weeks old, so she's super comfortable in that environment and I suspect she'll handle it just fine, but the only way to find out is to try it.

We have run throughs at the venue for the next 3 weeks before the trial, so I think that will help too - she'll get to actually be in THAT ring with THAT equipment. Hopefully this will be a good experience for her.

I'm sure you guys will be fine. From all of your descriptions of Spirit, she seems to just roll with things. I'm so excited for you! Be sure to get videos! Do they have the people at your trials that video every run and have them available to buy after the show? They've been at the last 2 shows I went to and the quality was really good.
Total bonus that you get to do run throughs on that equipment. The dog walk was purple and yellow at the last trial I went to and it was kind of an odd shape. I wondered if that would make a difference to Echo. We practice at 4 different places now and the equipment is different colors, but pretty much the same aside from that.

Cara Sandler · Jan 14, 2016

So we did the first run through last night. I didn't actually run the course - I just used the time to get Spirit comfortable with their equipment. She did awesome on everything but the teeter :-( Unfortunately, in class on Monday night, we were using a different set of equipment at her school and that teeter is a lot bouncier. It scared all the dogs in the class because they are used to being on a very solid, smooth teeter. So now Spirit doesn't want to do the teeter at all. I tried to get her to just run up it while I held it still at the run through but she didn't want to. So now we have to get through this issue. But I'm sure we will. And if she's still not comfortable by the time we get to the trial I'll either withdraw her from Standard and just do JWW, or take her through the Standard course and just bypass the teeter completely. Either way, I want to make sure she doesn't associate a trial environment with a scary piece of equipment.

But she was completely comfortable running on clay, and she stayed focused and connected and worked hard. And she had FUN!!!! She was so happy that after over a year of watching, she finally got a turn to play. I'm so happy that she was able to stay connected in a new environment. That's really all I need right now. The rest will come - including the teeter.

Lanie - there's a group of us at the trials that all videotape each other, and we have good quality video cameras. But I think there will also be a professional company on site doing photos and videos, and I will definitely get the pictures.

Lanie · Jan 14, 2016

Cara Sandler said:
So we did the first run through last night. I didn't actually run the course - I just used the time to get Spirit comfortable with their equipment. She did awesome on everything but the teeter :-( Unfortunately, in class on Monday night, we were using a different set of equipment at her school and that teeter is a lot bouncier. It scared all the dogs in the class because they are used to being on a very solid, smooth teeter. So now Spirit doesn't want to do the teeter at all. I tried to get her to just run up it while I held it still at the run through but she didn't want to. So now we have to get through this issue. But I'm sure we will.
That's something that makes me nervous (one of many things, lol), that we'll get there and a piece of equipment will be so different that it freaks her out.
And if she's still not comfortable by the time we get to the trial I'll either withdraw her from Standard and just do JWW, or take her through the Standard course and just bypass the teeter completely. Either way, I want to make sure she doesn't associate a trial environment with a scary piece of equipment.
My thoughts exactly. So glad you're going before us
But she was completely comfortable running on clay, and she stayed focused and connected and worked hard. And she had FUN!!!! She was so happy that after over a year of watching, she finally got a turn to play. I'm so happy that she was able to stay connected in a new environment. That's really all I need right now. The rest will come - including the teeter.
Super jealous that you get to do a run through on their equipment. There's no opportunity for us to do that at a trial at all.
Lanie - there's a group of us at the trials that all videotape each other, and we have good quality video cameras. But I think there will also be a professional company on site doing photos and videos, and I will definitely get the pictures.

I'm really looking forward to seeing videos of your first trial. Promise you'll let me look even if there's a mistake? I'm dying to see if Spirit holds her contacts. Echo is great with them in class, but when we've competed in the league at the gym, they tend to just go to hell That's another reason I've been holding off on trials. I need to work on proofing those contacts a bit more. She doesn't blow it every time, but she does it enough that I don't feel comfortable because I can't correct her in the ring if she does a fly-off.

Cara Sandler · Jan 14, 2016

Lanie said:
I'm really looking forward to seeing videos of your first trial. Promise you'll let me look even if there's a mistake? I'm dying to see if Spirit holds her contacts. Echo is great with them in class, but when we've competed in the league at the gym, they tend to just go to hell That's another reason I've been holding off on trials. I need to work on proofing those contacts a bit more. She doesn't blow it every time, but she does it enough that I don't feel comfortable because I can't correct her in the ring if she does a fly-off.

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 :eek2:

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 :lol:

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.