Griff:
Did distance work-the infamous jump-aframe-tunnel-jump sequence from 75% of Jackpot runs I've seen. Then me standing in the middle of the arena directing him over jumps and tunnels and out to weaves. He did pretty darn well I must say.
Around-practiced a lot of getting the back side of jumps without my having to work them too hard.
Weaves: practiced. I don't like the slowness I get sometimes-I think it's hesitancy or tiredness, so we stop and take a break.
Contacts: Much better this week, but some creeping on the A frame which again I attribute to hesitancy about the criteria. My bad.
Zig:
Teeter: worked it. He hates the bang, so we c&t for the bang, rewarded at the bang, and rewarded in his 2o2o position.
Tire: worked it. He wants to go around or thru the side sometimes, but so did Griff in the beginning. Just a lack of being 100% on his criteria.
Weaves: great. He loves weavers.
Contacts: have to watch it, we were getting a little bit of anticipation...lots of rewards for holding them.
Rear cross: don't have it. Can rear cross jumps and tunnels, but no way on contacts esp dog walk.
Front cross: reads well.
Lead outs: working em. He has no trouble with reverse flow pivots. The dog reads body language well.
Entered Zig in his first trial in July if we get in. I want to trial him first at his own barn, so if we don't get into the July trial we'll try for September. I'm not looking forward to nationals, because J will be out of town and I've had to wrangle all this special help for the week he's gone, which is right smack around nationals, plus I have to work the Monday after, which means 40 hrs in 3 days, 3 days of nationals, then 50 hrs in 4 days. Feck.
Showing posts with label agility. Show all posts
Showing posts with label agility. Show all posts
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Practice notes from today
Took the boys to the barn this morning for some practice. Just a few notes...
Griff:
-Griff really doesn't understand "contact position". If I am I normally am enforcing his contacts, they are great. If I hang back, he won't hit 2 on 2 off position. If I work for lateral distance, he usually stops with all four feet in the yellow but again, not 2 on 2 off. We worked on this some today.
-We worked the jump-aframe-turn tunnel at a distance since it seems to be the most common gamble in Jackpot. Again, contact position was difficult.
-Weaves were really on...of course, he's used to those.
-Getting better at hitting his sit on the table, which we haven't historically done since CPE doesn't require a sit or down or a pause at all on the table.
-Ball is the best reward!
Zig:
-Worked his teeter-he did several independently, although he still squints his eyes a bit when the teeter bangs.
-he's got nice jump form.
-worked some lead outs-including a reverse flow pivot.
-he still needs lots of work on the "turn" command
-practiced lots of "tire" since he seems to have forgotten how to do it correctly. Tuggy thrown ahead once he was thru helped.
-good weavers!
-worked full height A frame-he finds the contacts hard to stick still on a full height one.
Hopefully I can get Zig into a trial at our barn in July. It'll be interesting.
Griff:
-Griff really doesn't understand "contact position". If I am I normally am enforcing his contacts, they are great. If I hang back, he won't hit 2 on 2 off position. If I work for lateral distance, he usually stops with all four feet in the yellow but again, not 2 on 2 off. We worked on this some today.
-We worked the jump-aframe-turn tunnel at a distance since it seems to be the most common gamble in Jackpot. Again, contact position was difficult.
-Weaves were really on...of course, he's used to those.
-Getting better at hitting his sit on the table, which we haven't historically done since CPE doesn't require a sit or down or a pause at all on the table.
-Ball is the best reward!
Zig:
-Worked his teeter-he did several independently, although he still squints his eyes a bit when the teeter bangs.
-he's got nice jump form.
-worked some lead outs-including a reverse flow pivot.
-he still needs lots of work on the "turn" command
-practiced lots of "tire" since he seems to have forgotten how to do it correctly. Tuggy thrown ahead once he was thru helped.
-good weavers!
-worked full height A frame-he finds the contacts hard to stick still on a full height one.
Hopefully I can get Zig into a trial at our barn in July. It'll be interesting.
Monday, May 7, 2012
Worst agility trial ever, or why a botched standard run made me cry and consider never running agility again...
There are as of yet no pictures of this trial. However, one highlight, the concept introduced in the photo below, the automatic pancake machine. Now only one minute stands between you and pancakes!
Granted, the concept is currently flawed in that these pancakes aren't any good, but with time and technological advances, there's hope. This was in the hotel we stayed in, along with scary sausage gravy and bad cinnamon rolls. I had a banana.
Anyway, trial in Gold Hill which is about a 5 hour drive, so it meant hotel stays and driving and bad food. It also was a place I'd never trialed in before. The judge I'd trialed under and liked so I had hope that we'd enjoy the courses. We trialed one day in Portland in April and Q'd in 4/5 runs, even though our weaves seemed suddenly to be broken again, so I was hoping for some good runs and some practice before Nationals in June.
After a crappy night's sleep on Friday night, we were at the trial site by 7:15. Fullhouse was first, and other than a bit of a hasty (read, broken) startline stay, seemed like a normal run for us. Q, no problem. Then things went poorly.
Standard 1st round: again plagued with startline stay break. Everything was going ok though, until a late cued teeter caused Griff to jump on IN THE MIDDLE, something that he has never done before. That's an immediate major fault, and NQ for unsafe performance of a contact obstacle. We finished the run, most of which was good, but that stupid teeter baffled me. Yes it was late, but never before would he have tried to execute it in that way, he'd have blown around it and we would have gone back and fixed it. No refusals in CPE, so no harm would have been done in that case.
Standard round 2: start line stay held, smooth first five obstacles. Then, in a tunnel/dog walk discrimination, he bizarrely took the farther tunnel, rather than the easier and cued dog walk. Then, he would not re-cue and take the dog walk. He took the tunnel a total of four times before I finally realized I could not fix the horrible tunnel suck loop he was stuck in, and for the first time ever excused us from the course. So embarrassed.
Jackpot-nice run, couldn't do the gamble. damn distance.
Jumpers- finally, another q. clean run.
The day was definitely complicated by the fact that I got vomit-y between standard and jackpot, puked once, and then was praying I wouldn't have to run off the course to vomit again. Also, we didin't finish our jumpers run until about 8:30 pm, making it an over 13 hr day. I drank sprite and huddled in our hotel bed, once again only sleeping a few hours.
Needless to say, after two badly botched standard runs on Saturday and a very queasy stomach on little sleep, I was not in the best frame for Sunday. First run was a non-trad jackpot that we totally had nailed-until he knocked the last bar. Fucksocks.
It was the standard run that made me seriously consider never trialing again. There's a stupid amount of emotion after multiple bad runs, sleeping in a strange place, hanging out with strangers, and while I didn't expect us to qualify in this run, it was the way it happened that made me lose it. Lots of dogs were getting sucked into the wrong side of tunnels or missing discriminations, which I was pretty sure would happen to us. But, what actually happened was this:
I entered the ring, the gate steward announced us. I repeated Griff's name. The time keeper hit the "ready" button. I put Griffin in a sit-stay, and started to walk to position. Then, the score keeper, for reasons unknown but probably because she hadn't been paying attention, decides she hasn't heard the first two announcements of his name, can't recognize his breed and yells, " who's this? " in a snotty tone. And I, walking out to my position,without thinking, yell his name. Which , of course, makes him think I'm calling him. So he takes the first jump, but I am in no position to direct him to the next obstacle, so he out of confusion takes a (far, far) off course tunnel. And it's NQ right there.
The rest of this course, he executes perfectly. I handle on the fly because I am so rattled, and all of the traps and pitfalls others fell into don't phase him. He gets weave entries, he gets discriminations. But because of that off-course tunnel, the run is void.
Now I am aware that his release word is ok and not his name, but really, when you scream out your dog's name, you can't blame him for hightailing it to you as quick as he can. The stupid score keeper really shouldn't have hit the ok button until the stupid scribe was ready, and the stupid scribe should have been PAYING ATTENTION! And stupid me should have done it differently. Believe me, I will never, ever, leave my dog again until I am sure they know who we are.
After this run, I nearly called it a day. I had vomited, I hadn't slept for two days, we'd just spent too much money and time and things were full of bad. Plus, people kept saying stupid shit that you just don't say to people having a rough trial. I cried like a dork after the run.
Then I took the dogs for some ball and a swim to cool off, we ran two more qualifying runs, and at least finished on a better note.
I have a lot of work to do in this sport. I need to handle better. I need to leave my nerves at the door. I need to WATCH MY DOG at all times. I need to proof more. I need to proof weaves a lot more.
Oh well. Another ironic thing was that I brought my video camera but didn't record any runs since they were going so badly, and that there was a professional video company there who would have sold us our runs for 9$ and yet they were so full of badness that I couldn't bear to buy them. Maybe the photographer got a good shot or two of us? I'd like to imagine a pretty shot of Griffin on an obstacle rather than the bad memories I have of mistakes, so maybe I'll see if I can buy one.
Granted, the concept is currently flawed in that these pancakes aren't any good, but with time and technological advances, there's hope. This was in the hotel we stayed in, along with scary sausage gravy and bad cinnamon rolls. I had a banana.
Anyway, trial in Gold Hill which is about a 5 hour drive, so it meant hotel stays and driving and bad food. It also was a place I'd never trialed in before. The judge I'd trialed under and liked so I had hope that we'd enjoy the courses. We trialed one day in Portland in April and Q'd in 4/5 runs, even though our weaves seemed suddenly to be broken again, so I was hoping for some good runs and some practice before Nationals in June.
After a crappy night's sleep on Friday night, we were at the trial site by 7:15. Fullhouse was first, and other than a bit of a hasty (read, broken) startline stay, seemed like a normal run for us. Q, no problem. Then things went poorly.
Standard 1st round: again plagued with startline stay break. Everything was going ok though, until a late cued teeter caused Griff to jump on IN THE MIDDLE, something that he has never done before. That's an immediate major fault, and NQ for unsafe performance of a contact obstacle. We finished the run, most of which was good, but that stupid teeter baffled me. Yes it was late, but never before would he have tried to execute it in that way, he'd have blown around it and we would have gone back and fixed it. No refusals in CPE, so no harm would have been done in that case.
Standard round 2: start line stay held, smooth first five obstacles. Then, in a tunnel/dog walk discrimination, he bizarrely took the farther tunnel, rather than the easier and cued dog walk. Then, he would not re-cue and take the dog walk. He took the tunnel a total of four times before I finally realized I could not fix the horrible tunnel suck loop he was stuck in, and for the first time ever excused us from the course. So embarrassed.
Jackpot-nice run, couldn't do the gamble. damn distance.
Jumpers- finally, another q. clean run.
The day was definitely complicated by the fact that I got vomit-y between standard and jackpot, puked once, and then was praying I wouldn't have to run off the course to vomit again. Also, we didin't finish our jumpers run until about 8:30 pm, making it an over 13 hr day. I drank sprite and huddled in our hotel bed, once again only sleeping a few hours.
Needless to say, after two badly botched standard runs on Saturday and a very queasy stomach on little sleep, I was not in the best frame for Sunday. First run was a non-trad jackpot that we totally had nailed-until he knocked the last bar. Fucksocks.
It was the standard run that made me seriously consider never trialing again. There's a stupid amount of emotion after multiple bad runs, sleeping in a strange place, hanging out with strangers, and while I didn't expect us to qualify in this run, it was the way it happened that made me lose it. Lots of dogs were getting sucked into the wrong side of tunnels or missing discriminations, which I was pretty sure would happen to us. But, what actually happened was this:
I entered the ring, the gate steward announced us. I repeated Griff's name. The time keeper hit the "ready" button. I put Griffin in a sit-stay, and started to walk to position. Then, the score keeper, for reasons unknown but probably because she hadn't been paying attention, decides she hasn't heard the first two announcements of his name, can't recognize his breed and yells, " who's this? " in a snotty tone. And I, walking out to my position,without thinking, yell his name. Which , of course, makes him think I'm calling him. So he takes the first jump, but I am in no position to direct him to the next obstacle, so he out of confusion takes a (far, far) off course tunnel. And it's NQ right there.
The rest of this course, he executes perfectly. I handle on the fly because I am so rattled, and all of the traps and pitfalls others fell into don't phase him. He gets weave entries, he gets discriminations. But because of that off-course tunnel, the run is void.
Now I am aware that his release word is ok and not his name, but really, when you scream out your dog's name, you can't blame him for hightailing it to you as quick as he can. The stupid score keeper really shouldn't have hit the ok button until the stupid scribe was ready, and the stupid scribe should have been PAYING ATTENTION! And stupid me should have done it differently. Believe me, I will never, ever, leave my dog again until I am sure they know who we are.
After this run, I nearly called it a day. I had vomited, I hadn't slept for two days, we'd just spent too much money and time and things were full of bad. Plus, people kept saying stupid shit that you just don't say to people having a rough trial. I cried like a dork after the run.
Then I took the dogs for some ball and a swim to cool off, we ran two more qualifying runs, and at least finished on a better note.
I have a lot of work to do in this sport. I need to handle better. I need to leave my nerves at the door. I need to WATCH MY DOG at all times. I need to proof more. I need to proof weaves a lot more.
Oh well. Another ironic thing was that I brought my video camera but didn't record any runs since they were going so badly, and that there was a professional video company there who would have sold us our runs for 9$ and yet they were so full of badness that I couldn't bear to buy them. Maybe the photographer got a good shot or two of us? I'd like to imagine a pretty shot of Griffin on an obstacle rather than the bad memories I have of mistakes, so maybe I'll see if I can buy one.
Monday, December 12, 2011
practice time
During our winter break from classes, I've been working on some goals for the dogs. We were at the barn with our friends Jen, Clue, Tag, Delilah and Holly on Sunday, trying to work a few exercises.
I've been watching "Dial up the Distance" and found several helpful exercises to work with Griffin. I am insistent that we can get some distance with Griff. We've also been working some hard weave entries and refining our contacts.
For Zig, it's contact work, weaves, and jumping. Baby courses of a few obstacles and teaching front crosses. I need to teach the tire. I'm not going to work on the teeter on my own, really don't want to f it up!
They both did well. Griff was driving ahead nicely, especially since his reward was a thrown ball. It was easy to reward him working at a distance that way. Zig worked mostly for his frisbee, which was pretty cool. Treats just for contact work.
I am planning to neuter Zig on Saturday but I'm dreading it. Especially since that means no more practicing til the start of classes!
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Fleet Feet December 2011 trial, day two
Fleet feet CPE trial day two....
Standard run:
The decoy tunnel near the dog walk got a fair few number of dogs, but not us. Got a front cross in between jump 10 and 11 tunnel. Got another one in between tunnel 13 and weaves. Really solid run all around, and our last level 4 standard q! On to level 5.
I'll have to compare the difference between Wildcard, which was a great run, and Colors, which was a passable run-maps will help but the main difference was in wildcard, I handled the way that was the most clear and smooth, and in colors, I ran to prevent knocked bars, which made the run much choppier. We incidentally had no knocked bars and no weave problems all weekend. But right now, too tired to analyze more. Going to rest and recuperate.
Standard run:
The decoy tunnel near the dog walk got a fair few number of dogs, but not us. Got a front cross in between jump 10 and 11 tunnel. Got another one in between tunnel 13 and weaves. Really solid run all around, and our last level 4 standard q! On to level 5.
I'll have to compare the difference between Wildcard, which was a great run, and Colors, which was a passable run-maps will help but the main difference was in wildcard, I handled the way that was the most clear and smooth, and in colors, I ran to prevent knocked bars, which made the run much choppier. We incidentally had no knocked bars and no weave problems all weekend. But right now, too tired to analyze more. Going to rest and recuperate.
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Fleet Feet December 2011 trial, day one
Today was day one of FF's December trial...really, really early. I was up by 5:15, in the car by 6, and at the trial by 7. In 25 degree weather. Brrrrfreakingbrrr.
Wish I had a video camera of the runs we did, but I do find watching myself painful, and my iPhone doesn't really take the best video, so we will settle for some course map illustration!
Let's talk about Standard....
Tricky areas-I wasn't too worried about the Aframe-tunnel discrimination the first time, Griff highly prefers contacts and is much easier to pull than push, so I just planned to lead out. The pinwheel led to my favorite dilemma, where to place the front cross I know I needed to do. I walked it with the cross between 5 and 6, between 6 and 7, and with a rear cross to the weaves. The rear cross option was the least promising as far as getting him to nail his weaves confidently, so I really wanted to get a front cross in there. Needed to be on the left of the weaves to pull to the 8 jump and not into the tunnel. And then finally, the tunnel choice instead of the Aframe was going to be tricky, but I knew I could keep up with him on the jumps and just planned to run straight as if I was going past the aframe before asking him to tunnel.
So all that worked well. Front crossed between five and six, lovely weaves, no problem with the jump, nice jumpline and turned into the tunnel nicely. Feeling home free when we hit the teeter---and that of course was my mistake, because I was not working the 16 tunnel and somehow got an off-course jump (14-15-8). Not really clear on why, but perhaps the teeter was offset just enough that I was still pulling to the left slightly, and again, Griff doesn't push well. So NQ on that, but really nice work in general on the run. I was disappointed only because had we Q'd we would have been done with level 4 standard and on to level 5. But usually we don't struggle in standard like we do in, say, Jackpot, so I know we'll have plenty of chances to get those.
Now Snooker, which I used to hate, worked out nicely. I decided to do the #5 tunnel after each opening red jump because, hey, no chance to knock bars. I thought we'd start with the far left red jump, but there ended up being a cone to mark the start line on the near left jump which interfered with the wrap I would have needed there so we started with that one, then alternated sides, then 234567 done. Did a reverse flow pivot on the first red, which somehow popped him in the other end of the tunnel than I'd planned, but it worked out fine. Nice wraps. Plenty of time. Didn't get point greedy, because for me any snooker Q is a good one.
Fullhouse was typical-fast, fun. Jumpers was a fun course as well, I'll try to remember how I ran that one as I really was impressed with both Griff's work and my ability to think on my feet. I'd planned a front cross in two different spots but didn't decide until the run when I determined which made more sense.
Anyway, 3-4, and a nice NQ standard run. Griff did well. I was proud of him and a little sad because he seemed tired before Jumpers, although once on course you couldn't tell it. I guess he's grown up.
Back tomorrow...I need to get a more mellow hobby...
Monday, October 24, 2011
Zig does 6 weaves
Taught with the 2x2 method. Much easier than channel weaves, although we still have some interesting "choices" (mistakes), like the night he decided to nose touch the first pole and enter on the second. Still need work on the right side entry...but coming along!
League and baby dog class
Griff and I subbed for NW Agility League last night. We can't participate since I work Tuesdays and the last two meets are Tuesday nights, but we agreed to sub if someone needed to be gone. First night apparently two people did! I haven't done league before but apparently every night there is one standard style course and one games course. They post the course maps (who knew?) and you are encouraged to practice ahead of time (just not the day of).
The standard course was a fairly straight forward (level 2 CPE) style course. The game was called chances, and alack, it was very similar to a jackpot course. There was a line the handler couldn't cross and it required two tunnel-contact discriminations (the dog had to go out and take the tunnel instead of the contact obstacle that was closer to the handler).
Standard was pretty simple and Griff had no problem except a knocked bar after the A-frame (????) I figured we were going to blow the chances course but really wanted to try to get some distance practice. You could step over the line at any point for a 20 point fault, but I was hoping not to. Gambled on time not running out....Set him up ok but of course he took the jump and immediately went to the dog walk as it was closer to me than the tunnel--called him off and sent him to the tunnel, took a bit of convincing but he did do it. No problem with the three jumps, but then of course wanted to take the frame instead of the tunnel, and it took me a lot (well, 10 seconds) longer to convince him to take the tunnel that time. But he did take it! so I should be happy about that. So I will.
The puppyface started in a midpoint baby dog class last week, which means both Aussies have back to back classes Mondays, but means that I am no longer in the Monday AM class which was kicking my butt and teaching me a lot. Sigh. I can't drive down there twice a week so it's a necessary evil, but I'm sad about it. I kind of have mixed feelings about starting Zig there, since I feel like there are some aspects of training that I've missed with Griff, but I really wanted him in a class. I can always move him if I find something closer. I don't like teaching contacts the way we are (luring), but I will try to keep clicking them and ignore the critique I always seem to get when I use the clicker in class. He showed no fear except of the shoot, didn't think it should come down on his head, so we will have to work on that.
The standard course was a fairly straight forward (level 2 CPE) style course. The game was called chances, and alack, it was very similar to a jackpot course. There was a line the handler couldn't cross and it required two tunnel-contact discriminations (the dog had to go out and take the tunnel instead of the contact obstacle that was closer to the handler).
Standard was pretty simple and Griff had no problem except a knocked bar after the A-frame (????) I figured we were going to blow the chances course but really wanted to try to get some distance practice. You could step over the line at any point for a 20 point fault, but I was hoping not to. Gambled on time not running out....Set him up ok but of course he took the jump and immediately went to the dog walk as it was closer to me than the tunnel--called him off and sent him to the tunnel, took a bit of convincing but he did do it. No problem with the three jumps, but then of course wanted to take the frame instead of the tunnel, and it took me a lot (well, 10 seconds) longer to convince him to take the tunnel that time. But he did take it! so I should be happy about that. So I will.
The puppyface started in a midpoint baby dog class last week, which means both Aussies have back to back classes Mondays, but means that I am no longer in the Monday AM class which was kicking my butt and teaching me a lot. Sigh. I can't drive down there twice a week so it's a necessary evil, but I'm sad about it. I kind of have mixed feelings about starting Zig there, since I feel like there are some aspects of training that I've missed with Griff, but I really wanted him in a class. I can always move him if I find something closer. I don't like teaching contacts the way we are (luring), but I will try to keep clicking them and ignore the critique I always seem to get when I use the clicker in class. He showed no fear except of the shoot, didn't think it should come down on his head, so we will have to work on that.
Monday, September 12, 2011
Fleet Feet trial 9/10-9/11/11
Soooo, agility. Status of agility training has been a bit sketchy since the last trial. I was so frustrated at times by our lack of progress, then following sickness in both myself and my old man dog, I missed most of agility class for August. We did do a 2x2 weaves workshop, which, at least in practice, seemed to really help Griffy with some weave trouble he'd been having. We practiced weaves and jumpwork at home quite a bit. No contacts, no long courses. With Zig, I took a class based at least loosely on Control Unleashed, and since he's turned 1, started some jump work with him. I also (very slowly) have started some 2x2 weaves with him (just one set so far).
We had to sign up for the September CPE trial long before I knew we'd be taking a month off class. I was not at all sure how it would go, considering Griff hadn't see the arena, a piece of contact equipment, or even run while another dog was nearby since July. And, Saturday, it turned out, was predicted to be close to 100 degrees. Eek.
Let's see: good stuff. Fullhouse: startline stay. Weaves were 1/2. I didn't correct since it's a time issue. No problem with teeter. Ran pretty fast. Q and 2nd (due to points). Bad stuff: weaves were 1/2. One knocked bar.
Standard: nicely run course! No complaints. Both sets of weaves perfect (both 6s). No knocked bars. Q and first.
Snooker: Weaves 1/2. Otherwise, no complaints. Did not make it all the way to #7 but he didn't need the points to Q. It was a very low qualifying snooker, mostly because 5 and 6 were combos and the course was so long a lot of people were running out of time. He q'd and took 2nd.
Jumpers: Pretty good run-now he's in level 5. No complaints, especially due to how hot the day was.
Sunday:
Jackpot: perfect jackpot execution, read reverse flow pivot and rear crosses well. Weaves 1/2. Q! Not very high scoring, since I forgot that in jackpot weaves are only worth 3 and not 5, but it was ok enough. We don't have distance skills so Qing in jackpot is hard for us.
Standard. Beautiful run that I messed up by forgetting where I was going. Caused him to knock a bar, but he still q'd. Perfect 12 weaves. Q and 1st even with 5 faults.
Wildcard: nice run. Weaves perfect. He was a champ. No complaints. Q.
Colors: nice run, good weaves. No knocked bars!!!! YAY!
My main disappointment is that his weave pole performance, while much improved from last trial, was still only about 2/3rds accurate. Not good enough for AKC. And geez, that's all we've been working on! It was mostly about not searching for the correct entry still. He was much better, but still not as solid as I'd hoped. Gotta keep working it, maybe going back to just two poles.
Most of the frustrating things about this trial were other people. People complaining about the CPE rules, the judge, other trivial stuff. One "friend" who likes to take support, can't give it. A dog tried to eat Zig's face, and the owner was a bit annoying about it. Too many people yelling at their dogs in the ring in the name of "training" and thinking that rules (such as the new no gates closed rule) did not apply to them and their dogs.
But it was nice to hang out with several agility people that I really like but don't see often. So many people are friendly, supportive, and just out to do well and have fun with their dogs. I just have to ignore those who aren't.
I am still debating about when to neuter the shrimp. He's 13 months, and I have him on the schedule for the 23rd, but I am kind of hating doing it. I wish his breeder would weigh in for me, but she's not been answering my emails. Hmm.
off to prepare for a six day week! BLEH!
We had to sign up for the September CPE trial long before I knew we'd be taking a month off class. I was not at all sure how it would go, considering Griff hadn't see the arena, a piece of contact equipment, or even run while another dog was nearby since July. And, Saturday, it turned out, was predicted to be close to 100 degrees. Eek.
Let's see: good stuff. Fullhouse: startline stay. Weaves were 1/2. I didn't correct since it's a time issue. No problem with teeter. Ran pretty fast. Q and 2nd (due to points). Bad stuff: weaves were 1/2. One knocked bar.
Standard: nicely run course! No complaints. Both sets of weaves perfect (both 6s). No knocked bars. Q and first.
Snooker: Weaves 1/2. Otherwise, no complaints. Did not make it all the way to #7 but he didn't need the points to Q. It was a very low qualifying snooker, mostly because 5 and 6 were combos and the course was so long a lot of people were running out of time. He q'd and took 2nd.
Jumpers: Pretty good run-now he's in level 5. No complaints, especially due to how hot the day was.
Sunday:
Jackpot: perfect jackpot execution, read reverse flow pivot and rear crosses well. Weaves 1/2. Q! Not very high scoring, since I forgot that in jackpot weaves are only worth 3 and not 5, but it was ok enough. We don't have distance skills so Qing in jackpot is hard for us.
Standard. Beautiful run that I messed up by forgetting where I was going. Caused him to knock a bar, but he still q'd. Perfect 12 weaves. Q and 1st even with 5 faults.
Wildcard: nice run. Weaves perfect. He was a champ. No complaints. Q.
Colors: nice run, good weaves. No knocked bars!!!! YAY!
My main disappointment is that his weave pole performance, while much improved from last trial, was still only about 2/3rds accurate. Not good enough for AKC. And geez, that's all we've been working on! It was mostly about not searching for the correct entry still. He was much better, but still not as solid as I'd hoped. Gotta keep working it, maybe going back to just two poles.
Most of the frustrating things about this trial were other people. People complaining about the CPE rules, the judge, other trivial stuff. One "friend" who likes to take support, can't give it. A dog tried to eat Zig's face, and the owner was a bit annoying about it. Too many people yelling at their dogs in the ring in the name of "training" and thinking that rules (such as the new no gates closed rule) did not apply to them and their dogs.
But it was nice to hang out with several agility people that I really like but don't see often. So many people are friendly, supportive, and just out to do well and have fun with their dogs. I just have to ignore those who aren't.
I am still debating about when to neuter the shrimp. He's 13 months, and I have him on the schedule for the 23rd, but I am kind of hating doing it. I wish his breeder would weigh in for me, but she's not been answering my emails. Hmm.
off to prepare for a six day week! BLEH!
Monday, July 18, 2011
Agility musings
Griff and I trialed this weekend for the first time since March. Zig came along for the experience and socialization. With the wedding and June being such a busy month, we haven't been in very aggressive training for about 2 months. It was clear this might be the source of some of our issues.
We entered all 8 CPE classes. First was jackpot-Griff was attentive and his opening was fine, but the closing was a traditional jackpot with a distance jump tunnel layered with two jumps closer. You sent them into a tunnel, angled towards the far jump but still requiring comfort at distance. We just don't do distance, especially with layered obstacles, since jackpot is the only class that uses it and we don't run NADAC. So naturally, after coming out of the tunnel Griff oriented towards me and "out jump" wasn't enough to make him take the far jump-end of jackpot. I wasn't disappointed with it since I can't expect him to do what he hasn't been trained to do!
Standard-we had weave trouble, which we corrected. Should have been 5 faults but a q. Somehow, they marked us as a 15 point major fault. NQ. I am pretty sure it was a scribing error, but nothing to be done about it.
Wildcard was a nice run, and we finally got out of level 2 colors! Fullhouse is always a fun run.
Standard II on Sunday was the problem. The first four obstacles were tough. Jump to dog walk but set at a right angle, so if the set up wasn't just right it was a difficult entry, and Griff was nervous as soon as we walked out. He never, ever shows ring anxiety, he will occasionally knock bars if my direction is late but he doesn't seem to worry about it. This was different. He wouldn't get into position on the start line, kept looking back at the dog that was leaving the ring, and then when I sent him over the jump and onto the dog walk, I took my eyes off him for a split second and he tried to cut behind me instead of going onto the dog walk. We recovered, but after the jump were the weaves. We had a complete weave breakdown. At first, he popped the 10th pole, so I took him back to fix it. Then we popped at the third, then the tenth, then he acted like he couldn't weave at all....such a strange thing. SO....stupidly too late, but finally I gave up and just ran the rest of the course, knowing he'd get an NQ but wanting him to end on a good note-and he ran the rest of the 14 obstacles perfectly. Strange. I don't know why the stress behaviors were so bad.
Snooker-I played it safe with the points and he did perfectly, no stress, perfect attentiveness, blew past 6 weaves first but then executed them perfectly. Jumpers course-he saved our ass, did great. Much more like the Griff I am used to.
There are a few things to note about this trial:
1. Competitive people are everywhere, even in a "fun" sport like agility. They can make you feel bad about your progress even though objectively it is right where you expect it to be.
2. I should have been more careful when reining in Griff's forwardness. He now checks in too much and won't necessarily run a line if I am too far, even if I am cueing him correctly.
3. I cue late too much in trials.
4. I need to trust the front cross.
5. I need to make sure my training efforts are in line with my training goals, and not feel bad if the results reflect the efforts. Not everyone can be a fanatic, and if you train at a specific level, that is the performance you should expect.
Zig was great at the trial. I wish I had him further along, but he was awfully mellow in the crate and attentive out. However, he is certainly more aware of his testicles, and I am thinking I really want to neuter him at 12 months. Maybe I can make it to 14-16 months but don't think I can make it to two.
We entered all 8 CPE classes. First was jackpot-Griff was attentive and his opening was fine, but the closing was a traditional jackpot with a distance jump tunnel layered with two jumps closer. You sent them into a tunnel, angled towards the far jump but still requiring comfort at distance. We just don't do distance, especially with layered obstacles, since jackpot is the only class that uses it and we don't run NADAC. So naturally, after coming out of the tunnel Griff oriented towards me and "out jump" wasn't enough to make him take the far jump-end of jackpot. I wasn't disappointed with it since I can't expect him to do what he hasn't been trained to do!
Standard-we had weave trouble, which we corrected. Should have been 5 faults but a q. Somehow, they marked us as a 15 point major fault. NQ. I am pretty sure it was a scribing error, but nothing to be done about it.
Wildcard was a nice run, and we finally got out of level 2 colors! Fullhouse is always a fun run.
Standard II on Sunday was the problem. The first four obstacles were tough. Jump to dog walk but set at a right angle, so if the set up wasn't just right it was a difficult entry, and Griff was nervous as soon as we walked out. He never, ever shows ring anxiety, he will occasionally knock bars if my direction is late but he doesn't seem to worry about it. This was different. He wouldn't get into position on the start line, kept looking back at the dog that was leaving the ring, and then when I sent him over the jump and onto the dog walk, I took my eyes off him for a split second and he tried to cut behind me instead of going onto the dog walk. We recovered, but after the jump were the weaves. We had a complete weave breakdown. At first, he popped the 10th pole, so I took him back to fix it. Then we popped at the third, then the tenth, then he acted like he couldn't weave at all....such a strange thing. SO....stupidly too late, but finally I gave up and just ran the rest of the course, knowing he'd get an NQ but wanting him to end on a good note-and he ran the rest of the 14 obstacles perfectly. Strange. I don't know why the stress behaviors were so bad.
Snooker-I played it safe with the points and he did perfectly, no stress, perfect attentiveness, blew past 6 weaves first but then executed them perfectly. Jumpers course-he saved our ass, did great. Much more like the Griff I am used to.
There are a few things to note about this trial:
1. Competitive people are everywhere, even in a "fun" sport like agility. They can make you feel bad about your progress even though objectively it is right where you expect it to be.
2. I should have been more careful when reining in Griff's forwardness. He now checks in too much and won't necessarily run a line if I am too far, even if I am cueing him correctly.
3. I cue late too much in trials.
4. I need to trust the front cross.
5. I need to make sure my training efforts are in line with my training goals, and not feel bad if the results reflect the efforts. Not everyone can be a fanatic, and if you train at a specific level, that is the performance you should expect.
Zig was great at the trial. I wish I had him further along, but he was awfully mellow in the crate and attentive out. However, he is certainly more aware of his testicles, and I am thinking I really want to neuter him at 12 months. Maybe I can make it to 14-16 months but don't think I can make it to two.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Ziggy Intermed and Griff
So after complaining about a. lack of toy drive and b. driving time to class, I decided to skip agility on Monday and work Griff at home, so we did some jump work and stay practice (while I cleaned my car in the front of the house). Griff wanted to inform me that my last complaints about his lack of tug drive are bullshit, so he happily did long downstays and heeling for retrieves and then tug games. So there, he sez.
I did not brag on the pupper either. Last week in PI, we had loose leash walking practice, which Zig did, off leash, in heel, around the other pups and people. Only occasional distractions when someone couldn't remember we don't walk our dogs right up on top of another dog. He also played during free play and only tried to herd twice! Beautiful recalls out of play as well. He's S-M-A-R-T. He loves his fur tuggie (only gets it during training) and was happy to work quite hard for it. So yay for Zig too. We'll see how tonight's class goes. He spent ten good minutes retrieving his babble ball last night, so he'd like me to mention that my concern about his retrieve is perhaps not warranted (well, he sez bullshit too, but I told him he was too young for such language).
Agility foundations was cancelled for this week, so I really should spend some time trying to free shape two back paws on the phone book some more, but this exercise frustrates me so I put it off.
Zig is getting longer than he is tall, I hope it's just a freakish growth spurt and not a sign that he'll be longer backed.
This rain is making me nervous that our engagement photos on Saturday will be of two wet people and four wet dogs. Awesome.
And in totally non-dog-news, I am glad Glee didn't jump the shark with its original songs episode. I was worried. But Blane and Kurt storyline was so sweet, and I thought Lea Michele was much more Rachel from early season one, slightly off-putting but endearing. The original songs, well, the good ones were the outtakes (Trouty Mouth? Big Ass Heart? Hell to the No! greatness!) I must say, Sue needs to get back to the Cheerios where she belongs. And we need more Artie, and Mercedes needs some romance in her storyline! Do I sound like a fan dork? Sorry.
I did not brag on the pupper either. Last week in PI, we had loose leash walking practice, which Zig did, off leash, in heel, around the other pups and people. Only occasional distractions when someone couldn't remember we don't walk our dogs right up on top of another dog. He also played during free play and only tried to herd twice! Beautiful recalls out of play as well. He's S-M-A-R-T. He loves his fur tuggie (only gets it during training) and was happy to work quite hard for it. So yay for Zig too. We'll see how tonight's class goes. He spent ten good minutes retrieving his babble ball last night, so he'd like me to mention that my concern about his retrieve is perhaps not warranted (well, he sez bullshit too, but I told him he was too young for such language).
Agility foundations was cancelled for this week, so I really should spend some time trying to free shape two back paws on the phone book some more, but this exercise frustrates me so I put it off.
Zig is getting longer than he is tall, I hope it's just a freakish growth spurt and not a sign that he'll be longer backed.
This rain is making me nervous that our engagement photos on Saturday will be of two wet people and four wet dogs. Awesome.
And in totally non-dog-news, I am glad Glee didn't jump the shark with its original songs episode. I was worried. But Blane and Kurt storyline was so sweet, and I thought Lea Michele was much more Rachel from early season one, slightly off-putting but endearing. The original songs, well, the good ones were the outtakes (Trouty Mouth? Big Ass Heart? Hell to the No! greatness!) I must say, Sue needs to get back to the Cheerios where she belongs. And we need more Artie, and Mercedes needs some romance in her storyline! Do I sound like a fan dork? Sorry.
Friday, October 8, 2010
Puppyface and agility class fail.
First...puppy!
After hours of deliberation, this is the one I picked! He's the blue boy that I liked from week 3. It was a tough pick, in part because 5 of the pups were so close to what I wanted. I debated really hard about one of the blue girls and a black girl, and the other blue boy, but ultimately this little guy won. He's adapted well so far, he had to go with me to an agility trial all weekend and did great. Met lots of people, saw lots of things, met a dog or two, rode in the car, pottied in strange places...all pretty much without balking. He was a little overwhelmed by Saturday night, but Sunday did well and has been a trooper so far this week. I of course have paranoia that I am going to do something wrong, but hopefully experience and training will prevent that from happening. There will probably be lots of pictures of this little guy soon. I'm a bit concerned about some shyness that was not evident in his temperament tests or with his litter but have popped up over the last week...but he's a baby and has a lot of socializing ahead
Agility trial was good for Griff as well. He q'd in 6 of 7 runs, and was overall way more focused than I had any right to expect. We didn't q in our second standard run as I forgot to get the turn command out and caused him to back jump (off course), but it was totally my fault.
However...agility class on Tuesday was a nightmare. I could do nothing right as far as my instructor was concerned, and I ended up leaving class in tears. Griff was disconnecting because he saw how upset I was. I don't know why she decided to ream me...I know I was setting him up at jumps closer than I should, but most of the start lines were really near the other dogs and I didn't want him to get overly excited at the barky sheltie and leave me. However, the more I was berated, the worse I got, until I couldn't remember the courses at all. Finally, I just said I wasn't going to correct any mistakes and just let Griff have fun. I went out in the parking lot after class and cried like a five year old.
I know that trainers get to the point where they've seen mistakes people make a hundred times and it must be frustrating. However, training is as much about being compassionate to the people as it is the dogs. I am not trying to be unfair to my dog when I don't handle as well as I should. I'm just new at this. Berating me is a great way to make me shut down and make more mistakes....I wish I knew what to do about this.
Agility trial was good for Griff as well. He q'd in 6 of 7 runs, and was overall way more focused than I had any right to expect. We didn't q in our second standard run as I forgot to get the turn command out and caused him to back jump (off course), but it was totally my fault.
However...agility class on Tuesday was a nightmare. I could do nothing right as far as my instructor was concerned, and I ended up leaving class in tears. Griff was disconnecting because he saw how upset I was. I don't know why she decided to ream me...I know I was setting him up at jumps closer than I should, but most of the start lines were really near the other dogs and I didn't want him to get overly excited at the barky sheltie and leave me. However, the more I was berated, the worse I got, until I couldn't remember the courses at all. Finally, I just said I wasn't going to correct any mistakes and just let Griff have fun. I went out in the parking lot after class and cried like a five year old.
I know that trainers get to the point where they've seen mistakes people make a hundred times and it must be frustrating. However, training is as much about being compassionate to the people as it is the dogs. I am not trying to be unfair to my dog when I don't handle as well as I should. I'm just new at this. Berating me is a great way to make me shut down and make more mistakes....I wish I knew what to do about this.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Car death, fleet feet trial day two.
Today started out with a massive car fail on the freeway on the way to agility trial. Spent 45 minutes waiting for triple A about 15 miles from home, had to call someone to pick up Griff and I, follow the tow truck to the dealer, come back home, and borrow John's car. Finally made it to the trial after Jackpot had been run but just in time to walk the level 4 standard course.
Today was frustrating, just because it was a lot of work with a low yield, and I felt like he had run so much better yesterday. Standard 4 I blew because I sent him inadvertently into the wrong end of the tunnel, and you can't have any off courses to Q. Wildcard was a messy, messy run but he qualified. Colors would have been a q but he ...KNOCKED ANOTHER BAR!!!!
I have many theories on what makes him knock bars. He does it when he's tired. He does it when he's focused on the obstacle ahead of the jump. He does it during tight handling courses if he's not 100% sure where I want him to go. So, with these problems in mind, my potential fixes are...1. build value in the jump ala success with one jump so that he is committed regardless of handling concerns...2. play jump grids to strengthen his ability to correctly stride and evaluate jump position, and 3. work on my tight handling and distance handling so I don't pull him off if I'm not excessively working the jump. I would like more advice from my trainer, because this is three runs at the last two trials where knocked bars have cost me Q's. Meh.
Yesterday he was a supastar, so I'm trying to be proud that A. he rocked it yesterday, including his first level 4 standard run and a snooker course which is my weakest event, B. that we came back after the trauma of the morning and he performed pretty well, and C. that I made myself go at all after dealing with tow trucks and car trauma. But it's hard...I'm sick of level 2 colors and jackpot!
I'd like to get a shot of him with all his ribbons from the last two trials, maybe tomorrow. Right now I need to run a 5K, take a shower, get some dinner, and plan my week.
Today was frustrating, just because it was a lot of work with a low yield, and I felt like he had run so much better yesterday. Standard 4 I blew because I sent him inadvertently into the wrong end of the tunnel, and you can't have any off courses to Q. Wildcard was a messy, messy run but he qualified. Colors would have been a q but he ...KNOCKED ANOTHER BAR!!!!
I have many theories on what makes him knock bars. He does it when he's tired. He does it when he's focused on the obstacle ahead of the jump. He does it during tight handling courses if he's not 100% sure where I want him to go. So, with these problems in mind, my potential fixes are...1. build value in the jump ala success with one jump so that he is committed regardless of handling concerns...2. play jump grids to strengthen his ability to correctly stride and evaluate jump position, and 3. work on my tight handling and distance handling so I don't pull him off if I'm not excessively working the jump. I would like more advice from my trainer, because this is three runs at the last two trials where knocked bars have cost me Q's. Meh.
Yesterday he was a supastar, so I'm trying to be proud that A. he rocked it yesterday, including his first level 4 standard run and a snooker course which is my weakest event, B. that we came back after the trauma of the morning and he performed pretty well, and C. that I made myself go at all after dealing with tow trucks and car trauma. But it's hard...I'm sick of level 2 colors and jackpot!
I'd like to get a shot of him with all his ribbons from the last two trials, maybe tomorrow. Right now I need to run a 5K, take a shower, get some dinner, and plan my week.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Fleet Feet CPE trial September
Today's runs:
Fullhouse: Q and 2nd place with same points as first place dog, one second slower
Standard level 4/5/C: Q and 1st place!!! First level 4 run and he rocked.
Snooker: Q and 1st! Snooker win!
Jumpers: Q I think, one knocked bar but I think that's just a fault and he can still Q.
No pictures because the photographer wasn't there today, and my camera is misbehaving. But he was a very very good dog.
Four runs tomorrow.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Good stuff, bad stuff, sad stuff
Wow, I really planned to write about Griff's trial this weekend, but yesterday completely overshadows it right now...but I'll try to remember what I was excited about.
Saturday was bumpy, as it was my first day trialing in a long time. We were up early, at the venue early, and feeling like kids who had no idea where to sit in the lunch room on the first day of school. I did find someone I knew and set up the crate near her. We started with Jackpot, which was the first run of the day and often is a chaotic sort of warm up run. Griff actually did pretty well for a first run, had a bit of a bobble with the weaves (which became a theme of this trial, eek) but was responsive and took his cues well. He also, unfortunately, knocked a bar in the gamble (another theme) which I had left just enough time for (bad handler) so he didn't Q in that round.
I have to admit, although I don't have fancy agility aspirations, a first run like that was enough to make me consider bagging the whole thing. Insecurity+what-if thinking=crazypants. But I decided it wasn't fair to let it wreck his experience, after all, he'd been attentive and working hard, and one knocked bar was all that kept the run from being a success. So, we regrouped and prepared for Standard, which is always my favorite because 1. they give you the course and 2. few decoy obstacles. He rocked both standard runs except for weave bobbles (damn, where are they coming from?!?) and got a first place in the first run as well as two qs. He did very well in wildcard as well with a q and first, and only missed a q in colors due to a knocked bar.
(Theme: knocked bars, weave pole difficulty, repeat!)
I was pretty pleased about Saturday, after all, Griff had a one year break from trialing and with only a moderate increase in pre-start line reactivity had been fast, mostly accurate, and very responsive on day one.
Sunday was a great day, with four qs and two firsts, and our first ever Snooker q! He rocked that course with perfect execution even though I changed my plan from what I walked at the last minute. His only nq was my fault as I forgot where I was going in the first Standard run (shocker) and sent him the wrong way. Oops. However, weave poles were an issue all day, and we had one back jump in jumpers (the only time he does this, weird). But overall, seven qs, four firsts, one fourth, and three mostly solid runs even though they didn't q.
Unfortunately, there was no hanging on to the high from the trial. My rabbit Harvey died Monday morning, quite suddenly. I'm not going to write about the details because I still feel so sick about the whole event, but it was unexpected and terrible.
Losing him I'm sure won't be as hard as putting Monkey to sleep was. I had Monkey for years and had nursed him for several years through CRF before he just didn't have enough kidneys left anymore. I still miss the hell out of that cat and often think I see him out of the corner of my eye. I "heard" him all the time in the house before I moved back to Portland.
However, losing a pet suddenly is pretty awful, and being a vet who is supposedly trained to address situations like that and not being able to save him was pretty shocking. I have felt much worse in some ways since it happened than when Monk died. That was a horrible sense of loss and sadness, but this right now is something really sickening and hard to describe. I know it won't last as long, but the feelings are somehow more icky. Sadness can actually be helpful in some ways, and this feeling (guilt, shock, whatever) doesn't feel cathartic at all.
So today I am trying to distract myself from the ever present ick. I ran four miles this morning which was the only time I didn't feel sick. I made myself eat lunch with lots of veggies and color. I made myself put on a sundress and meet my mom for coffee. I'll make myself go to agility class tonight and try to just enjoy running Griff (and working on the stinkin' weave poles). But I can't help the sneak attack badness that waxes and wanes. Guess I will have to ride it out.
This week is a maintenance running week (same distance as last week) so my long run is only five miles, but next week it's time for six. Since the most I've ever run at one time is 6.5, yeah, we're getting up there. Time to register for the half? Dunno....
Saturday was bumpy, as it was my first day trialing in a long time. We were up early, at the venue early, and feeling like kids who had no idea where to sit in the lunch room on the first day of school. I did find someone I knew and set up the crate near her. We started with Jackpot, which was the first run of the day and often is a chaotic sort of warm up run. Griff actually did pretty well for a first run, had a bit of a bobble with the weaves (which became a theme of this trial, eek) but was responsive and took his cues well. He also, unfortunately, knocked a bar in the gamble (another theme) which I had left just enough time for (bad handler) so he didn't Q in that round.
I have to admit, although I don't have fancy agility aspirations, a first run like that was enough to make me consider bagging the whole thing. Insecurity+what-if thinking=crazypants. But I decided it wasn't fair to let it wreck his experience, after all, he'd been attentive and working hard, and one knocked bar was all that kept the run from being a success. So, we regrouped and prepared for Standard, which is always my favorite because 1. they give you the course and 2. few decoy obstacles. He rocked both standard runs except for weave bobbles (damn, where are they coming from?!?) and got a first place in the first run as well as two qs. He did very well in wildcard as well with a q and first, and only missed a q in colors due to a knocked bar.
(Theme: knocked bars, weave pole difficulty, repeat!)
I was pretty pleased about Saturday, after all, Griff had a one year break from trialing and with only a moderate increase in pre-start line reactivity had been fast, mostly accurate, and very responsive on day one.
Sunday was a great day, with four qs and two firsts, and our first ever Snooker q! He rocked that course with perfect execution even though I changed my plan from what I walked at the last minute. His only nq was my fault as I forgot where I was going in the first Standard run (shocker) and sent him the wrong way. Oops. However, weave poles were an issue all day, and we had one back jump in jumpers (the only time he does this, weird). But overall, seven qs, four firsts, one fourth, and three mostly solid runs even though they didn't q.
Unfortunately, there was no hanging on to the high from the trial. My rabbit Harvey died Monday morning, quite suddenly. I'm not going to write about the details because I still feel so sick about the whole event, but it was unexpected and terrible.
Losing him I'm sure won't be as hard as putting Monkey to sleep was. I had Monkey for years and had nursed him for several years through CRF before he just didn't have enough kidneys left anymore. I still miss the hell out of that cat and often think I see him out of the corner of my eye. I "heard" him all the time in the house before I moved back to Portland.
However, losing a pet suddenly is pretty awful, and being a vet who is supposedly trained to address situations like that and not being able to save him was pretty shocking. I have felt much worse in some ways since it happened than when Monk died. That was a horrible sense of loss and sadness, but this right now is something really sickening and hard to describe. I know it won't last as long, but the feelings are somehow more icky. Sadness can actually be helpful in some ways, and this feeling (guilt, shock, whatever) doesn't feel cathartic at all.
So today I am trying to distract myself from the ever present ick. I ran four miles this morning which was the only time I didn't feel sick. I made myself eat lunch with lots of veggies and color. I made myself put on a sundress and meet my mom for coffee. I'll make myself go to agility class tonight and try to just enjoy running Griff (and working on the stinkin' weave poles). But I can't help the sneak attack badness that waxes and wanes. Guess I will have to ride it out.
This week is a maintenance running week (same distance as last week) so my long run is only five miles, but next week it's time for six. Since the most I've ever run at one time is 6.5, yeah, we're getting up there. Time to register for the half? Dunno....
Friday, August 20, 2010
Performance Anxiety
Grr, trial anxiety sucks.
I really need to chill out. This isn't a job interview, a surgery, an exam. No one cares if we do well or suck it up the whole way. It needs to be about fun and working with my dog.
So WTF is up with the anxiety? I feel like crap.
Makes me wonder if getting an agility pup is such a great idea.
I really need to chill out. This isn't a job interview, a surgery, an exam. No one cares if we do well or suck it up the whole way. It needs to be about fun and working with my dog.
So WTF is up with the anxiety? I feel like crap.
Makes me wonder if getting an agility pup is such a great idea.
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