Ok, so she was entered in only one class. ;-P She ran the Advanced Jumpers course. Didn't put her in the other games because of the frame retraining and not wanting to overdo it with her at trials.
She ran very attentively and stayed with me the whole time, yay! But, her happiness level wasn't at full-on 100% Happy Girl. I'd give her a 3.5 or 4 out of 5 on the Happy scale.
Couple of things I noticed from the video... I rely way too much on the off arm, such as to bring her in after a turn to avoid her running past the next jump... and, holy moly I can't cue a tight turn to save my life. Actually that kind of thing (efficient turns) is the last thing on my mind both when walking a course and running it. But jeez maybe it's time to start eh!
Monday, August 4, 2008
Dogz Advanced trial... in which Lucy has a 100% Q rate!
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8 comments:
WOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO
Way to go Lucy and mom!!!
I LOVE jumpers classes - they get mighty twisty at masters but they are my fav - run turn run turn - wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
brody sailed through starters and advanced - now he makes up his own courses or I get lost .... gah but soon Lucy will be showing us how to do it :)
Thanks :-)
Agreed, jumpers is FUN!
Yeah, Walter sailed through starters and advanced too, but boy oh boy has it ever been a different story with Lucy! Seems it's been one issue after another, after another. Today was her first Q in about 15 runs :-)
I haven't gotten completely lost on course yet... though that time is certain to come sooner or later :-D
Congrats on your 100% Q rate! Feels good, even if it's only 1.
When I walk a course, memorizing the order of the obstacles is just the start. I'm always looking for the dog's path, what the dog sees and might look at, where I need to be exactly (that dark part in the grass? that bare spot with the dandelion? an arm's length from the right side ofthe jump?) when the dog is at a specific earlier part of the course, when exactly I need to make my turn (when I can see her face in the tunnel? when she's taking off for the previous jump? when I can see her eyes coming past the right wing?). That's the only way I have a hope of getting a speed advantage with my non-Border Collie. So, yeah, it's time to start paying attention to that. :-)
-ellen
Wow, that is some checklist! I have gotten a bit better since I started. For instance, used to be I'd wait for my dog right at the exit of every tunnel. (Yes, I admit it! How embarassing.) Also, once upon a time I had no concept whatsoever of slicing jumps and would set my dog up for a straight approach every time.
Lately I have started to think to look at what the dog will see, checking out potential offcourses or anticipating potentially missed obstacles that might not be as obvious as they first appear.
But yikes, making use of the scenery to identify where I should be, or having a mental image of what I should see before making a turn -- it's gonna be a while yet! But thanks, the more I think about it the more it makes sense to do those things, so I'll work on it. With practice, maybe eventually those sorts of things will come as naturally as not waiting for my dog at the exit of every tunnel. :-)
congratulation to lucy..
and is funny that u had a rating scale for her happiness....LoL
Hey Pacco,
Yeah it is isn't it :-D Though if I had the choice between a Q or a 5/5 on the happiness scale, I'd probably choose the latter. Well, ok so I'd settle for a 4.9 if it came with a Q. Ha!
Yeah 100% Q rate, way to go :) Looked really good to me, nice job! We most certainly know how stressy dogs are with our Gracie.
Thanks Johann. That Q was Lucy's first in... well, in a long while!
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