Feb
17
Progress
Well, I am starting to focus more on Trip and getting her ready for Nationals and World Team Tryouts. I’m trying to work on more international-style handling challenges, which Trip generally does well with if I remember what the heck *I’m* doing. I’m keeping a list of specific sequences we need to work on to tighten up a bit, and work on some courses designed by this year’s FCI judges.
Another thing that I’m working on is proofing Trip’s running dogwalk. I need to be able to trust that she’s going to nail it no matter what I’m doing on the ground. To that end, I’ve committed to doing 50 reps/week between now and Nationals/Tryouts. Since her dogwalk is pretty much stride dependent (anything but 3 strides on the downside is a fail), I have to believe that those extra reps will help us. Of course, we can’t go do 50 reps in one day. I’m doing 5-10 at a time, spread out over the week. Got 50+ in this week without too much effort, so I think I’ve got my schedule figured out so it’s doable. It’s tougher when we’re showing on the weekend, but I’ve got a little more daylight in the evening now if I get off work on time to come home and get some reps in, and my day off to get two sets in.
Ticket is doing great as well. I really need to do a better job of trusting that she has learned some skills along the way, and not baby her all the time. I was working her on some tough sequences this evening (push throughs, 270s, etc), and she was amazing. She is SO fast though–I don’t know how I’m ever going to keep up with her.
I’m very excited to be heading to LA to show this weekend. I’ll get to see all my Tripletts in one place, run Ticket in her second show, and visit with my LA friends. It’s going to be a fun time, so I’m excited. It’s also a small, laid-back show, with one ring running at a time, so no conflicts. Hopefully Ticket will make some progress towards her Novice titles–I dread the idea of being spread out across Novice, Open, AND Excellent…
Happy Training!
