Was able to practice an actual Novice course with Ticket, and she did about what I expected her to do–better in some places (the opening leadout away from the chute). Will definitely have to keep working the table in sequences with speed–it’s the one obstacle I don’t have (yet–have the materials but haven’t built it). We’ll be seeing a rubber-surfaced table in competition, so I hope that will help some.
Also had some difficulty going from the aframe to the weaves–the running contact definitely makes it challenging. I know this is something she just needs more experience with. I actually did some aframe jump weaves today, and she was nailing it, so that gives me some confidence.
I’m feeling a little better about Novice JWW now, having done a few sets of straightforward sequences with big spacing. Ticket seems to be seeing the next jump fine, and I’m not QUITE as far behind as I feared I’d be.
I have to decide what I’m going to do if she makes a mistake. Of course it depends–if she breaks her stay and comes running to me–easy, she leaves. If she self-releases off a contact? Again, easy if she makes no attempt to stop, greyer if she initially stops and breaks as I’m leading out past her for the next sequence. It’s not something I’ve really had to deal with much in practice. She’s only been carried off and given a timeout once, and it was when she literally ran 2 dogwalks in a row. I’m normally an “uh oh, try again” kind of person, but I’m not sure if a pause and an “uh oh” is enough either. I have a little bit of a problem with correcting a dog in a way where they can’t fix the problem (and therefore learn what the correct behavior is). I’m not sure that jumping immediately to carrying off the course is fair, when it’s something she doesn’t have experience with. Definitely have to ponder over that–I don’t want a ring-wise dog who learns what they can get away with in the ring either.
I’m sure we’ll have fun, and of course I’ll post video. She has 5 runs next weekend–FAST, Std, JWW on Saturday and Std/JWW on Sunday. FAST is first, which is fantastic since it gives me a chance to put her on the aframe and teeter and practice the weaves. I really don’t care about the send, I just want that ring experience. We’ll get to go to LA two weeks later for another show with my friends from there–can’t wait! And Ticket will get to do the Time to Beat Demo and have more practice. She’ll have a couple of show in March, and then a break around AKC Nationals.
Here’s some video (BTW, the music was Cake’s “I Will Survive” –thanks for the mute YouTube:
My runs this weekend got me thinking about my current handling dilemma. How do you find the balance between the super tight lines that are the most efficient path, and the pure ground speed that gets you through the course as quickly as possible? Somehow, you have to find the balance between the two, and I’m struggling a bit with it right now. When hundredths of a second separate placements at the highest levels, every extra stride matters, but so does maintaining the fastest YPS.
I’ve spent so long trying to get Trip tighter with decel and positional cue, and it’s finally starting to pay off in some phenomenal lines. But to get those turns, you obviously have to bleed off some speed and then accelerate again out of the turn. And that leads to the question–is it better to take an extra stride if it means that you maintain their momentum and overall ground speed? I think there must be times when it’s better to maintain your speed, and times where it’s better have the tightest line, but I’m not sure how to identify each case.
It’s also possible that this is just an issue for me and Trip. I know that when I really focus on tight turns, Trip tends to drive forward the tiniest bit less. She knows I’m working the turns, and at some point I’m going to ask for it, so she inches back off the accelerator the smallest bit so she’s better able to make that turn. So maybe that’s what I really need to be working on–switching back and forth between decel and accel. I’ve certainly been working that, but maybe it needs to be more of a focus.
So, any thoughts on finding a balance? Or should we just be trying to have it all?
Here are some runs from the weekend.
So, haven’t been able to have more aframe practice until today, since the weather has not cooperated. Worked on it this morning, and it looked fabulous. No stride regulators on at all, since it seemed that they were messing Tic up more then they were helping her. Her first two reps were higher in the yellow then I’d like, but clearly in. All other reps (save the one BAD rep), looked great. I added more obstacles in sequence as we went on, and started to vary my position and handling. She did VERY well, and I’m definitely feeling better about it. I will continue to add more obstacles to the sequence, as the more she does before she gets to the aframe, the more over the top she tends to be. Which is one of the reasons I was so excited when she nailed her first attempts this am–she was CRAZY excited to play, and that’s when she likes to fly.
This afternoon we also worked on some wicked rear crosses, and some lead out pivots. Definitely a work in progress on these rear crosses, but nothing terribly surprising. I was ecstatic with that last rep. Also worked on lead out pivots. Started out with the second jump ahead and lateral–no problems there. Then went to work on a 3 jump sequence where I led out very close to parallel with where Ticket was. She did great, though had a few moments of confusion we had to work through. All in all, very good training session.
