Managing Expectations

We can never know about the days to come
But we think about them anyway, yay
And I wonder if I'm really with you now
Or just chasin' after some finer day

Anticipation, anticipation
Is makin' me late
Is keepin' me waitin'

(Carly Simon - Anticipation)

I'm a little worried about having unrealistic and, frankly, unfair expectations of Shasta.  Everything is going so well to this point.  I am very impressed with her work ethic and her understanding of the concepts I've taught.  I'm impressed with her attitude and her control.  She is happy in working and training without being gleeful. 

I can feel it, in my honest moments with myself, the expectations that are already building in my near-subconscious thoughts.   I'm not speaking about titles or tournaments or accomplishments.  But the building expectation that we won't have many struggles.  That we won't have the usual struggles that even a great agility team usually have when they are young.   I recognize and know that it's not fair to Shasta.  I recognize and know that it's not fair to me.  Yet it's not like it's something I can really control except to recognize it and hope that being honest with myself tempers it to some level.

I've always thought and often said, the key to an accomplished agility dog is to have a dog that keeps bars up, doesn't develop serious weave issues and doesn't have fear issues.  If you have those three things you are 90% of the way "there" in agility.  Yet, I haven't started jumping or weaving with Shasta yet.  How irrational is it, then, to have building expectations at this early stage when I haven't even started to train two of the three things most likely to derail a "career"? 

So, that's it.  I've made a decision.  I am not going to subconsciously have such high expectations.  Yep, that's what I have decided.  ;-)

Shasta Is A Classy Dog

Last night I brought Shasta to our first class.  She was --- awesome.  It was an agility class, level 4.  It was in our winter horse arena which has horses in it during the day.  Shasta is a floor "snarfer" at times and I expected it to be a tough process to work through in the barn.  But she didn't care about the dirt at all.  No snarfing.  I was surprised.  Pleasantly surprised. 

To her it was all new, the obstacles, the place, the other dogs, the waiting around .  She handled it all brilliantly.  She had no issues generalizing the obstacles, had no issues being distracted by the other dogs and had total focus on working with me and the sequences.  Thrilling!

We did jumps at zero, didn't weave and didn't do the dog walk (we haven't done a tall one yet).  Much like I recall doing with Roxy at this age.  I can make up a lot of sequences while skipping those obstacles.

We did do two a-frames which I introduced to her last week in our back yard (did three of them in our back yard).  She is doing the downside slowly but right now I like that because it is being really easy on her body.  I now won't do any a-frames until we start jumping except for the one or two I do in class every once in a while.  And if she speeds up too much I'll bypass them as well.

The school has an all-aluminum teeter which can vibrate differently and I expected her to struggle with it a few times.  But she had no issues with that either.  No issues with the doghouse chute.  No issues with the level four sequences. 

She ran about 75-80% of the time.  Every so often she would slow down, seemingly a little tentative.  Like I've said in this blog before, she more than most dogs, will be fast only when she is confident.  Something about my cues made her question the path which slowed her down.  Which does not bother me a bit, my cues will get better and better with time.

It was a great first class.  Both exciting and a relief.