The Debut - Long Summary

Last weekend was our debut weekend in Fargo.  Overall, I was very pleased with how Shasta did.  I really couldn't have asked for much better.  We had a chance to run eight courses, two Time 2 Beat courses and six novice courses. 

Most promising was her focus.  I thought it was outstanding.  She had a few moments of looking around at the start line when I led out past the first jump.  She had one moment of briefly checking out the bar setters when they were actually quite close to a correct tunnel entry.  That's all I can think of through all eight courses and three long days at the show. 

I have thought all along that her focus and willingness to work for long stretches are her biggest strengths.  At the same time, I am fully aware of the "berner grace period" that our berners have nearly always had early in their show career.  The grace period before they realize and learn that the treats really aren't coming in the ring.  I have great hope that Shasta will have a far smaller period of distraction issues than most berners.  I see indicators of that but I still have to be aware that she is currently in the "berner grace period".

Her final run, jumpers with weaves, may have been her most impressive.  It was late in the afternoon of the third very long day.  We are about to enter the ring when the dog before her poops on the course late in their run.  We go back out of the ring, find our extra treats we left behind and sat in a chair near the entry gate for 10-15 minutes while they cleaned things up.   We entered the ring and she ran a perfect course.  Impressive Shasta, impressive (to me).

The biggest issue that the weekend did point out, an issue I knew but she made very clear, was her confusion in breaking from her contacts/start line/table.  Most times she paused before breaking and when she did break it was at a slow pace.  She clearly seemed to be trying to tell me that I was forgetting the treat for her great contact performance.

Weaves were awesome.  Entered and weaved first try all eight courses, including the two T2B courses that were 12 poles of weaves.  I even got way in front on one course, got good lateral distance on another.  Good girl!

Contacts, aside from the release, were very good.  She did run off the very last one, the aframe but clearly knew she was wrong when she saw my "surprise" reaction. 

Speed was not great.  It wasn't bad either.  I am finding myself a little concerned about it.  I know and have written in this blog numerous times that she was not going to have great speed until she felt comfortable in the ring.  She certainly wasn't stressed in the ring but that's not to say she was comfortable.  By comfortable, I mean running without thinking.  At this point, she is still being very thoughtful, a good thing in the big picture.  Be safe and thoughtful for a while.  Still, knowing these facts does not change me having a tiny concern about her eventual speed.  She did have a few stretches with some pretty good speed.  I knew I would feel this way, I tried warn myself I shouldn't, but it just doesn't work that way, does it?

Fargo was a venue she has never trained in.  And it's a venue that our other young dogs have struggled with in the past, both with distraction and obstacle concerns.  Shasta had no obstacle concerns at all.  She did the teeter very confidently all five times (w/ T2B), did the dogwalk, the spread jumps, the panel, all without hesitation.

Officially she came home with 3 standard "legs" (one judge so no title), 2 jumpers legs and 2 T2B legs.  She failed the one jumpers course because of a knocked bar.  She had a wrong course in a standard run taking the broad jump off the aframe.  She had the one refusal checking out the bar setters.  Eight runs, three mistakes.  Nice.

Debut in Two Days

It's now only about 36 hours until Shasta formally enters the agility ring for the first time.  We start with T2B on Friday, a nice way to start.  But then it's the novice classes later on Friday.

I few weeks ago I was really excited for this weekend.  Now I am excited and a bit apprehensive.  Nerves?  I don't think so but maybe.  I think I'm a little apprehensive because of the lack of training.  With the AKC nationals and my work schedule around it, I've missed the last three weeks of class.  And this is the worst March ever here in 2013 in Minnesota.  Temps literally never above 35 and no break in sight.  So no outdoor/at home training in sight.  Anyway, I would be more comfortable with debut if I had a chance to get to a few classes in lately.  But life happens and I didn't.

Kris kept reminding me that I needed to do some sets of six weaves poles, which she hasn't seen since we moved to twelve in training.  Finally, tonight, I got down to the pole barn and worked some sets of six weaves.  The good news is we did about 6-8 sets of them and they went perfect.   On the other hand, I then went to do a few sets of twelve and she did her first two or three but then started "double pole weaving" the last four poles.  Oh well, she hasn't done much training on them recently (sense a theme here?), we are going to have get back to them more routinely.  (side note, I hate that AKC still has six weaves in Novice, oh I wish they would change that).

So, Fargo here we come! 

First Time at SPDTC

Yesterday we brought Shasta to SPDTC for some training time.  The ring was split in three with a dog running in each section.  We got three minutes in each section.  No room for crosses or much of anything having to do with flow, but it was perfect for Shasta and I as it allowed us to work every obstacle in a brand new place.

She did great.  Took all the "unusual" obstacles first and every try: panel, triple, broad jump, double, weaves.  The best part was that she did the teeter multiple times no hesitation.  Not that she has a teeter issue but she hasn't done many inside on cement/mats and the SPDTC teeter tends to be loud.  It was a relief to see her take it aggressively multiple times.

She was intrigued by the border collie running a few feet away from her on the other side of the baby gates.  I lost her to watching the border collie once for a few seconds and then got her working again.  I'm just saying, I have this hunch she would be a dynamite herding berner. 

We are now 12 days away from our debut.  I am really looking forward to it.  Hopefully I can keep my expectations reasonable.  I try to remind myself all the time that berners new to the agility ring take some time to learn the game and not have some distraction issues.  Still, it's not wrong to HOPE we are an exception, is it?  I would love for the debut to be at a time of year when I could be training her in our yard but in the winter/spring of 2013 that looks to be a long ways away.

Unremarkable

No, that's not a comment on Shasta.  Just on this stretch of training.  The winter blahs.

Class last week went fine.  There was no triple there. Everything else went fine.  She even allowed me to do a rear cross on weaves when the sequence started jump-weaves.  In other words, with very little momentum.

We went to TCOTC for some free ring time.  She missed on the first attempt at the panel, triple and broad jump.  Avoided the panel, went around the triple (at 20 inch) and stepped on the broad jump.  Did them all perfect every time after that.  Hopefully it's not an ongoing "first time she sees them" issue.  I'd be surprised if it is but time will tell.  It could be during our very limited winter training.

We went to the Inn on Saturday and set up a figure 8 of jumps that included the panel, the triple, the double and the broad jump.  Four of the seven jumps in the figure 8.  She did them all really well, even first time with each of them.  She kept good motivation considering it was nothing but jumps.  We did quite a few of them too.

Triple Trouble

No, I don't mean that there is three times the trouble.  This week in class we had a tiny bit of trouble.  With the triple. 

As I recall it, her first approach she almost stopped at the triple, then went for it with little momentum, and cleared it.  Next sequence we tried again and she did stop at it, then tried to clear it, then dropped the last bar.  Now, understandably she was worried.  I should have dropped the height and done it again, but no, I decided she just needed momentum without the stop.  Which she did do the next time with my encouragement, not well but managed.  At this minor success, since it was class, we stopped and went to the other half of class, the jumpers side.  We started the first run on that side and she started going around the single jumps. 

It was at that point that I realized that she may have never done a triple before and, therefore, never at anything less than 24 inches.  Idiot trainer!  Dumb.  But, can't undo it.  With a little encouragement we started doing the single jumps again and by the second run on the jumpers side she was back to taking them all normal. 

That's where we last left things.  It will be interesting to see how she does at class next week.  And you can be sure I will remember to drop the height of the triple if it's there.

Where's The Fire?

I just realized, literally as I was typing it, that the phrase "where's the fire" can have two different, opposite meanings. It's probably most typically used when someone is going really, really fast.  As in, "whoa, where's the fire"?  But I typed the subject line because I thought Shasta was a little flat last night in class and wondered "where's the fire"?

OK, here are the excuses.  It was her first time jumping 24-inch in every sequence in class.  Our winter venue is an arena with slightly loose dirt.  Logical or not, I've always thought a dog was probably having to give the effort of jumping 25 inches to clear 24 in the dirt.  It was day one of a cold for me so I didn't have any fire myself.  All excuses though.

She did a lot of good things in class.  Mostly, she did everything without hesitation.  Weaves, teeter, dogwalk.  Even her first triple.  But it was, in my opinion, methodical.  Not a big deal at this point, just an observation.  It might signify that I've added too much stuff too quickly of late.  It's something for me to keep my eye on and be ready to adjust if I need to.

Those Other Obstacles

For a long lunch yesterday I met Kris up at On The Run for some open ring time.  The focus was to see how she did her obstacles in another new place.  I was especially curious about the teeter since it's again inside on mats.

Dogwalk, teeter, aframe and weaves all were just fine.  Weave poles were even quite fast her first attempt at them then slowed down on subsequent weaves.  She is also still being careful on the dogwalk but that doesn't bother me at all at this point.

We decided since we were there and things were going well we should introduce the jumps she hasn't yet seen.  Out came the double jump and the panel.  I tried them both at full height first.  She came to a dead stop at both of them on first approach.  We brought the panel down to 16 and she did it fine, brought it to 20 and did it fine, then brought it to 24 and did it fine going forward.  On the double we brought it down to 20.  She still balked at it first time, we approached it again with a little more momentum and she took it.  A few more at 20 went fine.  We went up to 24 and she was willing and cleared it but it was a little "spikey".  So we have some work to do there.

Then out came the broad jump.  This time we tried it first at about 16 (32) inches and she, not surprisingly had no clue.  She walked over the boards.   A few more tries and no success.   We put up a wingless single jump in the middle of the broad jump and she cleared it.  Did a few of those and it she was jumping it.  Took the jump out and she went back to walking on the boards.  Next we set the bar on the boards without the uprights and she jumped it a few times.  We left it there so, again, we have some work to do.

Again she showed what I think is unbelievable "focus stamina" by working this entire time.  Probably about 25 minutes when all was said and done.  It might be her trait that I am most impressed with so far.

With Kris' help at least we thought to work on the "other" jumps.  It's so easy to forget all about them, especially the broad jump.