| Oct. 4th, 2009 @ 08:29 pm the dog adventure continues |
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B and Stella's first agility trial ever... CPE hosted by SCAT in Westbrook, CT... No Qs. A third place in Jumpers and second place in Wildcard... NT in both Standard and Colors... we learned a few things...
B has been working on focus. Being green Stella sometimes has a tendency to run off course, investigate new surroundings... sniff, get the zoomies... And we thought B not being able to carry treats in the ring might be a problem. Anyway, it turns out that I am the problem.
Each time Stella went in the ring with B she wanted to know where I was. Each time it was worse. They did get through the whole first course, finished the event, Jumpers... with all kinds of off course faults and overtime...
In their second event, Colors it was kind of a nightmare, Stella started on the course, did the opening sequence with the DW and what B thought was the tricky part beautifully and then went to look for me... she ended up running out of the ring twice to look and when she couldn't find me, climbed an A-frame outside the ring... saw me on the other side of the wall, came down and found her way around to me... B, left there standing alone, thanked the judge and left the ring. There were tears, she was pretty angry... mostly at me for existing.
I reminded her of what Terri Cesarek had told her at her last lesson at CSC... that she had to be more interesting than horse manure... unfortunately on this day, apparently the horse manure was me...
The third event was even worse. Mainly because B was so confident about how she was going to handle the Standard course, the opening sequence was pretty much the same tricky sequence as the last course she chose in Colors... she came back from walking it knowing exactly where she was going to front cross, call the next obstacle early, say here, call the dog's name, feeling it was going to be a piece of cake... We found out she could ask the ring steward if they would close both entrance and exit gates, so she was also sure Stella wasn't going to run out to look for me... We decided this time I would hide, I would not be there when B took Stella out to warm up or wait to go in... B would have her total focus, I wouldn't be there to divide her attention, but B later said Stell was whimpering, looking for me... and, then right before they ran a Great Dane spooked Stella, she sat at the start line facing backwards barking at the monster-sized dog and when B released her she completely ignored her and first went to yell at the great dane and then she just did a bunch of panicky laps around the perimeter of the ring, looking for a way out and nothing B did could get her attention--until the times-up buzzer sounded and then Stella finally took the first jump. The judge then told B to just put her over a couple of obstacles and then take her out... more tears
There were lots of kind people with advice. Everyone with their own first-time or run-away dog story. We met such nice people. Our meet mentor suggested if Stella went off again, to ask the judge if she could do the course FEO - on leash. Not to rehearse the unfocussed behavior. Someone else suggested just putting her over four obstacles and then thanking the judge and taking her out and rewarding her with cookies. I could see B consider these options, but not really... B wanted to handle Stella over ONE entire course... The mentor also suggested B really get the scent of treats on her fingers and hold her fingers as if she really had a treat on course... There were other suggestions, someone said I should tell Stella to GO play! when she goes into the ring with B. Someone else said there was a flatwork book at Clean Run to buy and check out agilitynerd.com/blog/... But then this couple we have seen at CSC told us about how after several months of trying to figure out how to handle a similar attachment problem--the dog running with the woman but worried and looking for the man--they figured out that the man had to stand right ringside. The man also said B and Stella should take a nap in the car with the air on... these last two pieces of advice proved to be valuable.
Did I mention Stella's nerves were also fried by the millions of flies everywhere (this venue is a Hunt Club) and she couldn't nap, not even in her crate. Tail down lemme outta here, everytime one buzzed her.
For their last event, Wildcard, I stood up close at the edge of the ring, right behind the first jump and Stella ran the entire course with B... (with one digression to look for me, but after finding me she went right back to work) even when B called her off the right end of the tunnel to send her in the wrong end she did what B asked... it was great... there was the tire taken backwards the first time and some pauses for confusion, but B was thrilled---and EVERYONE cheered for them... it WAS a victory...
and they went home with two pretty ribbons
Their nightmare start in Standard, going the opposite direction of the course, barking at the Great Dane got deleted--but its kind of burned into our minds... this is just a 30 second sample of what seemed like eons of Stella's panicky running the perimeter completely deaf to B until it was over
I think she skips the second jump in this last one cause she's never seen anything like it before, does a run by and then is happy to go back and take it... of course there is the little unfortunate check in with me, but its over fast and once B gets her back she's got her, makes that tight turn after the tire, doesn't take the wrong jump waiting there for her... only thinks about sniffing once after the last tunnel... Stella doesn't like the feeling of going off course, she'd much rather stick with B, you can see she loves it, as long as she knows I'm still right there I guess somewhere
we need to bring more water next time, food and snacks B likes, a crate area rug or tarp... and for sure I'll be ringside until Stella has confidence out there... because there will be a next time, it might be in a couple months or not until spring or summer but---B loved it. |
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