New program by Susan Garrett

[SecretBC]

Aussies? Try running a Klee Kai. Talk about a humbling experience. When I started Kaiser, everyone had big expectations because Luke had done so well from the start. Well, Kaiser is a fruit loop, or at least he certainly was when we started. We had trial after trial of nothing but E's. Sigh.

 

I'm looking forward to the start of Secret's trial career. I have a feeling it will go far better than Kaiser's -- although to give the little turd credit, he's really come into his own now.

 

I do feel bad for those who get bad nerves before they run. I try to help my friends/students who suffer from this, but I know there isn't much that can be done.

 

My nerves when I used to show horses involved a fear of the unknown and that I could be tossed off a 1500lb 17.2hh beast in the blink of an eye if something popped out of the bushes. I shattered my arm at one show, so I really did have reason to be concerned. I enjoy agility because I pretty much have a 0% fear of bodily harm coming to me. Being on public display in the horse world for so many years made me not give a hoot about embarrassing myself in the ring.

 

It really is just a mentality. You have to not care so much about what others think. Really, my main problem is that I'm too flip about my runs and often don't put as much effort into them as I should -- As someone else mentioned, I also socialize too much at trials. My dogs deserve more from me, I know. I often take them for granted because they are so good.

[MrSnappy]

Aussies? Try running a Klee Kai. Talk about a humbling experience.

 

Try running a WOO! You can't direct him with your body, you must (MUST) ask him politely, in full sentences, to please if he would be so kind, complete each obstacle in the manner and direction in which you requested. You cannot say "tunnel" or "through" - you must say "Mr. Woo, would you please indulge me by entering the West facing tunnel mouth - the green one in front of you, not the yellow one across the barn, incidentally - and exit from the opposite end in a timely fashion, and upon completion I will thank you with a delicious cookie." Otherwise he is just as likely to hop on top of the tunnel and sit like a bunny and wave at you.

 

I exaggerate (slightly) but he is a most humbling dog to run because he is not even slightly interested in playing, really. He can turn it on but he can just as quickly turn it off, and the off-on switch is entirely independent of his handler! He doesn't shut down from stress or get frustrated with unclear handling directions - he might be mid-course and remember that two years ago he saw a bunny in the horse pasture outside the barn and leave to go see if it's still there, or he might notice Auntie Fiona giving Rogue a cookie while he is atop the Dog Walk and will jump off to go see if she is handing them out to everyone, or he might just sit down and ponder University level calculus for the hell of it. He has been known to give me a thorough sniffing-over on the start line, and I fail to yield a sufficiently delicious smell of liver brownies, he will simply not start running.

 

Once you've tried (and failed, and failed, and failed) to run a dog like Wootie, your good, fast, keen dogs, no matter how much you may f*ck up on course, are a lark and a pleasure. If ever I'm getting frustrated with run-the-course-on-Sheena's-toes Piper, I just pull out Woo and work with him for 10 minutes and Piper is suddenly a breath of fresh air. I should rent Wootie out to nervous handlers for $200 a pop - I'd be rich, and I'd cure all of you nervous nellies!!

 

RDM

[alligande]

 

Once you've tried (and failed, and failed, and failed) to run a dog like Wootie, your good, fast, keen dogs, no matter how much you may f*ck up on course, are a lark and a pleasure. If ever I'm getting frustrated with run-the-course-on-Sheena's-toes Piper, I just pull out Woo and work with him for 10 minutes and Piper is suddenly a breath of fresh air. I should rent Wootie out to nervous handlers for $200 a pop - I'd be rich, and I'd cure all of you nervous nellies!!

 

RDM

Oh can I relate - Brody is a really fast driven, athletic dog in everything but agility, where he becomes precise, methodical and to give him credit very accurate. In the beginning many of his antics where stress related, now it is because he wants to. He sits on top of the A frame to see who is there, he goes to meet the Judge just to say hi, he visits ring workers who are his friends. All done with a huge grin and a wagging tail, at least he makes people smile.

 

I was chatting to a lady at a trial who was bemoaning the fact her dog had taken a year and half to get to elite in NADAC, well at the time Brody and I had not Qd out of novice regulars and we started at the same time, and this is a dog who can run hard elite level courses in class, but due to the above antics can not make time. But has he taught me patience, and who cares how you look in the ring when your dog refuses to come down the A frame, when things go right, the acheivement feels huge. When we got our open jumpers title in 4 runs, the first of which Brody went lame so it really was 3 for 3, after spending over a year to get the novice title, it was hard to express how it felt to have clicked with him. Then we went and ran a regular run to bring me back to earth

 

And now I have Rievaulx who is such a dream to run in class, fast, fun, driven that I can not wait to take him to his first trial. But I am so glad that I did not start with a dog like Rievaulx as I am sure I would have flunked handling him, and he really is to soft to handle the repeated stupid handler mistakes I made with Brody. Not that I do not still make stupid handler mistakes, but at least I have an idea what I should be doing.

[Northof49]

For keeping one's perspective in running agility and staying humble and on the reality band wagon, there was no dog like my girlfriend's old boy Dave. It's too bad no one on this Board ever knew him.

 

Dave was the reason AAC developed the full veterans package. We never did train him to weave, but amazingly his last NADAC Gamblers run to get his Gamblers title (some of you must know how far back that is for NADAC) had 6 weave poles in them!! We still don't know how it happened.

 

It took a lot to get Dave around the ring - so much that often Kim and I tag teamed at the table as she was too exhausted to continue the course! Dave did each course the way he wanted to, but yet he was the most popular agility dog in Western Canada. There was even the "Dave" wave!

 

There were over 100 people at his retirement party, held at Quesnel Robert's Roost trial that year. We had to go all the way out there for his retirement party because the one British Columbia Judge, Dee Gleed was judging out there, and she did not want to miss his retirement run and party. It was one hell of a good time - still would like to know how the panties ended up on the Rooster weather vane!!!

 

Those were the really fun days. I miss them.

[AgileBC]

I really like most of Susan's stuff. (especially all the crate games work)

I got the newsletter email about this and thought. . . ehhh. I dont know. It doesn't make me want to spend $200 for it. thats all. And I feel like any mental struggles I have running the course with my dog are things I just need to take a step back and say "ok, focus on what you walked, ignore those people over there, and as always, have fun with your dog"

 

It might be helpful to a person who has very debilitating competition stress?