# Never posted about my recent trial



## MissMutt (Aug 8, 2008)

We didn't have a great weekend two weeks ago... 3 NQs and an NT. 

Before I tell you MY thoughts, can you tell me what you think is going on here in terms of Marge's, er, uncharacteristic (for her) performance? 

If it's me, be blunt, please. I can take it.

Here are my two Standard runs.










I've had the chance to practice exactly ONCE since this trial, and I'm trialing again tomorrow.. and it's really hard to feel good about it..


----------



## LynnI (Mar 27, 2010)

My first question would be how long have you been trialling her? If you have only trialled a few times, it's just baby (novice) dog stuff and don't sweat it.
Now for what I noticed, looks like a big very distracting trial, weather looks wonderful, not too hot nor too cold, which often makes for a yippy skippy dog. The good is your contacts were excellent  And after things were not going great (but really not horrible), you got flustered and in the first run it was very evident that you had given up. Also after the last tunnel, you were facing towards the direction she was going in (towards the chute) instead of facing the direction that you wanted her to go in. Second run, again very distracted, missed the first jump but when you released her she was looking in that direction, so she went that way but came back to you nicely, excellent weaves, awesome contacts and one very happy and distracted dog.

My suggestions would be to make she is out and about too see the sights and sounds, maybe do more focus work and you drive forward as much as possible to get her focused on you and looking for a connection. So in other words instead of babysitting her when she is running like this (which is our natural instinct to do), pour on the power and race her instead.

If it makes you feel any better, I watched Susan Garrett with one of her young dogs Encore a few years, while the dog had a yippy skippy day...........didn't matter what Garrett did, that young dog hit a tunnel 3 times, in one end, out the other .......back in again and again and again lol  It happens to the best of them and it certain happens to the rest of us. Don't panic, breath deep, smile at your dog and see how much she is really enjoying herself, relax and run like hell.


----------



## MissMutt (Aug 8, 2008)

I'm glad you responded, Lynn. Thank you so much. 

We have been trialing for 6 months. We did one trial last year around this time, but the bulk of our trialing has been since April. I think about 8 days of trialing total?



> Now for what I noticed, looks like a big very distracting trial, weather looks wonderful, not too hot nor too cold, which often makes for a yippy skippy dog.


It was a big trial - the biggest we have ever been to. 990 runs, 3 rings. Brand new trial site. Planes overhead (you may have heard it at the weaves) and a LOT of automated beeping and bells and whistles (was not really fond of the auto table count and sincerely hoping I don't have it again tomorrow). The weather was pretty nice on the first day, and pretty warm on the second day.



> The good is your contacts were excellent


Yes!! I keep telling myself - I need to be EXTREMELY happy that she hit those 2o2os, especially on the A-Frames, as they were a real work in progress for a long time.



> Also after the last tunnel, you were facing towards the direction she was going in (towards the chute) instead of facing the direction that you wanted her to go in.


VERY interesting. I've showed this video to a lot of people and although some people did tell me that it looked like I had given up, no one mentioned this. I think that's pretty big.

See, I thought she seemed stressed. Her eyes were all over the place at the start line. She didn't auto-down on the table and had table faults both days. The stopping on the A-Frame. She also was totally not reading my rear crosses at all (was worse in JWW which I didn't post, though the run as a whole wasn't terrible). It took a lot for me to control her.. I felt like I had to be about 10 feet away from her at all times to sort of reel her in to me (hence the amazing weave entrance in the 2nd run - I HAD to stand that far back to get her in to the poles or I think she would have went straight for the fence).

But maybe she really was enjoying herself.. I'm glad you said that's what you thought, because she couldn't have been in terrible distress. I don't know. It's so hard to know. It's not about Q'ing for me.. I like Q'ing but I like running a dog who is engaged with me. I felt like we weren't connected and that she wasn't really fully enjoying being in the ring. Maybe it's just me. 



> My suggestions would be to make she is out and about too see the sights and sounds,


My runs tomorrow are late in the day - 12 PM and 3 PM. I am going to allow myself roughly an hour at the trial site before my first run. I think I will try to walk her around for maybe the first half of that, then crate her for a bit, then take her back out for short warm-up and then run her. People tell me so many different things -- "keep her in the crate!" -- "walk around the trial site with cookies!" -- "don't give her ANY cookies!" -- and it's so frustrating because I almost feel like I don't know what works for ME anymore!

I am also going to wake up around 7 and walk her for a half hour - sometimes I think I try to conserve her energy for the trials and it might be doing more harm than good.


----------



## LynnI (Mar 27, 2010)

Ok, from the top lol, first your very welcome  Yes I saw what appeared to be a happy but highly distracted dog and out of the 6 control points on course she only had trouble in some of them. First start line stay was good, second one was distracted. Weaves first one had a pop, second one was excellent, table which is a huge control point was the hardest as you know. 2o2o were awesome, again control points, so over all a very good rating considering how very little you have trialled and your novices. Well done. But having said all that, you know your dog best and she could have been stressed but then that would be natural and to be expected at such a big trial with such a novice dog, so don't sweat it.

As for what to do before your runs, that is something that will take you time to figure out and it changes with different venues, weather conditions etc. Everybody has to do this, we figure out through trial and error what is too little or too much warm up, too much crating vs. getting them out and about. Nobody can tell you what is best for your dog, we can make suggestions for you to try at best, but no one thing works for every dog at every trial.

In my experience, I like to wander around, letting my dog sniff to their hearts content, look at all the sights and I reward (c/r) for any eye contact and focus on me. I often sit with my dog just watching the trial go by, while I massage them and do relaxation exercises on them esp. pulling and massaging ears to get them to relax. Pulling/massaging the ears and the side of the face releases endorphins which is the body's natural sedative, it also gives them a pleasure feeling, makes their eyes go soft.....I also c/r for focus at this time on me and it is a great way to get that connection before going into the ring.

Run hard, but not frantic, run your courses tomorrow like you own them, like you built them, they're yours for the taking, know where you need to push yourself hard and power down those lines, be focused on every thing you do, every step, every place you look, when you rise or lower your arm etc, give information sooner than later, breath deep and smile. You and your young dog are doing great especially considering your very limited trial experience. Have fun and Good luck. 

I also want to add that everyone focuses on what went wrong in a trial instead of what went right. Ok, so now we have discussed what went wrong but what you need to do now is write down what went right in detail. And look for the little stuff too, just don't think of everything your girl did right but what you did that was so perfect that she was able to give you a stellar performance. You may not have had the best connection during your entire runs BUT the connection had to be there for many things to have so many brillant moments during the run. And remember, for the dog to be brillant and do something great, their handler had to do the right training in the first place and had to get the right information to them at the right time for it to come together. So start that list and I'll bet it is a lot longer than the list of what went wrong


----------

