# My head is spinning!



## MissMutt (Aug 8, 2008)

I'm really stressing here. Marge had an awesome spring at agility trials, and we just haven't been able to repeat that success this fall. 

In the 8 runs we've had since September, she frequently disconnects from me, runs off towards the ring gates, hops off of the table, and yesterday, she flew off of the teeter. We've had 1 qualifying run - a gorgeous Jumpers run. Everything else has been NQs and NTs.

My instructor says she's stressing and I need to take her to more trials.

One of my good friends who is experienced in agility says it's mostly a green dog thing and that I need to take her to more trials.

Other people tell me I'm being overdramatic and that she looks happy in the ring and is just goofing off.

Still others tell me I'm not helping her enough and should be running her at lower jump heights or do NADAC tunnelers and stuff like that.

Several people tell me to trial indoors, but I don't feel comfortable adding yet another variable to the trial environment, especially since Marge is noise sensitive.

I DON'T think it's an issue of the transition from Novice to Open, because she has 2/3 OA legs and her Open Jumpers run a couple of weeks ago was really gorgeous.

June:





October:





What is this and how do I make it go away?


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## LazyGRanch713 (Jul 22, 2009)

I'm far from an expert, but when Tag starts "forgetting" some stuff, or his performance starts going slightly downhill, drilling and trying to generalize to more locations seems to make it worse (for _HIM_), especially right at first. How often are you trialing? Is it possible she's just getting "burnt out" and needs a break? 
Funny thing is, a friend of mine was just talking to us today about their racehorse who is usually a top winner. He came in fourth his last race. She said everyone was so confused, depressed, wanting to know why why why, but she figured horses (and dogs, and people, etc) can just have "bad days" and get a little run down at the end of a season. Just ask me at the end of summer; from the boarding being insanely busy and the grooming being 4 times as worse, I'm about ready to hang up my clippers and my poop scoop and call it done  After a week or so of things slowing down, I'm back on it. It just gets to be a lot all at once, kwim?
Would it be worthwhile to take Marge to a trial and just watch, and not enter?
ETA: On the NQ video, what was she doing around :56-1:00? Her gait looked weird, didn't know if she was being goofy or what!


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## MissMutt (Aug 8, 2008)

We don't trial much at all - we're doing 6 days of trials total this fall from Sept-Nov (4 are already done) and did 6 days of trialing in the Spring from April-June and everyone thinks I need to go to a lot more. 

I might be able to take her to the trial site the day before our next trial (they're running Excellent Only that day, and it's nearby, so I could swing by). I suppose that could help, though it might not do anything for this location since she already knows the park.

She was in the weave poles at :56-1:00. That's why she looks like that  the weaves are just blurry on the camera. That's one thing that really hasn't been affected by this whole thing - her weaves are still looking awesome.


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## Squeeker (Dec 15, 2007)

I am also not an expert, but I don't think Marge looks particularly stressed, at least not in that video. Libby was doing the same thing back in the spring and it was SUPER frustrating for me. She would either do that disconnected wanderiing loop that Marge did in the video, or would do a big zoomie. 

I tend to thinki it's a green dog thing and it's just something you'll have to work through. Either Marge is "done for the day" (ie too much trialing, too many runs, etc) or she's just not in the groove. 

Hopefully LynnI will see this thread. I'm sure she'll have more useful input.


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## MissMutt (Aug 8, 2008)

If she's "done for the day," that means she's done on the first run - because this seems to be happening right from the start! Here is our trial schedule for the fall (including trials we already went to)

Sept. 18 and 19

Oct. 3

Oct. 23

Nov. 6 and 7

They all have at least two weeks in between them, and we do 2 runs per day.

It's really interesting, because EVERYONE is seeing something different in these runs..

Here's one from September. This is actually not a bad run, except for the missed 1st jump, swinging wide at the dog walk, and flat out refusing the table:


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## LazyGRanch713 (Jul 22, 2009)

MissMutt said:


> If she's "done for the day," that means she's done on the first run - because this seems to be happening right from the start! Here is our trial schedule for the fall (including trials we already went to)
> 
> Sept. 18 and 19
> 
> ...


I would say after the table she looked great. I bet Squeeker is right; it's a green thing and will work itself out with time and experience. 
(Sorry about not seeing the weave poles in the first vid...I thought, Dang, why is she bouncing around like that? lol!)


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## LynnI (Mar 27, 2010)

I think there are a bunch of things going on, first is that it is baby/green dog stuff, she is distracted at *some* points on course. However, I have seen a few of your recent videos and it looks like your babysitting her and the course because your worried about what she will do or not do. In the videos that she is Q'ing, your powering forward and your entire body language is one of control and confidence. We see it all the time at trials, it is a nasty cycle to get into, dog makes a baby dog mistake or is distracted a bit, handler starts to babysit them and run/handle them tentatively and the dog gets worse! Cycle starts all over again. Very common with novice handlers and dogs.

One thing I would caution you about is her refusal to do the table, I would not trial again until I was confident that she will do that table even if a bomb goes off. I would get into fun matches or run FEO, get the table no matter what and get your flow back.

Cheers


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## Kyllobernese (Feb 5, 2008)

I know Remmy went through a period this summer where he would do Zoomies his first class of the day, then settle down but did a lot of sniffing. Finally this fall (he was just three in Oct) he started to get really focused and is now in Masters Jumpers and Masters Gamblers. Remmy is usually in 6 - 8 classes in a weekend and seemed to settle down and focus more when I trialed three weekends in a row, missed one weekend, then he Q'd in both his Advanced Jumpers and moved into Masters as he had an Advanced Jumpers from last year.
Maybe it is just an age thing or maybe they are right about going to more trials.


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## GottaLuvMutts (Jun 1, 2009)

LynnI said:


> I think there are a bunch of things going on, first is that it is baby/green dog stuff, she is distracted at *some* points on course. However, I have seen a few of your recent videos and it looks like your babysitting her and the course because your worried about what she will do or not do. In the videos that she is Q'ing, your powering forward and your entire body language is one of control and confidence. We see it all the time at trials, it is a nasty cycle to get into, dog makes a baby dog mistake or is distracted a bit, handler starts to babysit them and run/handle them tentatively and the dog gets worse! Cycle starts all over again. Very common with novice handlers and dogs.


Good to know! As usual, thanks for the helpful advice!

MM, what I'm looking at in these videos is what's going on outside the ring. I noticed at the beginning of each run, before the release, Marge is checking over her shoulder. To me, this is a sign that she's uncomfortable with something going on out there, whether that's all the people, the noise, the dogs, all of the above, or something else. I would say that the environment outside the ring is craziest in the Oct video, better in the Sept one, and best in the June one. And that's also how you ranked these runs.

How to _solve_ the problem is a different can of worms. An inside trial might help because usually people will be sitting on only one side of the ring and often behind a fence or gate. But their noise could also reverbirate more inside. I know at trials here, people can get sort of noisy in their efforts to cheer on a dog, even while the run is still going on. I can imagine that might pump some dogs up, but others might just lose focus. Any way for you to check out the inside trial environment before committing to that trial?


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## MissMutt (Aug 8, 2008)

The indoor trial sites are, unfortunately, mostly 2 to 3 hours away, which makes it really hard to go check them out.

I AM going to be checking out one trial site, as there is going to be a Pet Expo there. Of course, the Pet Expo is going to be set up completely differently than a trial, but I can get a feel for the acoustics.

One thing I AM going to do is get her used to going to run-thrus indoors. I think it will help calm my nerves to do that first, since it's lower pressure, and thus it should hopefully calm her nerves too about being indoors.

I have definitely noticed a pattern regarding what's going on outside the ring. At trials where there's one side of the ring that's left mostly open, she tends to do better. That's really just luck, though, and it's not a definitive pattern, either (there have been trials where there were tents on ALL sides and she did okay). 

The trial site from the Sept. trial is OUT. I will NEVER go back there. It's a nice park, but it's in an industrial area and it's right in the landing path for Newark Airport. There was a ton for her to stress about. 

Th trial site from this Oct. trial was actually a really nice site and Marge liked it too (she rolled in massive amounts of what I think was probably leftover scents from deer and I was totally happy to let her do it - bath on Friday  ). I think the judge's whistle really got to her at this trial - dogs before her got whistled in both her Std and JWW run and she was NOT happy to be hearing that whistle. I'm going to try to countercondition her to the sound of the whistle, but it's really a tough thing to do with her (high-pitched noises are her nemesis).

In the Spring, I'm going to be able to stick more to the trial sites I know, thankfully, which will be good for us.


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