# How not to qualify in Excellent Standard



## MissMutt (Aug 8, 2008)

...Refuse the third to last obstacle! x.x






Still not sure what happened.. she went wide at the table and then things started getting sloppy. Maybe it was me (I definitely hear a change in my voice, like I was starting to tense up). 

I also do not condone the way I yelled "HEY!!" to her when she took off. I was NOT angry, but rather worried that she was going to take off into the corn field or cow pens nearby LOL. It was a knee jerk reaction.

Our second run was quite nice - we got all of the hard parts but disconnected briefly in two little spots.






This was a new trial site, which may explain some of the stress that she (and I) may have felt. Not sure if I'd trial there again as I periodically heard gunshots going off in the distance, which unnerved Marge a couple of times. Still, I think that she's handling her transition to Excellent quite well. She had two nice NQ's last weekend in Exc JWW as well.. fast and flowy runs, just no Q to show for it.


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## Bird-Dog (Dec 24, 2008)

Is it bad that I lol'd? :redface:

Sorry that she had problems but as an uninvested third-party it's kinda cute that she seemed completely oblivious to the fact that the dog walk was _right_ there. 

We're not at competition level but we had a HECK of a time with a challenging setup a few weeks ago...not sure I can demonstrate with ascii characters but: 

(-

( = tunnel
- = table

The tunnel curved around the table and Hershey just loves the table. Instructor said to make sure my feet were pointed to the opposite side of the tunnel entrance because she wouldn't cross my path to get to the table. Um, yeah, no one told Hershey that. :doh:

I may have lol'd but I feel your pain.


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## MissMutt (Aug 8, 2008)

> she seemed completely oblivious to the fact that the dog walk was right there.


That's what I mean - she had the run in the BAG, got past the A-Frame/tunnel combo, didn't fall for the tunnel off course after the double, and goes and refuses the dog walk! Twice! The rest of the course after the chute was a doozy - but we blew it!

She wasn't oblivious, though.. she was either excited or stressed, or I unintentionally cued the wrong thing, or all three.


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## Bird-Dog (Dec 24, 2008)

Watching both videos, it does look like the longer the run the less she can contain her energy. But, you both still had fun right?  (after the "argh" subsided, that is)


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## MissMutt (Aug 8, 2008)

Oh, definitely.  Runs like this are a huge improvement over last year, where her stress level was THROUGH THE ROOF. She has yet to have a truly horrible run yet this year and has already finished both her Open titles this year. And, I'm trying to look at the positives of every run rather than the negatives. For instance, in the second run, she read my front crosses, which is a HUGE deal because I almost never use them and am pretty unconfident about them in general (rear crosses FTW  )


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## Bird-Dog (Dec 24, 2008)

Well, we're not even allowed to use front crosses in class yet so that tells you what level we're at. By comparison, you and Marge are world-class athletes.


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## MissMutt (Aug 8, 2008)

You will get there, hopefully minus the unnecessary dog walk acrobatics, LOL

BTW, table/tunnel discriminations are tough, so don't sweat it! Love the ASCII representation, BTW!


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## Bird-Dog (Dec 24, 2008)

Aside from the fact that _I_ almost ended up in the tunnel when she cut me off, it was comedy all around, minimal sweat. (I'm a competitive person by nature so I had to sweat it just a little.) Our dog walk acrobatics would more likely consist of, "Mommy, watch me! I can flyyyyyyyyyy!" as she takes a flying leap off the top because she deems it a faster route to the next obstacle.

I spent more time looking at the keyboard for accurate characters than I did typing the rest of my response.


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## Shaina (Oct 28, 2007)

LOL nice title  a million ways to NQ but only one to Q...

You guys are steadily improving though and that's what's important...'least that's what I tell myself, "so long as we are continuing the upward trend..." lol


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## Bird-Dog (Dec 24, 2008)

And, in Marge's case, "upward trend" was exactly what was missing. 

Disclaimer: Poster takes no responsibility for bad puns, it's somewhat of a compulsion.


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## MissMutt (Aug 8, 2008)

> And, in Marge's case, "upward trend" was exactly what was missing.


Come on, the serious hangtime that she had after missing her contact was absolutely upward 

You're right, Shaina.. I'm having so many of those so close, yet so far runs lately! But the most important thing is that she's getting more and more connected to me. The Q's will come (they better - it may be a lofty goal but I want that darn MACH!!)


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## And (Apr 5, 2010)

Those were two really nice runs!! They were both nearly perfect!! That jumpers run looked great besides the two tiny mistakes! In the Jumpers course it seemed that you pressured the rear cross too soon which caused her to run past the jump. We actually JUST got done doing rear crosses in class, and I have been working on them all week with Belle. So I have "rear crosses" on the brain. 

Again great runs!! And remember if you Q'd every time you ran it wouldn't be as fun!


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## MissMutt (Aug 8, 2008)

Yes, I definitely chalked the failed rear cross up to handler error. My body language said "rear," and she did.. but just not over the jump


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## Indigo (Mar 31, 2011)

You two aren't bad at all. She's a bit distractable but really looks like she's having a blast.  Very nice down on the table. In the second video from 0:12 to about 0:26, that area was handled very nicely. I can understand worrying about running off into livestock. I once did an agility demo in front of a crowd around and a bunch of really expensive show jumping horses walking around... it was nerve wracking.

I have a couple of ideas, food for thought.

She is fairly quick, so when she is over the plane of the obstacle she is currently doing, say the name of the next obstacle. It gives her a head start in processing what obstacle she should be looking for. She might be running off partly because she is going fast and is unsure where she is going and how to adjust her stride.

You're pretty good about keeping your hand out and not drawing it in too soon. Awesome! I see a lot of handlers do that, even in the upper levels.

I think you could improve by using your shoulders / upper body more. Face the obstacle you're committing to until she has cleared it. For instance at 0:36 in the second video, you body language caused her to ignore the jump. In the second video as well, at 0:28 ish does she take the wrong obstacle? It was the same deal, turn was too late.

Another thing I notice is you're a clapper.  :clap2: What does she do if you don't clap? An exercise I've tried is running silently, saying nothing, no noise. It helps you focus your attention on your own body language, so you can see what is working on your dog and what isn't.


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## MissMutt (Aug 8, 2008)

> She is fairly quick, so when she is over the plane of the obstacle she is currently doing, say the name of the next obstacle. It gives her a head start in processing what obstacle she should be looking for. She might be running off partly because she is going fast and is unsure where she is going and how to adjust her stride.


Yup, already trying to do this, particularly with the weave poles and table, which she needs the most time to really collect for.



> For instance at 0:36 in the second video, you body language caused her to ignore the jump


Can definitely see that.. my shoulders were not pointed towards that jump (executed the rear too soon I think) and kind of got in her way. Something to work on 



> In the second video as well, at 0:28 ish does she take the wrong obstacle? It was the same deal, turn was too late.


Nope, she was supposed to take that jump. I handled it very sloppy; because she was so quick coming down the line, I wasn't able to swing her out to tighten up the rear cross over that jump as much as I wanted to. But yes, she was supposed to take that jump.



> What does she do if you don't clap?


Honestly, I don't think she really needs it; I think I was feeling extra self-conscious on that jumpers course after the yeehaw she had at the end of Standard. Looking back at my videos, I think I do it more than I realized, though.

Thanks for the advice


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