Trial Update

Last week was a bit of agility over load after a month off where I'll admit we did nothing…no agility…at all. I've felt guilty about that for sure. Besides the guilt, I was extra ready to get back at it last week...I’ve missed my friends, the challenges, the working towards goals, the play time, the bloody knuckles, the banter…everything. And I'm pretty sure she did too:). Class was good, we had a few sniffy or worried moments but we worked through them and for the most part she was happy, motivated and focused. And later I realized she didn't go AWOL once...not that she does it all the time, and sometimes the zoomies can be kind of cute, but they aren’t safe, and they are an indication
of a weakness in our relationship. It was a great little realization!

Thursday night we ran a jumpers course in league, she had a minor meltdown our first run, and blew me off the second run. It’s a hard line with her between being happy, cheering her on, and playing WITH HER and being firm, trusting her to do her job and demanding she plays WITH ME. I'm learning. After we stuck around and did some focus work in the arena and around the benching area and by the end of the night I felt better about our evening.

Friday Neena and I headed to Calgary for the CAA trial at the Fezdome and I have to say we had a pretty awesome weekend:).

I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I know how hard we've worked, and I've seen her handle scary situations so much better than she has in the past. But it was still hard to know how to prepare myself emotionally for Neena. And I'm not 100% right now either...the last thing we needed was simultaneous Crazy Pants AND Crazy J meltdowns.

Fortunately neither of us had did...and believe me we both had plenty of opportunities too! But we dealt...and while I won't say we were our best, we were SO FAR from our worst:).

After the weekend I really wanted to re-read the "Reminders to Jen" post...that weekend was my game changing moment and I wanted to see if I've followed through on those goals, and if/how they've made a difference. Here are my thoughts:

Trust. I need to work on our relationship so she will trust me and stick with me on the course.
Neena walked with me to every startline...and there were runs I know she was nervous at the start line, but we got in that ring and we ran.  Additionally, there was 'several times when she thought about running off course...but a firm "Neena" was all it took and she chose to come back.  Every time.  I'd tell you how good that felt...but I can't.

Motivation & rewards (aka. Build Drive!!!)...I need to get better at varying rewards, and teach her that even if there isn't a visible reward on course she will get one at the end. Better yet if I can become the reward.  The length of time we can use toys as rewards in class has definitely increased, however she would barely play with me in the arena this weekend. We played outside, and she was happy to focus/work with me for food...sometimes for longer periods of time than I would typically ever work her in class (my timing to the start line sometimes still sucks lol). But we still have some work to do here...I want her to play with me to the startline. Although if her options are to either focus on me/the food reward or meltdown...we are making progress. Suggestion from Sarah was a goodie containers, which she also wasn't interested in, but I will start building their value in class/at home and hopefully they can be part of the transition from treats to play at a trial in the future.

Building focus. This is tied in with many of these points, but if I understand this right the more focused she is on me, the less she will focus on the 'scary' stuff...writing this here makes that seem so elementary. But sometimes I need to remind myself of the basics!!!  NO DOUBT IN MY MIND that doing this was key to helping Neena deal with her fears/stress this weekend.  Again, I just think about those startlines.  And she's avoiding me so many times on course in the past...one of my best moments from the entire weekend was her looking up at me from the table.  It was her relaxed, trusting, happy face...made me all melty inside and stuff.  That moment alone validated all the work we've done. 

Continue to build our warm-up/cool-down routine.  Check.  Right down to a bedtime massage last night which had the added bonding time benefit:).  But still always a work in progress.

Training. Class once a week and our regular 'work' is not cutting it any longer.  During the summer we had class once a week, and most weeks we made it to the field at least once more.  Like I said, recently I've been slacking here...no excuses.

Find a better balance between making agility fun and being firm, reinforcing this is a job that she is expected to do.  I repeat...I'm learning...slowly.  Lol.

~

Final notes...although her confidence and ability to recover is MUCH better, I still think we would have had more problems at the Balzac arena, turns out I'm wait listed for the December trial and I'm not sure I'm all that upset about that.   I need to have her head every minute so our distance (eg. in gambles) is almost non-existant.  And she was more worried about the judges than she has been in the past.  However, we are doing the right things to help her build the confidence she needs to work through these issues...its just a matter of time and work.

OH YA...AAAAND Neena curled up against my leg Saturday night and went to sleep. Voluntarily. Yep.

Neena...have I told you lately I heart you and your my bestest gal? xo