Winter Season Review
I spent a couple of hours on Monday reviewing the videos from the weekend, as I always do, but also reviewing the videos from the winter series as a whole. That’s why it took me a couple of hours rather than the usual 15mins. Huge thank yous to my lovely mother for standing and filming almost every single run this winter so I can do this (and for driving and keeping me company generally, actually).
The biggest conclusion is that Dylan’s contacts are looking dramatically slower than a couple of months ago. I initially wondered if this might be something that has been gradually happening, and I just haven’t noticed until now. So I sat and watched and watched and watched. All our 2010 (indoor) runs have fast contacts, right through to Wyre in December. Then we had a month off, no training due to Christmas and the snowcalypse, and from January … slower. So, for the next couple of training sessions we’ll be focusing solely on working and rewarding contacts to try and rebuild that speed, which is what we did before the winter season. I’m kicking myself for not noticing sooner and working on it immediately, but I had kind of put Dyl’s contacts to one side and worked on his waits and jumping recently. I cannot do this with him, I have to continuously work on everything simultaneously.
I also have to work the course better and get in front more. The courses we do well on, I am racing him and front crossing. I only saw one course where I used a rear cross effectively and as the best option, the others were me being cautious or lazy. I also have to give more, if I want Dylan to run at 100% I should be giving that too … even on the courses I don’t like or find boring.
It is nice watching my first couple of runs with Jet to the latest ones. We’ve made a lot of progress this winter, her contacts are much better (even her slow Aframe is quicker!) and we’re generally working to the same wavelength now. She’s such an honest, smart and powerful little girl; I will miss her happy shrieking first thing in a morning. I’d love to try and get her up to Grade 5 over the summer but I think Katie probably wants her back now, they have a busy flyball schedule lined up!
Also, my bum is enormous in all these videos and I do not thank my mother for managing to prominently feature it so often. Hopefully it will shrink magically for all the summer season videos. Can’t believe we’re back outdoors in 2 weeks!