Hare'n'Hounds Valentines 2012
No videos as I forgot the camera, oops. We ran on rubber contacts for the first time too; Dylan and Bailey couldn’t care less, it didn’t appear to make any difference to their contact performance. Also weirdly quiet to run on! I was surprised to see rubber contacts though, I didn’t remember seeing it on the schedule and I guess this means that they’re becoming more widespread more quickly than was expected.
Julie very kindly offered to watch some of Dylan’s runs and let me know if there was anything I was missing, which really helped. He was better; more relaxed, happier, his jumping was smoother than last time but particularly seemed to suffer in the straights. I need to get him to a different chiropractor or similar to see if someone can find something, as it just continues to bug me that there might be something physically wrong.
G5-7 Agility first thing was a nice kind of course, a little tight spaced and I wasn’t clear where we were going on the first section so he hesitated on a few jumps. I have been discussing how my handling is likely to be affecting Dylan’s confidence and jumping style with a few people in the past few weeks and I’m trying to be more aware of his responses when my cues are unclear or late. He ran the rest of the course reasonably, I can’t actually remember if we were clear or not and I didn’t check the results. Oops!
The Redmills Open P2 was ok, clear but Dylan was obviously measuring on the straight. Or stuttering – I’m not sure if measuring is the right word to use. G6-7 Agility was an interesting kind of course but we got held up on the line when the timer failed for the dog before, and that threw me off my stride a little. We got E’d straight away but finished the course well, I was pleased with how Dylan finished the last line of three jumps in a line as he was pushing on and happy.
His best run was in Border Collie Jumping (C1-7). It was a very open, very straightforward kind of course (we got E’d, I tried to handle Dyl from inside a box and when will I learn that doesn’t work?!) and it started with a 4-jump line and Dylan was wonderful. So, maybe it is the G6 thing? It was very clear from the off exactly where he was going, no options, and he responded by running happily. Mum and I did some subtle queue management and got Dylan a nice 6ft space to warm up in off-lead as the dog before ran. Being off-lead to warm-up seems to make a really big difference to him, I’m not entirely sure why.
G5-7 Jumping was a nice course, I think we went clear again but I’m not really sure. Dylan was ok but not great, but again we were held up on the line … frustrating when that happens, I understand people might want to check the timers or discuss something with the judge but don’t leave us hanging on the startline!
I borrowed lovely Bailey to run too and she was such a little superstar! She’s so much fun to run but sadly the courses did not go our way. Each one started with 2-3 pull thrus, just the kind of nag-nag courses that don’t suit Bailey (or Kim). Bails, just like Kim, plodded through the nagging with only some minor side-eyes at me, and then opened up and enjoyed the more open parts of the course. Not necessarily the easier bits, just the less nag-nag bits! Bailey was also feeling particularly enthusiastic about tunnels for reasons unknown and that caught us in the jumping classes. Oh well!
Rio was a perfect puppy, apart from the fact she’s going into a naughty-puppy phase where she considers recalls to be somewhat optional. More reinforcement needed, specifically when she’s chasing other dogs. She’ll recall from mooching dogs or even dogs that are chasing her, but once she’s locked on to a running dog, her brain falls out. Inside the arena she was excellent, focussed on me and offering tricks for her treats, not at all reactive to the dogs running which I love and hope we can keep! We even played a bit of tuggy in the stalls area, which she thought was wonderful. She does seem to think that if someone is stood with a toy in their hand, she can just help herself to it as she walks past … I caught her before she actually grabbed anything, but might need to work on that too!