Our first weekend out was not what I dreamed it could be, but I am so glad we did it. We were in 8 trials, 4 open/4 utility, 2 of the Open Trials were Open 18 and 2 were Open H. I passed 1 Open H, won the class a got the HIT for that Trial. Doesn’t sound like a big success does it? But I think of it this way. Going into the trials I was working the following things
- Left finish – new signal developing from a new pivot skill she learned from Alex Robinson
- About turns – working on food placement to keep her in better position, she can go wide. I also concentrated on my handling – Telling myself to stand up tall as I turned and keep my feet under me to be sure that if she leftposition I wasn’t causing it.
- Ribbon having a more consistent head position during heeling. Ribbon likes to wrap her head around the front of my left leg. I want her head more elevated and more on the side of my left leg.
- Taking the proper jumps on directed jumping. She gets excited and chooses her own jumps
- Changeof positions. Get consistency going from a drop to a stand and from a stand to a sit.
Here’s a list of what happened at the trials
- In 8 runs Ribbon did 44 finishes – 3 of which were right finishes – which means I did 41 left finishes. She lost 1/2 a point of2 of the 41 finishes. So, I feel pretty fantastic about that. She seems to like her new signal and I am getting a consistent response. Mission Accomplished!
- We did 28 about turns. We lost points on 2 about turns. I have to say, now that I am going over my scoresheets. I am even more impressed with her.
- Regarding her head position I was certainly happy with it. I could see that she was trying and if she brought her head around the front of my leg she would offer to reposition it to the side of my leg during the pattern. I am not sure you can ask for more than that from a dog during a very long weekend of showing and being at the trial venue three days in a row (we went to the match on Friday as well)
- At the match Ribbon tried to take the wrong jumps during directed jumping,
- I stopped her by walking towards her and tell her no. The first Utility run of the weekend, which was our first class of the day, she messed up her directed jumping. When that happened I broke off body position by stepping away and looking at the judge. She was consistent and attentive for the other three utility runs. Progress is always good!
- Change of positions – this is the big one! At the match we happened to get her favourite sequence Stand — Drop – Sit – Stand. She did this beautifully UNTIL on the return a dog that was sitting nearby and gave out a really loud bark (I mean it was loud) and it startled her causing her to sit as I was walking back to her. I can’t really blame her for this, it was loud, it made me jump too. I repeated it and absolutely no problem. At the trial we got the same routine on Sat in Open 18 as we did at the match – BONUS! but wait… When I asked Ribbon to stand in heel position before leaving, she didn’t do it on the first command – but did her distance work beautifully – The rest of her run was really nice. During this exercise I saw some little things like pattering of her feet as I returned to heel position and some hesitation to respond – but I wasn’t really surprised by this.
- I did have issues with the initial recall on the DoR exercise. She was focus and on her toes waiting for instruction, but didn’t respond when I called her – she did this in both Open trials on Saturday. Troubling. The other issue I had was in Utility, she wouldn’t drop during the signal exercise. This was very unusual for her. More trouble. I had to think about this.
On the drive home I realized I had missed one crucial step in training my Change of Positions Exercise and it was probably the root of all the issues I was seeing. I hadn’t put the Change of Positions exercise on a cue. I have a cue for each exercise so that Ribbon knows what she is about to do. For example if we were about to do the Retrieve over High Jump I say to her “Gonna do your over over” or for go outs I sa
y “Let’s do your Take off”. So for Signals I would say “Here come your signals” and for Drop on Recall I say “Gonna do your drop” . I did not have a cue for the change of position exercise.
Note: I will admit that when I heard of this cue idea, I thought it was the most ridiculous thing I had ever heard, until I went home and tried it on my experience trial dog (Megan) – much to my surprise she could set up for an Open routine based on what I said. Lesson learned – don’t be such a Debby doubter!
Another complication I was having with Ribbon in training was anticipating the drop in Open. So I decided that I wouldn’t give her the cue for drop and see if that helped. I believe because of the absence of a cue she thought it was the Change of Positions exercise, and on that exercise you don’t move forward.
I also think that the confusion on the signal exercise was because I was using signal and verbal on the Change of Positions, which I have never done before. When I teach signals I don’t use a verbal command. So I think I confused her by not presenting a consistent cue.
Back to the drawing board
Since the trial I have
- Taught her a cue for Change of Positions, I say “Changes” once she is in a sit in heel position ready for the first command
- I have decided to use Signal only for drop and sit
- I have been doing sets of Utility signals, Change of Positions and Drop on Recall in any order. I tell her the cue for the exercise – do the exercise and then move on to the next one. She has gotten stuck on her recall twice. I told her no, walked towards her – reset the exercise and repeated it.
I am so pleased with how Ribbon is working. Yes she is making mistakes but so am I. I love this part of dog training. Figuring out the whys and the hows is the best part. Going to the trials and testing to see how those pieces come together (or not) is the best part.
I think though that I am going to only enter Open H for the time being until she is more consistent at home and at matches.
The battle with the anticipation of the drop continues
Happy Training!