Our second agility trial was interesting.
The good: we Qed in Colors on both days, Jumpers and Wildcard on Saturday, Standard on Sunday. Met some very nice people and learned more about the CPE strategy games. Sophie was doing really well being sent to the tunnel or obstacle away from me which is something we have been working on a lot. Sunday was a good day. We were more in sync.
The bad: Saturday, I felt Sophie and I were not on the same page. We were not communicating as well as we did in our first trial. In all honesty, I felt Saturday was a bit of a mess even if we did Q in 3 out of 4 runs.
Wildcard: First run of the wknd. Sophie started off with a lot more speed than I thought she would so I was behind. She missed a jump for no reason that I can think of since I had caught up to her by then. I did manage to have her come around the jump so we managed to finish and get the Q.
Standard: we NQed. The dog walk was not rubberized and really wobbly and the minute she stepped on it, the thing rattled. She jumped right off. We finished the rest of the run okay.
At that point there was some anxiety on my part with having enough time to get to the colors walk through /run, amongst other reasons. In all reality, I was not mentally in it for a few personal reason and that is never ok.
I know better, I should not get frustrated or nervous because that goes straight through the leash and out pops my reactive dog.I was flustered, she was flustered...it was just ugly. She had a hard time waiting outside of the ring for her turn with all the dogs nearby. I also ran out of cheese. My training partner was a godsend and helped focus her by working on commands since I had apparently lost my brain and was being useless. We managed to complete the color run with one back jump but still Qed.
Jumpers went well. We had a little trouble on the start line, she was still antsy and the people moving behind her didn't help.
Lesson learned: I need to be calm. I need to not worry about schedules etc. I need to remember to breathe and have fun. I also need to mentally be there, no more worrying about other things while at a trial. I also need to cut myself some slack, things happen and you live and learn.
Thankfully, I did not get down about the reactivity. She has her good days and bad, recently it has been more good than bad. So while it was upsetting to take a step back it was just a momentary step back.
Videos to come at a later date (I did promise I would share the good and the bad!)
Sorry you weren't on each other's page. I've had days like that in the Rally ring. It is so easy to say that you won't be nervous, and so hard to do, and it definitely goes down the leash. At those points I would think, "and why, exactly, am I doing this?" But then you have those days where everything clicks - and you remember why! :-)
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