This doesnt have to do the with the trial but I think I finally figured out how to get pictures of Miley at the river without over exposing her. Its difficult because, at least I think, of the dark rocks, sun reflecting off the water and Miley being so white. But if I turn down the exposure compensation 1.5, it seems to do the trick.
Sunday I went to the trial. It was in a lovely horse farm. Quite and lots of grass to walk your dogs. Love that. First up was snooker. Sorry I dont have any video, I really wasnt expecting to Q. Snooker has been difficult for us , so much so that we have no Q's in started snooker. LOL , sad but true.
Right after that was Master Gamblers. We havent run to many of these and the last one I ran was so difficult I didnt have high hopes. The last one , they came out of a tunnel and then had to push out to weaves and weave away from you. But this one, I thought I had a chance.
Miley and I ran the course exactly as I planned it. And she got the gamble too. So this was our 1st Master gambler Q. The only thing that happened was she just ran through the dogwalk contact, twice. She is suppose to do a 2o/20. But she didnt stress about it,so that was good. That off couse jump after the tunnel in the gamble doesnt look close in the course map but it was really close. So I called her and front crossed to get 4 and she got it. WhooHoo!!
Then I worked two classes in a row. Then Advance pairs. I teamed with someone who I knew had a sheltie that can be crazy like Miley. So I knew there was a chance of craziness from either dog.
I did the squares. The only thing that happened was Miley jumped the dogwalk contact. Then stressed with one circle around the ring then came in , and she was flying, but hit that weave pole entry and finished beautifully. (L. Mueller : I know I was suppose to leave the ring and reward Miley if she stressed but since this was pairs, I felt like I couldnt do that. ). The other person ran and had several off courses. She was so upset. She just kept apologizing. I told her not to worry about it, Ive messed up so many runs on my own, its really not a big deal. But she was so upset. I told her, Did you see Miley run around the ring? She said yes but she didnt take any obstacles. I tried my best to get her to understand I REALLY didnt care.
Then right after that was Grand Prix. I had high hopes for this run. So then I was disappointed when I screwed it all up. LOL
(sorry its upside down but I dont have time to fix it)
Miley and I had so many things go wrong I cant even remember them. I know I really pushed and went lateral at the aframe so I could beat her to make a front cross. I think that caused her to jump the a-frame contact ( because she stopped on the other ones for the day). I tried to just keep moving. We would go off courses and I kept moving and get back on course, then go off again. It was a crazy, crazy run. BUT she didnt stress. She thought about it after she jumped the dogwalk contact but I tried to just really drive her to that #14 jump so I think that kept her from stressing.
That was our last run of the day. It was 12noon and we were done. How many times does that happen?
I set the Grand Prix course up again for the co-op class on Monday. No one had a problem with it but me. Ugh! I ran it three times and wasnt clean once. I just cant get through 5-8. So Im going to practice just that tonight and see if I can get it. And get this. So Im suppose to throw the bait bag when ever Miley stresses to get her to stop circiling and decrease her stress about mistakes. She just kept jumping the contacts last night. So I threw the bait bag right when she jumped the contact so she had no time to stress. Then I rewarded her with what was in the bag. In my mind Im thinking, "this is crazy. I just rewarded my dog for jumping the contact. How is she going to learn the correct behavior?" But guess what. Then next time over, she stopped. She was calm and got it. Who would have thought it would have worked like that. Not me. LOL It was like as soon as she realized there was no wrong behavior for the dogwalk, she calmed down and thought about what she was suppose to do. Whoohoo!!
6 comments:
Miley seems like the kind of dog that once she makes one mistake, she worries and worries and makes five more. She knows the right behavior on her contact, but can't do it when she's worried. Kinda like Marron in that regard- knows her job but can't perform under pressure.
I don't think rewarding wrong behavior works when you are teaching or proofing, but to get them out a rut of worrying about wrong behaviors, it can be good to reward for "nice tries."
Sounds like a good weekend. Way to go on that Masters Gamblers Q! I've not seen one before where the last obstacle you can take with the dog. Neat!
Oh, and very exciting to get that first Snooker Q, too! There will be more where that came from! :)
I'd really like to set up 5-8 from that GP. Definitely looks tough. Curious where you were having issues and how you handled it.
Diana--i am proud of you for what you are doing with Miley :) I know mentally it is tough, but you are working through it and she is showing you that she is getting it! I think it is soooo cool! loralie913--EXACTLY...I wouldn't reward wrong behaviors with a dog that wasn't stressing...but for Miley, she needs to stop worrying :) I told Diana this should progress to, putting lower value treats in the bait bag, and HIGH HIGH value treats for when Miley hits her 2 on 2 off.
GREAT JOB DIANA!!! So happy to see you are having progress! :)
Congratulations Diana! What a successful weekend.
Love how the bait bag is working! What a great idea.
Congrats on your Q's. In the AAC, we would always have 4 Reds to chose from in Starter Snooker, I've only ever seen a Masters Snooker that only had 3 Reds. And I've never seen a Gamble where you could cross the line to take the last obstacle. Beckett might have done that one, he likes the teeter.
sounds like progress is being made! Yay for Masters Gamblers! Done by Noon? That would be unheard of around here for USDAA. - Diane
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