A few weeks ago it seemed I had loads of time to prepare Grace for her first show but they are galloping by quicker then ever!  After what seemed like a promising couple of sequences a couple of weeks ago, when Grace was really enthusiastic  we seemed to have gone off the boil a bit!  I know its been my fault as I forgot the golden rule with sighthounds which is - do not repeat things more then once!!  All you end up doing is getting a scornful look thrown at you which clearly says, 'I've already done it - what more do you want!'

But, I really am quite proud of what she's done the last two  weeks - she's mastered six weaves really quickly and has even done two sets of 6 weaves straight after a tunnel.  And she's touching the rubber target mat on the up contact of the dog walk nicely.  It has slowed her down slightly which I didn't really want, but it's hard to know what is best to do - a slower up contact but accurate, or a hit and miss up contact with more enthusiasm.  I'll just see how it goes as everything with Grace is a bit of the unknown.

We did try a little jumping sequence but it was straight after practicing the weaves and dog walk,  which was my fault again as it was far too exhausting for her all in one day!  We just gave up and played with a ball instead which was much more fun.

So - onwards and upwards and I must remember next week - less is more!

It's not often that I say that I'm super proud of Nancy, so I thought it warranted a whole blog post all of it's own.  Nancy or Naughty Nancy as she is affectionately known, can only be described as a character.  She loves everybody and is a fantastically sociable dog with other dogs; she's super smart but she is also a challenge at times.  She has her own agenda, that doesn't necessarily fit with mine.  Training her at agility can at times can be frustrating - she runs off with toys and won't bring them back, likes to chase birds and isn't particularly food motivated.  And yet at home teaching her tricks she is fantastic and is a pleasure to train and is usually the first of my dogs to pick up new things.

I can't remember where I read it but I remember reading a training book that explained if you kept on getting the same results (which were results you weren't happy with) that you needed to change your training process as carrying on with the same processes would keep producing the same results.  And I guess that summed mine and Nancy's training up to a tee.  It wasn't that what I was doing was wrong as clearly I managed to train my other dogs to do agility with reasonable success, but this method of training wasn't working for Nancy.  Some dogs make you think differently as a trainer, Gertie taught me a lot about clicker training and how to work through her fears and hang ups, so it was time to rethink how I was going to train Nancy.

So for starters I stopped training Nancy at agility, until I had a new training plan there was no point in carrying on with the training route we were going down.  More than anything I wanted training Nancy to be fun for her and me which it wasn't.  Over the last couple of weeks I've bought Nancy back to agility training, although it's not really agility training, it's doing all her favourite tricks on the agility field with maybe an odd set of weaves or contact thrown in, but mostly it's about having fun.  At home I've changed how I train her too, we've added more challenge and she really has to give me her all in training.  I've even noticed a difference out on walks too as she's actually coming to me wanting to engage with me instead of being the "free spirit" she was.

Having not done any real agility training with Nancy for a couple of months and then taking her to a show I wasn't expecting anything results wise, just could we take Nancy's new found enthusiasm and my new found enthusiasm for training her into the ring.  Even our queuing routine was different, Nancy was watching me and offering tricks (unheard of previously) and we were able to play tug and I could get her ready for her run.  Well I have to say she did 3 of the best runs she has ever done in competition and although we didn't win any competitions, it felt like we had taken major steps forward in actually becoming a partnership.  Hopefully we'll keep building on that partnership now.

           

I was wondering recently what I’ve been playing at as Grace, my Galgo, is 18 months old and she’s barely strung two obstacles together!  We’ve done loads of little bits but nothing serious as I find Grace so funny being a typical sighthound and doing whatever she pleases!    I decided the best way to move forward was to give myself a challenge and enter her at the first outdoor show I’m going to in seven weeks times.

So, this weekend, she had her first proper training session.  Getting friends to video you is so productive as you can see exactly what you need to work on.

The main few things that I’ve learnt from being filmed is:-

I need to run!  I really thought I was running as fast as the wind with Grace streaming along behind me… yet we are both going the speed of a snail!   

And secondly, in typical sighthound mantra, ‘Just because they’ve done something once doesn’t mean they will do it again!’  In the last little sequence in the video Grace had done it once so well that I wanted to film it.  Second time round I must admit I did ‘expect’ her to go into the tunnels and do the wing wrap, forgetting of course, never to expect anything from a sighthound!

Also – wing wraps – I must learn to send her and run (instead of standing there and admiring her!)

But I am really pleased that in just two days of structured training sessions, and me being so nervous and surprised that she will do anything at all that sort of resembles agility, Grace has gone from needing help to run down a line of two jumps to almost doing a little course.   

I think my main aim with her is to keep her motivation up – I don’t just want her bumbling around a course, I want her to really enjoy it and find it fun – so anyone with any constructive help – please feel free to comment.

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