Studying My Trial Videos

THE "HOWARD COSELL" EFFECT: Now that I have decent video editing software, I can string together, study and comment on a whole trial weekend's performance "in a string", seeing what we're doing right, and note where our mistakes are so I can systematically work on correcting them.

Again, the football analogy comes to mind, with skilled sportscasters explaining the details of every play as it unfolds.  Peggy Flemming and Scott Cunningham do likewise for Ice Skating competitions, naming each element as it happens (tripple lutz, quad, etc.), and even the AKC Agility Nationals have commentators talking thru each run.  It blows my mind that they can be so detailed and fluid in their impromptu commentary.  It's hard to do.

Here's my first attempt, of Maxie's 6 runs in Lake Charles (minus 1 that didn't get videoed), using my new AVS Video Editing Software and Labtec microphone.


SUMMARY: Maxie ALWAYS ran considerably under course time, and his only fault in this trial (except one knocked bar at the start line), was incorrect weave performance.  Twice he popped out at the 10th weave, another time he entered from the wrong side.  Even when he Q'd, he sometimes walked the weaves.  On the up side, he didn't once get distracted by the neighing horses in the stalls or scents of horse poop, as he did last year in this same arena! He didn't once visit the bar setters! He rarely head checked me. We've made progress.

Even in areas where we didn't fault, improvements are desirable.  He should completely ignore the dog walk and A-frame unless I say UP, should accept re-positioning at the start line, and make tighter turns when asked.  I also want a solid DOWN on the table, and runs out to the tip end of the see-saw.

As to my own performance, I'm running a bit faster, my timing has improved, my handling more fluid, I'm getting comfortable with blind crosses, less afraid of front crosses, and I didn't get lost on course even once.  I still have trouble with alertness in the morning, am easily disoriented, and I easily lose focus at the slightest unexpected bobble.  My mental game definitely needs work, as well as my speed and nimblenes.
I plan to do these studies for all 10 2011 trials and will add links to them below as I complete them, identifying our most frequent faults and working on those the hardest.  Thus, I won't be training as haphazardly next year, and I suspect I can up my Q rate faster by working on the biggest problems first.  That's the current game plan anyway.
When I NQ on a run with 1 fault, I sometimes fail to consider we got about 19 out of 20 things right -- 6 mistakes vs. 114 correct moves in a 3 day weekend, or about a 96% accuracy rate.  That isn't bad for a fairly newbie trainer/handler with her first agility dog.
I'm encouraged that our progress is still upwards and onward!

MAXIE: (Going For Our Masters) 

2011, October 21,22,23 Kiln MS SDAC Trial Video composite

6 runs, 2Q's, 2 1st places, MX TITLE, 38 MACH Points

2011, September 23,24,25 Kiln MS MMAC Trail Video Composite

6 runs, 1 Q, 1st place, 20 MACH Points

2011, August 18, 19, 20 Hattiesburg, MS BARK Trial Video Composite

6 runs, 4 Q's, 5th QQ, MXJ Title, 2 4th Places, 36 MACH points

2011, June 23,24,25 Monroe, LA OVDTC Trial Video Composite

6 runs, 3 Q's XJ, XJ, XS, 2 3rd places XS and XJ, 4th QQ, 39 MACH Points

2011, April 23,24 Brandon, MS BARK Trial Video Composite

4 runs, 3 Q's (XJ 2nd place, XS 1st place, XJ 2nd place), 3rd QQ, 42 MACH Points

2011, April 8,9,10 Port Allen, LA LCCOC Trial Video Composite

6 XB runs, 3 Q's, 2nd QQ, 1 1st place, 1 2nd place, 1 3rd place, 38 MACH points

2011, April 1,2,3 Amite, LA Deep South Trial Video Composite

6 runs, 3 Q's (two XS and one XJ), 2 1st places, 1 2nd place, 1st QQ, 87 MACH points

2011, March 18,19,20 Mobile, AL MM Trial Video Composite

6 runs, 2 XJ Q's, one 4th place

2011, February 18,19,20 New Iberia, LA Trial Video Composite

6 runs, 1 Q, XJ (5th place)

LUCKY LUCY (Novice thru Excellent):

2011, October 21,22,23 Kiln MS SDAC Trial Video composite.

2011, September 23,24,25 Kiln MS MMAC Trail Video Composite

2011, August 18, 19, 20 Hattiesburg, MS BARK Trial Video Composite

2011, June 23,24,25 Monroe, LA OVDTC Trial Video Composite

2011, April 23,24 Brandon, MS BARK Trial Video Composite

2011, April 8,9,10 Port Allen, LA LCCOC Trial Video Composite

2011, April 1,2,3 Amite, LA Deep South Trial Video Composite

2011, March 18,19,20 Mobile, AL MM Trial Video Composite

2011, February 18,19,20 New Iberia, LA Trial Video Composite

Judge Gets In The Way!

I've heard complaints from other competitors that the judge sometimes gets in the way, distracts the dog, etc., but never noticed having that experience until the Lake Charles trial.  Here are 2 video snippets comparing the judge's movements in 2 different runs, same course.  The first run is me and Maxie, who left the table and took the chute behind me instead of the jump in front of me.  When you have a dog like Maxie, with a chute fettish, a dog walk fettish, and a tunnel fettish, it's important to block those entrances wherever possible. My intention was to block the chute but the judge was in that space.  Wanting to keep a respactable distance away from her, I was forced to go way forward.  Maxie saw his chance, and took the chute behind me (another good reason to never train the Blind Cross).  Since he also has a "greet a friendly stranger" fettish, he could have been attracted to visiting the judge as well.  Notice how she even stepped towards the chute, pulling Maxie towards it even more.  This cost us a Q in a run with no other faults.

When The Judge Gets In The Way (10 seconds)

Compare that to here.

When The Judge Stays Out Of The Way (8 seconds)

The judge staying out of the way made a big difference with this dog's performance.  In addition, my having to think about the judge's position during my run diverted my focus.

Be that as it may, distraction is one of those things each competitor has to learn to deal with as well as training their dogs to avoid distractions. Next time, I'll just have to run into/over/thru the judge.  Ignore the judge. Ignore the divits. Ignore the throbbing knee.  Ignore, ignore, ignore.  Focus, focus, focus. Stay present in the moment.

Upwards and onward!

Programming note: here's the original video I uploaded to YouTube (same as above), before I learned I could upload them directly into the blog from my computer. It worked fine for a week, then began posting a message that it was a private video. That won't do. I am leaving it here to test and see if I can change the setting from my YouTube account.