Motivation - Building Lucky's Drive

In my previous post I showed Lucky highly motivated by Lure Coursing -- giving chase to a white plastic bag!

Here I compare that video to this one of Lucky 1st agility run this past weekend in Kiln, typical of most of her runs where she exceeds course time but otherwise runs clean, it is becoming glaringly obvious to me that motivation is a major missing ingredient of her performance.

To watch video, click arrow:

Maxie is a whole different story.  He is usually very enthusiastic, most often exceeding course time by 5-20 seconds and often placing, unless I make a mistake.  Here's Maxie, running the same course as Lucky's video above, with a Q and 1st place, and 20 MACH points (meaning he ran the course 20 seconds faster than allowable course time).  His course time this run 54 seconds, compared to Lucky's 79 seconds. 
To watch video, click arrow:

With those long legs, Lucky could outrun Maxie any time.  It's all about M-O-T-I-V-A-T-I-O-N!  Building Drive has to become my most serious focus for her agility training.

No doubt in my mind, Lucky is a natural athelete.  She loves to run, fetch, tug, kill armadillos, chase goats, and now, run after lures. Whenever I have her tug toy in my hand in practice, she runs fast, weaves fast, races across the dogwalk, and stays focused. She's an enthusiastic jumper, too, when something she wants is on the other side.

So my challenge now is unlocking the secret to motivating her on the agility course like she's motivated at home. The scuttlebutt is that all this mental gymnastics is great for delaying the onset of alzheimers, which certainly motivates me to keep at it!

My writeup on the Kiln Trial will be my next post.  Some things worth mentioning happened there.  Then I'll post a video on Lucky's enthusuastic jumping exercises at home.

Upwards and onward!

Lure Coursing with Lucky

Each evening at the Kiln Agility Trial this past weekend in MS, Sharon McD of Swamp Dog Agility set up her Lure Coursing Machine in an adjacent field and invited any and all dogs to give it a go.  Lucky had tried Lure Coursing a few months back and shown little interest so I wasn't expecting much, but she tore out after the lure this time, twice, and was rarin' to go again!  Her second run, my friend Donna D. operated my camera and did a great job tracking the whole run, which is NOT easy. (Click arrow to play video.)

In my next post you will see a video of Lucky's 1st agility run of the weekend in Kiln, typical of most of her runs where she barely runs and exceeds course time.  It is becoming glaringly obvious to me that motivation is a major missing ingredient of her agility performance.

I tried Maxie on the Lure Coursing track, and he wanted nothing to do with it.  Ran away from it as fast as he could and begged a complete stranger to pick him up!  All Maxie needs is a reasonable expectation of FOOD, though, to run like a maniac.

With those long legs, Lucky could outrun Maxie any time.  It's all about M-O-T-I-V-A-T-I-O-N!  Building Drive has to become my most serious focus for her agility training.
My writeup on the Kiln Trial will be my next post.  Some things worth mentioning happened there.

Upwards and onward!