Barely Q's and Nearly Q's

It's Fat Tuesday.  Happy Mardi Gras!  A bittersweet day for me, because . . . . .

Today I remembered what I forgot about the Mobile trial, which is that I left in tears and disgust (despite my previous post depicting an upbeat view of the weekend).  Packing up my car at the end, I remember a clubmate drove by saying "See you Monday at practice" and my retort was "NO, I'm so sick and tired of all my barely Q's and nearly Q's, I quit!"  Then my head filled up with tears.  It wasn't until I reviewed my videos in sequence a week later and saw how well we did that I began feeling better about our performances and ready to continue trialing.

It might be different if my dogs weren't 95% accurate, that last 5% holds major frustration.  Why, why, why does there have to be one error on each run, or one bobble that so nearly costs us the Q.  Why can't there just be perfect execution on 19-20 obstacles in a row?  Have we ever had a flawless run?  I don't recollect any Q's that weren't close calls.

You're always skating on thin ice; just getting by; hanging on by your fingertips; holding your breath.  I've been there, done that, for many years in business.  It's an awful feeling I never want to return to.  But here it is, running rampant throughout this volunteer sport.  Any little thing can NQ you. 

3 or 4 mistakes are easy to reckon with.  A bad run today.  An off weekend.  A novice dog. We all have those.  But being so frequently so close and yet so far away, without a real excuse, becomes downright depressing.  Competitors encourage each other with their personal failure stories such as:

• We didn't Q a single time in 6 months (now a MACH dog).
• We only Q in TimeToBeat where the rules are more relaxed.
• We're here only to have fun.
• My dog is slow too.
• My border collie can't slow down.
• We're still in Open after 3 years of trialing HA HA.

Maxie in Mobile

These don't help me.  I hate feeling stuck in a rut. What would John (Cullen) say about my mental game after that trial?  Surely, not good. But if my dogs can consistently do 19 out of 20 obstacles correctly, surely they can do that last one too.  What is the impediment?  One thing I did learn recently, from Julie Hill, is her report about a dog that went from Novice thru MACH1 in 7 months, which only goes to show:

there are dogs who Q consistently.

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

Running Coach

Jonathan at center, neither boy connected to his shadow.

With all the videos I take, I can study how various agility competitors run.  Most of us can't run!  We take small steps, don't lift our knees, don't swing our arms, don't lean forward, and we certainly never get airborn like the young atheletes in this photo.  There are a few exceptions, especially with the young girls, but very few. 

Since most of us have no occasion to run in our daily lives, who can blame us?  And we certainly don't get any coaching in this department in our agility classes.  I never see anybody warm up before their runs, so no wonder we see a lot of knee and back braces at every trial.  So I've been putting out the Universal Call for a running coach, meanwhile doing what I can to coach myself. 

In answer, this past Saturday I had occasion to attend my 14 year old grandson's cross country race in Baton Rouge, and filmed hundreds of teenagers running (next post).  As the still frame photo of Jonathan confirms, these kids definitely do get airborn.  I watched coaches warming up their teams with sprints, insisting upon waist-high knee lifts that result in more of a cycling rather than a scissors action of the legs, cross overs where the rear leg must lift high as it comes around front, and backwards sprints.  All these young atheletes have two feet off the ground at some point during their trajectory, resulting in less friction and them able to cover more ground.

1/2 # sandbags can be removed
to lower weight

I had already put it together that knee lifts are important, and to that end John bought me some Gold's Gym 2.5# adjustable ankle weights (Wal-Mart $6).  I have been walking around the house with 2# strapped to each ankle a few hours a day.  Gracious, 2# weighs a lot!  For the first week or so, they made my thighs and buttocks burn!  Now I hardly notice them.  You can buy a lot more expensive Re-Bok ankle weights off of amazon.com for $19, but these Gold Gym's do fine, adjust from 1/2# to 2.5# each,  and are comfortable enough.

I'm also practicing taking giant steps around the yard as I lift my knees.  It looks dorky but I can feel the stretch to my inner thigh.

Will all this make a difference in my speed around the course?  All I can do is wait and see.
Upwards and onward!

Jump Training with Lucky Lucy

Jump training with Lucky is easy because she loves to retrieve.  Throw the ball, she brings it back.  Throw it over the 2 foot high garden fence, she puts 2 jumps in for every throw (there and back), and she will keep this up until your arm is worn out.  We limit her to 20 jumps a day a few times per week, and figure we could keep her in shape for years even if we were crippled in a wheel chair!  I finally got a video of this activity, and using slow motion, you can really see her powerful physique in motion.  It's amazing how much effort goes into a dog jumping obstacles.

Now if only I can transfer her enthusiasm for this game onto the agility course!

Upwards and onward!

Training/Trialing Strategy - An Uphill Climb

Maxie in Monroe, June 2010

My clubmates who compete in Agility have been at this a lot longer than I have, some for up to 12 years when Agility first came to the USA.  Many have brought multiple dogs to Master Championship status.  However, most of them are now working with younger, newer dogs who are competing anywhere from Novice thru Excellent.  Only a few of our current dogs hold MACH status (Master Agility Champion).

So who am I to argue with their training/trialing techniques.  I wouldn't dare, except I don't like the results I am seeing in their performances.  By the time you get to Excellent, you can't Q if you make a single mistake.  By the time you get to Masters, you have to double Q every day for it to count (once in Standard and once in Jumpers), that means no mistakes all day.  Our competitors are rarely achieving that.

SO HERE'S MY STRATEGY:  Don't run in a trial until me and my dog are BOTH running 80-90% accurate in practice.  Go to trials to attune the dog to the atmosphere, yes, and enter in matches as often as possible (much cheaper than trial entry fees), and do course and sequence training galore at home.  BUT DON'T GO TO TRIALS TO TRAIN.  When you go to a trial:

 go to Q,

       go to PLACE,

              go to WIN!

Of course, once you've flubbed up a run, it immediately becomes a training session.  An EXPENSIVE training session.  Of course, you finish the run.  If you've taken videos, you can analyze what went wrong, what you need to work on, learn what judges call a "wrong course", a "refusal", a "time fault", an "elimination".  All valuable information.  All I'm saying is, I won't go to trials until I feel I have a very decent chance of not flubbing up.  Sounds like common sense, but there are a lot of competitors eating up ring time with poorly trained dogs where it would take a long string of miracles for them to Q.  And you'll hear them say, "We are just here for the experience".  Earning titles is not their priority, they say . . . . .  but they are completely beside themselves if they earn one!!!!!