Gimme Loves Agility

I was prepared to see a lack of focus from Gimme at class tonight.  Instead she was very focused and doing better than the last two classes.  I was quite pleased.

She started a weird thing on the teeter, so we spent much of our first session working on that.  She would drive into the yellow and then leap up and over the end.  It was technically an acceptable performance since she was in the contact zone and the board did slam down to the ground; however, not what I want.  We did many repetitions before it was consistent, though even then she was still bouncing out of the contact instead of running through it.

Blynn thought it might be because I was both moving faster and further away at the same time.  It didn't feel like either was true to me.  Still when I moved in or slowed down, her performance became more normal.  If I was close and slower, it was normal.  I'm inclined to wonder if at some point she hasn't gotten a butt-bump from a teeter.  In any case, as soon as I return from California, I'm going to weed-eater a section of yard and move the teeter into it for some practice on days that are dry.

On a total plus note, Gimme did all four tunnel-dogwalk discriminations flawlessly... even though we've never trained them.  That's what I love about APHS handling - if I do my handling correctly, the right behavior/obstacle is pretty much intuitive to Gimme.

On our second session Gimme did everything very nicely - again well focused.  We were able to concentrate on my handling.  I was doing a rear cross on the flat and Blynn commented that my outside arm motion was pretty much wild and wooly, sending Gimme where I didn't want her to go.  She was doing it into a tough weave entry, but not efficiently. 

I was using my arm in too big of a sweeping motion and not using my shoulders to tell Gimme where to go.  Blynn suggested bending that arm and that would bring my shoulder into play.  It worked and Gimme's line into the weaves was much tighter and more direct.  Interestingly, in order to bend my arm, my body thought I needed to bend my knees too.  Who knows where that comes from.

Anyway, a great class.  I'm left wondering why Gimme was that much more focused tonight, than she was yesterday.

• Is it because agility is that much more fun than the Public Dog class? 
• Is it because there's no other dogs in sight when she's working in agility, so less stressful?
• Is it because I checked her supplements/homeopathics this morning and increased most, while adding in another homeopathic remedy?
• The homeopathic remedies are for her false pregnancy symptoms.  I haven't seen overt symptoms this early before; however I don't discount the possibility.  
• She's at the end of her fourth week, which would correlate to a fourth month in a human.  I did some internet research and found that mood swings often start that early for pregnant women... so it stands to reason she might experiences mood affects at this stage.
• Is it because I got a lot of work done on my presentation today, so am feeling less pressured and stressed myself?

Hard to say, could be any, some or all of these.  In any case, she was brilliant in class, despite her Tinkerbell approach to the Teeter...