Agility (1/2)

Gimme has had quite the full day.  We did nosework practice with our friend Susan.  Overall there were 8 hides.  Gimme didn't have any difficulty with any of them.  I'm practicing seeing when she gets in odor and trying to define the behavior change I see.  For now I would just say she gets very "busy" and more focused in an area, as opposed to loosely scanning, which she does the rest of the time.  She sure loves getting peanut butter to reward every time she finds odor.

Afterwards we went walking and put in 4 miles.  When we got home, I took a long nap and woke with a migraine, but it was time for class, so off we went.

Overall I was pleased with Gimme.  Her first session started off unfocused, but I really think she was responding to how muzzy-headed I was.  Once I was up and moving for a bit, my head cleared and magically, she was suddenly focused.  For our second sequence, she did well the whole time.

Blynn had me do one section over a couple of times until my handling was sufficient to cue Gimme to collect.  The first time she literally landed on my foot.  The second time she missed my foot, but bumped my leg in finishing the turn.  The third time I got it right and so did she.  Its really cool to see how she responds so naturally to good APHS handling.  Blynn also worked on the same segment with other students and it was interesting to see how much harder it was for their dog's to make the change.  It sure makes a big difference how athletic Gimme is, as well as how body aware she is.  I'm sure a lot of it comes from the body awareness exercises we did when she was a puppy.

William tapes many of our classes... so here's two...

This is from last week when Gimme started out so unfocused.  She sure doesn't tolerate late handling.  Frances always fixed my mistakes, Michael not so much, Gimme not at all.  I can see I spend a lot of time "naming" what she's doing, like saying "jump" when she's in the air already. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xxnl0qKNz2o

This second link is the second run of the same night when I totally couldn't remember the course.  When my handling was clear (despite whether I was on course or not), Gimme did well.  I hate it when people clap to get their dog's attention - had no idea I'd fallen into such an ugly habit.  I gotta make it go away.  I can also see where I'm crowding her space, which causes her to move out around the jumps.  She really wants to handle at much more of a distance. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeO7LZ-uOoY

From some of the other vids, I see... 

• Gimme really likes doing multiple hand touches and I want to try using it as I take her harness off, instead of after she takes a loop around the arena.  It would be nice to just start off working, rather than recapturing her attention.
• I see I've been naming obstacles for quite awhile.  I've emailed Blynn and asked her to help me focus on either being more timely with verbal cues or just shut up, eh.
• I also see the clapping at Gimme in a couple other videos and have asked Blynn to help me eliminate it.

And now Miss Gimme and I are going to go snuggle on the couch...