RallyFrEe video event

I entered the 2nd annual RallyFrEe World Wide video event.  It was my first attempt at RallyFrEe, and sadly a dismal effort.

We had a few issues with her supplements, which caused Gimme to become very emotional.  First I dropped back the dose on the leaves from the loading dose to normal.  It took a couple of days and then, boom!  Suddenly Gimme was very emotional and this was most noticeable on a training session we had at DaPaws.  At the time I thought it was because she was distracted by the agility equipment being too near.  When I got home and she was still unfocused and needy, I knew it had to be something else and realized it was the change in her leaves dose, so I put it back up to the loading dose.

Our next practice session was fabulous and I thought we were home free.  So two days later we tried to do the video session and again Gimme was unfocused and avoiding work.  I tried a number of things to help her get back into the game, but she just couldn’t get there.  This was probably our worst session ever.  I didn’t think I had anything worth submitting.  I realized afterward, Tonya had reduced Gimme’s flower essence remedy for her ADHD.  It might not have been so bad had it not been on the heels of the change in the leaves dose.

So I put her back at the normal dose and we’ll try the test again in January.  I want her to be stable for now, especially through this weekend.  And, any future reductions in dose of anything will be done more gradually, since it appears Gimme is pretty sensitive to changes.  At this time I still planned to enter a local video event, so I also wanted her at a stable point for it as well (I have since decided not to enter).

After the dismal taping session, I went home, rethought my approach and planned one more session to try to get the video.  I changed a lot of things, being much more upbeat and playful, trying to get a successful tape, but no such luck.  Basically I’ve broken my dog.  Between the changes in the supplements making her more emotional and my goal-intensity about taping, and other changes, she’s gotten a negative association to this game.

Gimme has decided obedience/rally/RFE is less fun than anything we’ve ever done together.  She is holding onto a negative emotional association, so I have some work to do repairing it.  Fortunately William taped everything, so I had a lot of material available to review.  And review it I did, very carefully.  I made a long list of ideas for things to change, things to do and things to not do.  Fortunately we have a LOT of fun association behind us, so I know we’ll get it back.