Last week's RallyFrEe practice was so frustrating. My goal was to do the video for this month's MDSA project. We practiced last time (two weeks ago) and Gimme did very well, so I expected it to go smoothly. NOT!
It's always distracting with the daycare and other things going on, but this time was the worst ever, multipled. We came in the building and were just starting when they started squeaking toys in the daycare room. Gimme lost her brain. I worked with her and was just getting her focus when they started up again. Of course, this time it was even harder to get her focus. Unfortunately the turn was facing the same direction as where the squeaking was coming from, so I kept losing her there. Each time the turn was really wide as she'd take a gander.
On the second session, I started with some other work. First was side-stepping - Gimme is better when she's moving to her left than to her right. This is the direction she first learned to pivot, so she's more comfortable moving her rear left. I see I need to click while she's moving, instead of when she stops with me. From there we practiced backing in side position. She's much better in heel position, so I practice it more in side position. Naturally she threw in an offered "otto" for me. We got two instances of good backing in side position, so I quit there. Side-stepping & Backing video
As soon as we moved into place to do some sequences for the MDSA project, then the people for another class started traipsing by. They can't just walk by and be done with it. They have to stop and watch and talk and play with their dogs. Gimme left me and started over there once, but stopped halfway when I said "leave it", then a moment later came back to me. A year ago she couldn't have stopped and come back to me without me taking her by the collar, so I was proud of her. When I got her focused and was starting up, then the private lesson people squeaked a toy in the ring next to ours and Gimme lost her brain, again.
When we came in for the third session, I brought one of her toys in. We played some and it helped to get her focused. As luck would have it, when we were doing final runs, then the daycare dogs all started barking really loud. It was so loud I couldn't even hear our music and it would be intrusive in the videos. We could have waited until they stopped, but Gimme was pretty much used up, so I just quit and hoped there was something useable. I did find four clips to meet the criteria and one was better than the rest. I will include the link for the MDSA project when its ready.
In hindsight I should have moved our ring markers and to the other end of the space. Then we would have been further from all the distraction and our corner/turn where she was getting distracted would then have been toward a boring wall. I wish I was better at thinking of these solutions in real time. At least now I'll have it as a back up plan the next time we have problems.
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