This was the day we had selected to video for the West2 RFE competition. The course was verrrrry doable, so I was hopeful we'd do well. Such was not the case. Except for when I had treats readily available she was just not able to focus. She was much better last week.
Simultaneous spins video - We hadn't done this in a very long time, so I wasn't sure what to expect. She did okay at it, though not perfect. I didn't want to belabor the fine points.
Free choice 4 video - She was losing focus already, just three minutes into our practice. The behavior I'd trained was to for her "center", "bacon" onto the tub and then "low" (left paw lift). We quickly discovered I'd have to let go of the paw lift. By the time we were doing the course, I had to let go of "center" too. She kept going out around the tub, then coming back to me into "center" and then "bacon" onto the tub.
Free choice 1 video - This is a trick we've done a lot and it comes out very nicely. By the time we video our course run through it was falling apart.
Right paw lift video - She was doing this fine at home, but couldn't remember how to do it in "side" position on this day. I tried to refresh her memory, but it just wasn't coming. I trained this using the couch as a platform and so here I used a chair. I got the right paw, but never could get her to do it beside me. I didn't want to get her frustrated, so I came up with a work-around. I pivoted in front of her and gave her the hand signal, then pivoted back into position. The behavior description only says the dog has to remain in a sit in the position we have approaching the sign, nothing about the handler. I'm sure we'll still take a major deduction for this, but hopefully better than failing it entirely.
We had one run through which is somewhat passable. I don't think it will pass, but I have thought so before and gotten passing scores. Generally the judges are far gentler in their assessments than I would be. I think this run should score at 110 points; we need 125 points to qualify. Still, my assessment versus the judge's assessment have been more than 15 points apart before, so who knows. If it does pass, it will complete her RallyFrEe intermediate title. RallyFrEeIntermediate video
I should know in the next couple of weeks. We are at 59 titles and I'd like to have a nice round number before the end of the year. Just in case, Gimme and I are working on the videos we need to complete her ADP Premier 1 title. We are probably 70% done with those.
No comments:
Post a Comment