I ran Zedd today in regular 16in class. We started the day out with a rockin JWW course. I decided before I went in the ring that I would do a little cheer leading only when I needed him to check in and when he did something very well. I was loud and happy, like a drunk, obnoxious sports fan!!!!! It worked beautifully. We stayed connected, he stayed focused and we ran the course in 30 seconds and that time put us in 5th place. YIPPEE!!! I'll take it. When I came out of the ring someone made fun of me for being so loud. I'm very sensitive, so I thought maybe I was being too loud and people thought I was stupid for acting that way. I let the comment affect me in our STD run. I was quieter and more rigid. The result........drum roll please, less connection with my border terrier. Surprise. He was still focused but I made a handling error that caused him to take an off course chute. My bad. The great parts of our run were that he hit all his contacts, a little wide when reading my turning cues, but I got him to go in the right direction, I lead out from the table and did a nice blended front cross to the A-frame.
My borders want a paycheck, whether it's happy praise, toy, treats, or just to be told what good dogs they are. Yes, sometimes I have to be stern with them, they are terriers and sometimes do very naughty terrier things. If I'm consistently too stern with them, they will go on strike and start picketing the agility ring. What a site that would be. Morale of this blog, do what works for my dogs, trust myself, and trust my dogs. In the end, a fun day was had by all.
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