A while back there was an article being passed around FB and although I can't for the life of me remember who the author was of the article I do know that he (or she?) was a well known herding handler from the US. The article itself struck a chord with me as it was the author's observation at herding trials regarding participating handlers willingness and/or desire to simply sit down and watch other competitors compete with their dogs.
The article struck a chord with me because I think its relevance carries over to any dog sport, obedience, hunt tests, field trials, tracking etc. and yes even agility. I will be the first to admit, my journey with Viper is still evolving. I will also admit at times he has been by far the most difficult dog that I have ever worked with. Some would call him "busy" and to an extent I agree with them. I prefer to call him a "thinker and do'er".
Da Vipe does think about things, A LOT for about five seconds and then he DOES whatever it was he was thinking about. Generally, as fast as he can. Needless to say, this does get him into some oddball predicaments on a regular basis and for quite some time it drove me absolutely insane. As of late? I simply come to his rescue (the best that I can) and embrace that aspect of his personality, as I did help instill it in him. I am constantly in awe of Viper's ability to reason (for lack of a better word) and problem solve in everyday situations or even while training.
For some reason, while running him in a trial environment I simply forgot to be in awe of his ability to reason. This has made our progress at trials almost as slow as a herd of turtles running through peanut butter (I was going to use the word hindered but refrained from doing so as we HAVE made progress.) Somewhere along the way I stopped thinking about all of the "little things" that needed to be in place to make the "big picture" shine brightly. My focus remained on the "big picture" end result and that was the problem in itself.
Being able to go back and replay video has probably been the most crucial aid in helping Viper succeed in the ring. Pushing him to succeed when mentally he wasn't mature enough to handle such pressure was a lesson in humility that he handed to me in spades. Behaviors and sequences I KNEW he knew that we consistently could NOT complete in a trial was frustrating to me for a time.
Until it didn't.
After making the decision to stop trying to qualify for this years AKC Nationals the boys and I took a giant step back from trialing and just lived. We hiked. We trail ran. We played fetch. We learned new tricks. Somewhere in the process, Da Vipe matured mentally. Somewhere the sequences we couldn't do previously, we started to complete and more often than not I began seeing more and more moments of brilliance and less of less brilliance. Somewhere along the line I started to focus on the opportunities each run presented to us at trials and instead of focusing on the "end picture" of a "Q" I started to ask Viper to "awe" me with his understanding of the "little things".
And awe me he did.
This past weekend on a whim I entered a local ASCA trial to get some much needed "trail like" experience in, with the ability to train in the ring if needed. My intentions were simple. Get Viper on the dogwalk and let him show me his understanding. I've previously posted about his performance of the obstacle and how we are working towards getting it to the "shining brightly" stage. Little by little, each run made a big impact on his next performance and by the last run he gave me a performance that made the entire day worthwhile.
While not running him, I took an opportunity for myself to simply sit down and watch other dog and handler teams run. It has been a very long time since I have done that and you want to know what? It felt good. To watch teams from the very new to the very experienced, to watch their moments of brilliance and their moments of "less" brilliance. All of it. Every second of it.
There were times that I saw some dogs doing things that could be considered "naughty" or "bad", yet the question I kept asking myself was; "Will that dog get to "awe" its owner?" There were some moments where a dog was asking for feedback and didn't receive it but there were also times that when a dog did awe their owner, the dog was praised and they continued on. I couldn't help but celebrate right along with them. Taking the initiative to find an opportunity in EVERY opportunity is not the easiest task. Nor is it always the most rewarding. Yet, I know deep down that the "end picture" will shine all the brighter because of such a simple decision.
Find the opportunity. Take the opportunity and make it what you wish.
If not for your sake, but your partners.
Da Vipe does think about things, A LOT for about five seconds and then he DOES whatever it was he was thinking about. Generally, as fast as he can. Needless to say, this does get him into some oddball predicaments on a regular basis and for quite some time it drove me absolutely insane. As of late? I simply come to his rescue (the best that I can) and embrace that aspect of his personality, as I did help instill it in him. I am constantly in awe of Viper's ability to reason (for lack of a better word) and problem solve in everyday situations or even while training.
For some reason, while running him in a trial environment I simply forgot to be in awe of his ability to reason. This has made our progress at trials almost as slow as a herd of turtles running through peanut butter (I was going to use the word hindered but refrained from doing so as we HAVE made progress.) Somewhere along the way I stopped thinking about all of the "little things" that needed to be in place to make the "big picture" shine brightly. My focus remained on the "big picture" end result and that was the problem in itself.
Being able to go back and replay video has probably been the most crucial aid in helping Viper succeed in the ring. Pushing him to succeed when mentally he wasn't mature enough to handle such pressure was a lesson in humility that he handed to me in spades. Behaviors and sequences I KNEW he knew that we consistently could NOT complete in a trial was frustrating to me for a time.
Until it didn't.
After making the decision to stop trying to qualify for this years AKC Nationals the boys and I took a giant step back from trialing and just lived. We hiked. We trail ran. We played fetch. We learned new tricks. Somewhere in the process, Da Vipe matured mentally. Somewhere the sequences we couldn't do previously, we started to complete and more often than not I began seeing more and more moments of brilliance and less of less brilliance. Somewhere along the line I started to focus on the opportunities each run presented to us at trials and instead of focusing on the "end picture" of a "Q" I started to ask Viper to "awe" me with his understanding of the "little things".
And awe me he did.
This past weekend on a whim I entered a local ASCA trial to get some much needed "trail like" experience in, with the ability to train in the ring if needed. My intentions were simple. Get Viper on the dogwalk and let him show me his understanding. I've previously posted about his performance of the obstacle and how we are working towards getting it to the "shining brightly" stage. Little by little, each run made a big impact on his next performance and by the last run he gave me a performance that made the entire day worthwhile.
While not running him, I took an opportunity for myself to simply sit down and watch other dog and handler teams run. It has been a very long time since I have done that and you want to know what? It felt good. To watch teams from the very new to the very experienced, to watch their moments of brilliance and their moments of "less" brilliance. All of it. Every second of it.
There were times that I saw some dogs doing things that could be considered "naughty" or "bad", yet the question I kept asking myself was; "Will that dog get to "awe" its owner?" There were some moments where a dog was asking for feedback and didn't receive it but there were also times that when a dog did awe their owner, the dog was praised and they continued on. I couldn't help but celebrate right along with them. Taking the initiative to find an opportunity in EVERY opportunity is not the easiest task. Nor is it always the most rewarding. Yet, I know deep down that the "end picture" will shine all the brighter because of such a simple decision.
Find the opportunity. Take the opportunity and make it what you wish.
If not for your sake, but your partners.
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