Competing in a Performance Venue for the First Time in Over 30 Years!

I did it! I competed in a performance venue for the first time in over 30 years and I am living to tell about it. Debbie Miller and I went down to Lansing on Thursday night in order to be at the shows early. The weather is usually bad this time of year. Even though we could drive back and forth, we both have dogs in Novice who show early in the morning and then not until late in the afternoon. It's a long, exhausting day.

But I learned so much! Right off the bat, I learned that agility people are pulling for each other. The VMO did her best to give Seeker a 22 inch measurement so that she could jump at 20 inches. She had me back way away, get very "uninteresting" and sit down. She did all of this so Seeker would drop her head down which then dropped her shoulders the half inch needed. Later in the day, just for kicks, I put her back on the table and measured her. She is definitely 22.5 inches tall. I love that VMO because she gave us a yellow card which means that until Seeker is 2 years old, she does not need to be measured again. She told me that once Seeker turns two, to make sure I come back to her for measurement! I find that pretty amazing.

I also learned the ins and outs of how to pick up your armband and course maps, how to time things so that you are on hand for the walk through and judge's instructions, how to judge when it is time to get your dog ready and go ringside, etc. I learned how to find the results, pick up your ribbons, attach the results to the ribbons, etc.

I developed a little pattern to help Seeker love showing. I took her out of her crate, pottied her, warmed her up with jogging followed by tricks to help her stretch out (spin, back up, paws up, follow the bait to her back legs to stretch her sides, bow, etc). Then we did our warm-up jumping. I made sure to practice whatever was the hardest move on the course (front cross, rear, call to hand and turn to the right, etc.) Then I hung up my bait bag near the exit gate and we went to the in gate. I made sure to keep her focused and happy. After the run, she got jackpotted and played with. We jogged to cool down, she got more treats and water and then back to her crate to rest.

I found that she loved the routine and really began to settle in just as she did with conformation showing routines. I also found that all these routines helped to keep me calm and focused.

JWW was always first thing in the morning. I loved that I had no problems remembering the courses! The first morning was slow and scary since Seeker was a bit distracted by the new venue. But we made it through cleanly and our only fault was a time fault. Seeker stutter stepped her way through the jumps and it was painful to watch on video. Her uncertainty was quite obvious but so was her love to please me. She was over course time so her score was 99, but she was the only one in her class to qualify so we got first place. My exit routine worked like a charm. When she saw how pleased I was with her, and how many treats she got as she left the ring, she decided that this was a fun venue!

Her standard run was great. She was very happy to only have a few jumps between obstacles. She ran happily and clean. 100 score and first place for her first Q in standard. What a way to start the first day: with a double Q!

Saturday began with JWW and I was grateful that there were 2 tunnels to help break up all the jumping. She was happy too and was a bit faster. Clean run, Q, and first place.

Saturday afternoon for Standard, I could see her excitement as we waited in the chute. Because of that, I also got excited and forgot to give her my normal cue to hit the contact on the bottom of the A-frame. She missed it and we had NQd on the second obstacle. It was funny, but that relieved all my stress to have a perfect weekend and we flew through the rest of the course happy and error free.

Sunday morning JWW should have been pressure packed knowing that it could be for our title, but the course was much harder than the last 2 days and all of my concentration centered on how to perform the 3 front crosses I needed to do. There were no tunnels so only the weaves broke up the endless jumping. Once again, Seeker ran a bit faster and was well under course time for a second place. I was thrilled knowing that we had earned our title in 3 straight shows.

Sunday afternoon I was worried about the timing. I could not get her to go to the bathroom! I stood outside with her in the rain for 20 minutes worrying about whether I would have enough time to go through my routine with her. I finally gave up and went ringside. She looked very excited and happy to run and we were doing so well! She had no problems with her down contacts because I remembered to give her the cues. She performed a very hard table wait as I walked away for a leadout to the next jump and then did a front cross to a jump at a 90 degree angle which made her successfully ignore a jump that so many other dogs took for a wrong course. We got to the teeter and had only 3 jumps to go for a clean run and she rode the teeter down and peed all over it. I felt so badly! But as I took her by the collar and walked her off the course, I think Seeker knew that she should never do that again:-) She realized that she didn't get to finish the course and she didn't get jackpotted at the end.

That night she came into heat so several people have told me that she is excused for her teeter pee:-)

The very best part of all was that I found that Seeker was incredibly focused. All of the things that I worried about did not happen. I have seen (and saw this weekend) so many Novice dogs with the zoomies or sniffing or visiting ring crew). None of that happened with Seeker. I'm not sure if that's because we practiced those distractions or what. But what I found was a teammate who was totally focused on the obstacles and me. She completely tuned out the dirt floor, the smells, the ring crew, etc. It was so rewarding!!

Goals:

1. work on getting her to potty quickly and efficiently at show sites and use a very high value treat when she does.
2. work on her jumping style by watching the Susan Salo DVDs that Debbie lent me. BORING, but helpful. From what I have viewed so far, she has a great style, but early take-off so everything else is good. With only one fault to correct, I am hopeful because I did move her up to Open JWW for the Great Lakes Belgian Tervuren trial over New Year's weekend.
3. Keep the jumps low and get her confidence and speed back. At class last night, she was still a bit hesitant so I need to go back to getting her to fly. I think I can do this! I taught her to weave using Susan Garrett's 2X2 DVDs. The results this weekend for that? 6 perfect sets of weave poles: all with correct entries and all with good speed. As I thought, she got faster and faster each time as she gained confidence.

So, all in all I am so proud of Team Seeker! I remembered the courses, kept things positive for her and we had fun! I'm grateful that she held off on her heat cycle so that we could complete the weekend and earn a title at the end of her name. I look forward to Dreamer's debut.