Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Trial Reflection

I could not be more pleased with the start of Reagan's agility career. It really has been fun to see how she has changed. Twenty months ago, Reagan was an adult sized puppy that had never worn a collar or walked on a leash. Now she is a focused, confident, motivated, little lady (... well, maybe not a lady).I love seeing Reagan really enjoy herself at the agility trials. When we walked outside of the event, she was her normal self. Maybe a little bored. But when we would return to the arena that the agility event was held in, I would see that mischievous tail wag and she would light up. Reagan was bold and happy about everything at the event. Going forward, the plan is to continue trialing about once a month. Once a month, gives us plenty of time between trials to do our homework and work on trouble areas. I also plan to stick with 2-day trials for now. The reason for that strategy is to minimize practicing an error that pops up that I cannot correct in a trial setting. For example, if Reagan pops out of the weave poles early on day one and then repeats the same error on day 2, at least she only practiced the mistake for 2 days. But if I am at a 4-day agility trial and she pops out of the weave poles early 4 days in a row, I am not going to be happy about practicing that bad habit over and over again. So 2-day trials work best for now.This weekend's jackpot consisted of canned makeral, canned dog food, and Swiss cheese!