24th July, Jude injury and Jaidi weaves update

Jude – Injury update

Jude is doing her re-hab, working on her proprioception (always easier to write than say) exercises. I also noticed that over the last few days she has been more willing to play ‘give paw’ games using both legs. This indicates to me more strength back in her right leg (where the tricep injury is), although the muscle here still feels softer than on left. My goal is to be competing again at Festival in a few weeks, but this will depend on the muscle tone over the next few weeks.

Jaidi – Still working on our weaves in the ring!

We have completed a couple of shows since I outlined our primary competition issue, coming out of the weaves. I had identified the symptoms of what was happening, but needed to really understand the ‘why’?

I was convinced this is not a ‘weave’ issue for a few reasons:

·         At training they are very good

·         Jaidi can find and complete the weaves on a simple ‘weave’ command

·         He enters from any angle and any side

·         In first shows he weaved as natural as doing any other obstacle

So what was the difference?

We always trained / train weaves with a toy. It was used to shape entries and provide the drive for completing 12 poles. It appeared that by not having the toy he ‘couldn’t’ weave, almost like a comfort blanket!

To prove my theory I went into a round with a toy in my pocket. As soon as Jaidi missed a weave pole, I showed him the toy and he executed with a simple command. The next round we achieved good weaves.

At next training I did not use a toy and his weaves were like competition (missing 2 and 3rd)! So we have a basis to work with. This is going to take a few sessions before we ascertain if this theory proved correct and to see if we can transfer (the fading) to the ring.

On a positive note!

Over time I had dogs like Jude, Joe and Robbie who didn't have a ‘major’ ring issue. But I’ve also had some dogs (Matty, just nervous of agility) and Jamie (spent best part of a year running under every jump) who tested my training plan resolve. In both cases, time, using the feedback to adjust training sessions and keeping fixed on the desired goal overcame the problems (Jamie was a very good Advanced dog and Matty exceeded expectations by being competitive in grade 6). So with this experience, coupled with help from friends, we are working through this issue.

Plus that Jaidi is such a happy dog :-)