Of course as I have been looking forward to this time off I have also been relishing the idea of tons and tons of dog training happening! Well, as I sit here and write this I realize that before I can head down to the building with the pups I have to get my thoughts in order and think about where everyone is at this point and what my short and long term goals are at this point for each of them :-)
I also have to realize that I am just a bit tired and also a wee bit behind on housey stuff :-) I have spent the majority of today, picking up poop, cleaning stalls, vacuuming, putting up Christmas decorations and just generally getting my house and "other life" back in order. I have not finished or really started my Christmas shopping, not at all sure when that is going to happen.
And although I am admittedly a bit burned out on agility at the moment I am constantly thinking about getting out there with "my dogs".
So, it made sense to me, although I certainly could just jump right in, that I should think through exactly how I want to spend this very precious time and get my head in the right place before I head out to train.
At this point I pretty much have all of my goals organized, now I have to implement the plan. The Wasatch USDAA trial I recently attended helped me immensely in seeing where I am with all of the pups and what needs to be done.
First, what do they know? Wally and Maze pretty much know it all :-) They are definitely at the stay tuned up, a little practice keeps us perfect place in their agility careers with the exception of a few things that I would definitely like to improve, Maze needs a faster teeter performance and more proofing of his independent weave pole performance, I also want to really work on advanced handling drills to get him tuned up for the AKC Nationals and the FCI try-outs.
Wally certainly can always benefit from dog walk practice as his "moving" contact performance is getting very close to exactly what I want :-) He also will benefit from more advanced drills to keep us sharp for AKC Nationals.
The youngsters certainly need the most work but that is the way it goes, right? SoBe gets to play on the same drills as the big boys with an emphasis on independent contact and weave pole performance. Merger is going to be out of competition for a while because I need to get his contacts to a point that we are both happy. He will get to play in jumpers for ring experience as I truly believe that too be one of the most important things for him right now.
Merger is so at that confidence building stage right now and I think the best way to improve his confidence is through training and making sure that he truly understands his job.
I am also going to be spending a fair bit of time working on my mental game, I do not feel that I am having any specific problems in that area but it never hurts to take another shot of Lanny Basham just to stay sharp.
So, I will let you know how the training goes...
2 comments:
Mental game, Lanny Basham... Is this something that could help a senior with her 'game'???
Another shot of Lanny Basham, very punny ;-)
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