It was great to see so many new “teams” out for their first time in a fun match environment, hopefully preparing for the “big shows” :). There were many happy dogs and happy handlers!
I had some concerns regarding some of the angles that the “novice courses” provided. Actually many of the courses, even the “advanced” were “off”, not sure why. I saw a lot of the dogs really have to tork their bodies to take jumps as their human partners were working hard to figure out their handling moves, where to go next, etc. For those of us who use fun matches for training and decide to pick and choose what is safe for our dogs, well, it was very easy to by-pass what didn’t make sense.
To help the new teams, I would have liked to see more straight lines, with a few easy flowy change of directions to keep the body torking to a minimum, give the handlers a bit less to “handle” and allow the dogs to run faster with less head checking, but I was not in charge :).
I think it’s been well over a year since we did a fun match. Since Ekahi has been taking a break for the past month or so due to some back issues, I thought this would be a good time to go and play with him… see how he’s handling himself body wise, work on a few of our weaker skills, and a good way to support OIDA, all in one!
I was very pleased with what he did, though I see we are still having that off and on again issue with him not driving to the end of the dogwalk. Ahhh, if I only knew then what I “know” now… this behavior might have not creeped in… or maybe it still would of, I will never know for sure :). Oh well, there will always be something to work on along the way, at least for now, as I grow with dog agility.
Collection… the guy just wants to fly straight over jumps. Again, I must be honest and acknowledge part of the problem was created early on in our “training”. Part of it I believe is structural and a part is just the way he is… bargy, forward, reactive. He did a couple of beautiful collected jumps during the day, and a few not so good, but he (we) had a good time, his body held up well, his attitude good and his ability to go from handler to obstacle focus was really good.
Looks like there will be new faces at East Hawaii trials soon. Yea, our agility community is growing!!
Speak Your Mind