Clean Run Magazine - September 2007 - 59

obstacles your dog could take? While you are looking at them, so is your dog. It is just like saying, “Go ahead. Pick one you like.” Instead of agonizing over the wrong choices, take this opportunity to connect with your dog. Set your position to make the right choice. Take positive steps toward the correct obstacle. When you are a team, your dog will go with you. silent “thank you” for a little understanding and move on. Do you teach your dog left and right? I practice Hup, Right and Hup, Left to help Cider change lead paws on landing. Someone needs to practice with me. Perhaps flash cards with arrows would be helpful. It is downright embarrassing to yell Hup, Left when turning right. Cider makes up for my faults—or maybe the gnomes are holding up flash cards for Cider with the arrow pointing in the correct direction. “Thank you, I’ll be moving on now.” The greatest help comes when a bar is hit but does not fall. The sound of a dog’s toenail hitting plastic is unmistakable. That sound is almost always followed by two bars clacking their elimination dirge as they tumble to the ground. But once in a while there is no second verse. How does this happen? Think of all the times a bar falls just when you are setting it. I wonder how a speeding mass of furry frenzy can hit Restoring Balance Not all gnome actions are punitive. Sometimes we get picked up when we are down. We get just a little help on a verbal command, a turn, or a bar. Have you ever been so excited about making it to the table that even though the next obstacle is the teeter you yell Table as you approach the unmistakably long plank? Sure both obstacles begin with a “T” but the dimensions are quite different. Your dog does not turn around and go back to the table. He gives you what you need and not what you asked for. Just give a a bar without it falling. Bars roll back and forth in the cup. Bottom bars drop but the top bar remains in place. Bars pop up in the air and settle back in position. Bars pop up in the air and become lodged against the stanchion. What are the chances? When you hear that sound, it is imperative you never look back. Stay focused on the challenges ahead. Your friends can tell you all about the miracle after the run. Just say “thank you” and move forward. In this game of action and reaction it is difficult to find and maintain balance. Excessive highs and lows constantly push their way into our consciousness, derailing our efforts. We should strive to give direction, to communicate with confidence, clarity, and optimism. Staying focused on communication leaves little time to be distracted by thoughts and actions unbecoming a team. And if you are not maintaining your focus, the gnomes are always ready to help. Balance restored. D Cider is Bill’s first agility dog. His first AKC agility competition was in Savannah, Georgia, in November 2003. That weekend they earned three blue ribbons in four runs. They would have earned the fourth ribbon if he had been a seasoned, competent handler. The theme of human error holding down the “Q rate” has followed them closely since. In the years since their first agility trial, he has improved significantly as a handler, but hesitates to conjure the notion of being competent, let alone the notion of consistent. Cider has humored and humbled him along the way and still found room to bless him with Novice, Open, and Excellent titles. September 07 | Clean Run 59

Clean Run Magazine - September 2007

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run Magazine - September 2007