by Doranna
For starters, an update on Miss Belle–she’s doing well on her bucket list, and has regained some weight and energy on the new feeding protocol. She’s having some good days, and we’re grateful. It doesn’t seem as though it’ll be too much longer.
The Dartspression at the end of a training sequence, where there will be COOKIES forthcoming. Or a TOY. You just never know, do you?
Days of Dart should pretty much be called Month of Dart. The World of Dart. The intensive all-consuming “HOW many events in a row?” weekends of Dart. And the preparation for same.
With Connery on rehab, Dart has a spotlight on the training and trialing stage. Not to mention he’s in a pretty intensive proofing/generalizing stage beyond what my previous dogs have asked for.
So he’s going to handling class, tootling around in the car to work in a variety of parking lots, biking with Connery for Connery’s rehab, had a big playdate, and this month has one weekend after another of events–agility trials, a seminar, obedience trial…
This means I have one weekend after another of same.
So with any luck, the blog will be full of doggie pictures and doggie fun, and maybe even a couple of doggie surprises.
(Even though, I should probably add, I have a book coming out in just over a month. This is it. Here. TAMING THE DEMON. That one. There. And if you have a review blog or active, widespread review habits and are interested, I’ll be glad to send out a copy while they last.)
Our most recent outing was to partake of a Gerry Brown seminar–Dart’s very first such thing—which was awesome and gave us some tools I think will be critical to helping Dart’s confidence on course. Piccies currently in development! Meanwhile, here’s a bit of Dart from the latest agility trial–a twisty little course on which he never did give me full speed, but he did manage to stay on that tricky course after an *ahem* rocky start line. Go, Dart!
Did you have Dart in mind when you titled your last book “Taming The Demon”? Maybe subconciously?
Bwah ha ha!! That’s too funny!
This book was actually written and delivered quite a few years ago, and got caught up in editorial transitions…so I not only didn’t yet have Dart, but I originally titled it Demon Blade (for the series). That wasn’t “sexy” enough, though, so…TAMING THE DEMON it is!
I know Dart is following you, but how do you keep track of which way to go? What a maze!
And my best wishes for Miss Belle.
We have a course map to glare at for some amount of time, depending on the exact scheduling of the trial. Then we have eight minutes to walk the course ahead of time, which is critical because many of us use body memory *raises hand* to navigate, and it takes time to set that. And also because the course is generally just a little bit different from the map, so looking at one you might think, “Front cross, for sure” and then while walking, “Yeah, no way! Think of something else!”
And sometimes we, um…get lost…in the heat of things…
Definitely starring Dart Brain…that may be why he wasn’t at full supersonic-dartspeed. A couple of those crosses looked really tricky (more may have been tricky, but I’m seeing the video in a small size.)
Oh, the whole course was tricky, from the rear cross behind a spread jump to a 180 to the next jump that had to be lined up for the correct tunnel that shot the dog out into open space with the weaves off to the side to the angle of the two jumps leading out from the weaves that prevented a decent cross of any sort to the third jump out (front cross shaped a path to the wrong next jump, rear cross couldn’t be done at the best angle), then another tricksie rear, then a big strong swoop of run to get the dog moving really fast before running into that slice and tight wrap, the best angle of which set up a really misleading path across the following jump…
I would have run this particular course a lot better *after* the seminar, I think! ;> All the same choices, but with certain refinements…
Yay for Dart’s Brain!
What I want to know is… even given a map to study, how in the world does Doranna’s brain keep track of where to go next on a course like that?
Sending good thoughts to Miss Belle.
Is this a sequel to “Demon Touch?”
Not a direct sequel, but related. 8)
Marilyn, sometimes I don’t… So sad!
Seriously, though, I need to walk it enough times to get the necessary body memory. I have a very experiential learning process. I do a lot of “shadow walking” outside the course itself, while I’m getting the basic handling paths laid in my head before the walk-through, and the afterward, once the detailed handling decisions are made…