It was a great experience, we learned a lot and we were really challenged!
I've heard over and over how hard the courses are at her seminars, they're international style courses, which do not resemble AKC courses at all. They're very tight....no room to even move tight, with turns, turns and more turns. I wasn't too worried about running the courses correctly, typically my dogs can get through most courses (bars and contacts are the only issues), notice I said "get through", Silvia's focus is all about running the absolute tightest line possible, even dogs that I felt while watching did run tight, were wide by Silvia's standards. I mainly ran Abby......Abby runs wide by anyone's standards, so it was not easy for us. I'll admit I was feeling pretty frustrated. I wasn't sure if I was asking for more than Abby could give me. She can get frustrated and confused and I mentally lose the connection with her and I felt like this was happening. Boy was I surprised, her last run of day one, was actually quite good and both runs on the second day were an improvement on the first. She ended really well, and this left me wondering what Abby's really capable of?? I've fallen into a pattern and I've really become complacent in many areas, thinking the pugs just can't do certain things. I don't know that Abby could, jumping 12", but at 8" I think it's a very different game for her.
Indy had a working spot in the contacts seminar, and she did very well. Her first time over the dogwalk took me by surprise, she's inexperienced and wasn't too sure about their dogwalk and was really slow and careful, but after that she did very well. Getting faster with each run. She made every contact, even when I pulled sharply to the right to get the far side of the tunnel, and Silvia thought she shouldn't have any problems and really understands the behavior. what a relief, it's a great feeling when you spend 7 months running on a plank that you accomplished what you were looking for! Indy's worked a little bit on a low A frame, Silvia wants me to over about 3 sessions move it up to full height.
The tricks seminar was fantastic, Indy did great. She consistently worked for a long, long time with a lot of distractions. We got some great tips for improving and building on what we have, and some ideas for new things to work on.
I'll write some more specifics later from my notes on the seminar.
I would definitely recommend going to her seminars if given the chance, just be ready for a challenge.
2 comments:
It sounds like a great seminar - it was also discussed a ton over at Team Small dog. I really want to do this one someday! I'm off to Ann Braue again in January. I think I might even run Aoife since I learn a ton more when I work with her since she is so much more challenging.
Can't wait to hear more. One day I'll get into agility.
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