Backing Up is Hard to Do!

So what happens when you make a mistake and scare the C$@& out of your soft little dog? You get to start all over again is what!  A couple of weeks ago I was working with Sassy Girl at a venue that has some pretty slippery floors.  I was a little caught up in how well she was working and decided to set up the jumps and have her do a retrieve on the flat. I totally intended to use the jumps only as a picture and only do the retrieve on the flat. But I got carried away and sent her over the high jump. Well silly me, I forgot about the slippery flooring, sent my soft little girl over the jump after her dumbell. And brave little soul that she is, she actually attempted the jump. Of course she couldn't stop in time to collect herself and ended up crashing into the jump.That was my Big mistake #1.Then on top of it all, instead of lowering the bar and asking her to at least walk over the jump I just packed them up and used words to comfort my little girl. Big mistake #2. Now I have a soft little dog with a huge heart that has had her confidence absolutely shattered concerning the jumps, that she really really likes to do. So here we are all the way back at the beginning, showing her she can jump and not be afraid.

We started with some cavalettis in front of the jump and me running beside her encouraging her to jump, jump, jump those little bars and then over the lowered high jump at the end. This really helped with her stuttering in front of the jump. She didn't have time to think about the jump coming up only that there it was and over she went. So we did some work with this for a couple of sessions, her confidence was starting to come back. We made a game of who could get over the jump first. I called Ready, Steady let's go Over and she really got into that. Fun versus fear won out in that game.

So on Friday we went to Nanaimo for a fun match. We warmed up in the Novice ring with some nice heeling, beautiful figure of 8, a very nice stand for exam, and an enthusiastic recall. Sits and downs were a breeze. She is so ready to trial at this level. Then we had a go at the Open ring. With nice off leash heeling, a sit on the drop on recall along with a very confused look at me (apparently my down didn't sound like it usually does), and a very enthusiastic retrieve on the flat. Then we played with the high jump, did a couple of run by, ready, steady Over games and then the actual retrieve with excellent results. We did the same with the broad jump. In the end she did very well, I was so proud of her. She has truly grown up alot this past year and is proving she can bounce back from my mistakes and still have fun.

Good Girl, Exercise Done!