Last Saturday, I went to a half-day snooker seminar offered by my regular agility instructor. Debbie doesn't teach snooker in her regular class because most of her students don't do USDAA, the organization that offers the snooker game.
Debbie does play USDAA, and lately noticed that she has been seeing much harder Masters Snooker courses. If you can't get three 7's then you are out of luck for a placement, much less a Super Q. So she offered a Masters level snooker seminar for that small group of us that also play USDAA.
I of course wanted to do this seminar with Mimi but emailed Debbie and told her that I was going to bring Gracie too. Are you sure, she emailed back. The courses might be too far above her skill level right now. I replied, even if we only work on long lead outs and do a few obstacles, it will be a rewarding experience for her.
A brief, oversimplified note about the agility game of snooker: there are three or four jumps designated as "reds" that are assigned a point value of 1. Other obstacles are assigned point values of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. These can be "combos" like two jumps that must be taken in a specific order or orientation or a jump/tunnel combo, or like the example below, the 7 point obstacle which consists of two jumps and a set of 6 weaves. The basic idea of snooker is that you do a "red" obstacle, then a pointed obstacle, then a different red, then a pointed obstacle, then yet a different red, then a pointed obstacle. You can do each red only once. Once you complete all of the reds followed by successful completion of pointed obstacles (this part is called the opening), you can then run through the closing, which is obstacles 2 through 7 in that order. I won't go into all of the insane details about what happens when you make an error or what even constitutes an error in snooker. The goal is to get as many points as possible in the opening then complete as many obstacles as possible in the closing before you run out of time. If you are a snooker god, you will get (1 + 7) + (1 + 7) + (1 + 7) = 24 points in the opening then 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 = 27 points in the closing for a grand total of 51 points and do it all within the allotted time.
Snooker is a tough game and judges are certainly designing pretty nefarious courses at the Masters level. I scanned the map for the second course we ran in the seminar. This is an actual Masters Snooker course that Debbie ran a couple of weekends before that. Note that the three reds are arranged in a pinwheel in the northwest corner while the 7 obstacle, a jump-jump-weave combo, is arrayed along the south end. And further note that the start line is entirely behind the pinwheel of reds.
To get three 7s on this course, you have to run past all sorts of enticing things like tunnels! Other jumps! Oh my!
Now that was a pretty long way around to get to the point, which is that Gracie NAILED this course. She absolutely NAILED it. Got all three 7s and the complete closing in 46 seconds (Mimi did it in 41 seconds), which would have been a Q in competition. (I ran it the exact same way for both.) Gracie isn't yet doing upright weaves, so I placed a second set of 6 slanted weave poles below the regular set. So Gracie was actually doing a harder course than the other dogs because she had to run out farther for her baby weaves then back into the jumps for the rest of the 7.
About an hour into the seminar, Debbie said to me, you must get this dog into the ring as soon as possible!
So the good news? Gracie's first agility trial will be an AKC trial in Ft Worth in May. I emailed the trial secretary when I got home from the seminar and promptly entered Gracie in all of the same classes as Mimi. Now won't that be interesting?
But that leads to the bad news. Or not such great news.
I've been to a couple of agility trials with Mimi that I haven't mentioned here. She is doing just terrible, regressing back to doing just an obstacle or two if I'm lucky. Her stress level at trials is off the charts.
In fact, a couple of weekends ago I got up early on a Sunday morning to get ready to head to Austin for flyball practice. The gear and packing and routines are very similar for flyball and agility. Mimi saw me start this activity and began to tremble, just like she does at an agility trial. She followed me around, tail tucked, ears back, head down, just like she does when she goes into an agility ring. She was terrified that I was going to pack her into the car and head to an agility trial! I was so sad when I realized this.
I am at a loss at how to proceed with her. I can only expose her to show conditions at actual trials. I'm becoming very uncomfortable with the money I'm wasting on entries without even four obstacles in a row to show for it. It would be different if she was trying full courses and just not getting Qs but we don't even get that far. I'm also becoming very frustrated with her weird phobia--I don't know how to work past this.
My friend DSL in Virginia suggested that Gracie might be a secret weapon. It's true that Mimi is obsessed with trying to kill her sister. When I run Gracie in class, Mimi barks and thrashes in her crate, not at all happy with that situation. (For those of you who don't have snarky terriers, the barking and thrashing is the tip of the iceberg. Mimi really and truly does want to kill her sister and has tried to do so on numerous occasions. That's why they are always separated.)
DSL suggested I take Gracie to the next trial (which happens to be tomorrow) and play with her and give her vienna sausages and walk her around so that Mimi can see all of this. Perhaps Mimi will become so wound up and focused on her sister that she'll forget to become so FUCKING STRESSED that she can't even jump.
Yeah, it's a good plan but I don't hold much hope for success.
Still, I've got all of the gear packed up and plan to haul the sisters to Belton in the morning, about 2 1/2 hours drive south. Mimi will be in the Jumpers ring by 8:15 am or so and I need time to set up, so I'll be leaving the house at 4am in the morning. Not pretty but you do what you have to do.
If Mimi totally tanks tomorrow, I won't go back on Saturday (more wasted entry fees). But I will very much look forward to May when I can get Gracie into the ring.
2 comments:
I think I've heard you talk about Control Unleashed. Do you think that program might help Mimi forget about all the stuff that's worrying her, and be able to work in a stressful environment?
I've had the book for a couple of years, and just got the DVD. ONe of the dogs in the seminar featured on the DVD is very stressed and worried. I haven't gotten through the whole thing yet, cut it might apply.
Forrest's stress has always manifest itself in sniffing, and ultimately leaving the ring. He didn't have the shut down, freak outs.
The Control Unleashed stuff I did with him really helped a lot. He's still a turd at times, but he's soooo much better now, and actually half way to his MACH.
Man, I just don't know what else to tell you. I feel your pain though.
Good luck.
I've done quite a bit of the Control Unleashed program with Mimi. It is extremely effective.
Mimi's problem, as my friend said, is that she now has this freaky-deaky tape loop that automatically plays in her head when she is at a trial as a result of that horrible PA incident back in November.
I can use CU concepts at fun runs but not at real trials.
But...read tonight's post! Some very interesting developments that are EXACTLY what Control Unleashed is all about.
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