Long Overdue Update!

Blog, blog ..... how long it has been!

I never meant to let this slip away, but in the rush and busy-ness of life, it did.  Somehow it has been almost a year and a half since I last wrote a blog post!

Life with the dogs has been moving along.

Dean is still with us, and he is now going on 13 in February!  Last winter he suffered an injury to one of his back hocks.  By summer he was doing better, but I was concerned about him.  I honestly did not think he was going to last the summer, but he rallied, and now he is doing very well.

I know that our weekly summer Parkour outings made a big difference for him!

He can no longer jump up to pluck frisbees out of the air, but every day we take him out side and roll these plastic rings on the ground for him to chase and retrieve.  He absolutely loves it!  So, Dean still runs every day.

Next, Miss Tessa!  She is doing well.  Tessa is also starting to show her age - she is "about 10" now.  But, she seems to feel pretty good, and she is still quite active.

Recently Tessa and I completed her second Grand Champion title in All Dogs Parkour, and we are now working in the Premier Division.  I hope to earn a Premier Grand Champion title with her.  We currently have 13 entries to go for that.

Ever since we finished our Grand Champion 2 title, I have been seeking out new locations to go film with Tessa for Premier, and we have really enjoyed going out to some new locations.

In addition, I have kind of started moving "beyond" just going out to film titling entries.  When we are out and about filming our entries, I often have Tessa perform Interactions, or train, on Environmental Features that actually do not meet submission criteria, just for the fun of it.  Sometimes I have her run over bridges, for instance.  Then, after creating our submission video, I make an informal "Parkour Excursions" video to document and share some of the fun that we had while creating our entry.  These videos contain a mixture of submission clips and clips that would not be submitted, and I set the whole thing to music.

Here is an example of one of these.  This is our Canine Parkour Excursions video from our filming at the White Oak Trail in Kings Gap several weeks ago:

Tessa is also still running Agility, although we are not as involved with it as we were when we were running for our C-ATCH.  We go to class weekly, and we do go to a trial every now and then.

Bandit, going on 5 in February, is in the prime of life.  He is a happy, active dog, and I could not love him more!

He loves Agility.  We are not super serious about it, but we go to class weekly, and very occasionally I trial with him.  He also enjoys Musical Freestyle, and I hope to have more Freestyle video to share of him in the near future!

Bandit and I have not been as involved with Parkour as I would like, mainly because I have been focused on my two older dogs with that.  But, he did earn his All Dogs Parkour Champion Title over the summer, and occasionally we get out to film.

Finally, Rocky, our little Beagle Terrier, also in his prime at about 4 years old!!  I do not do a whole lot with Rocky, although I do train a bit of Freestyle and Parkour with him from time to time.  Ben still takes him to Rally and Agility classes when his work schedule allows for it.  Rocky adores training, and it is something that I hope to get into with him more in the future.

Now that I have given a general update of everyone, maybe I will get back to writing a blog post every now and again!  It is good to be back, and I hope to stay!

Joy Rediscovered

Ever since we moved to this area in 2003, hiking with dogs has been a favorite activity of mine.  Sometimes Ben and I would take Sammie, Speedy, and Maddie to Colonel Denning State Park and hike the Nature Trail with them.  Maddie and Sammie would actually cross over the creek on large fallen logs, and we used to enjoy calling them back and forth over those logs!

Speedy and Maddie in the woods near Currituck Beach Lighthouse in North Carolina

Speedy always seemed happiest in natural spaces, especially the woods.  Whether we were at one of our nearby State Parks, or at the Ecological Preserve down the shore, or at Glen Highland Farm, he seemed the most confident, the most whole, and the most at peace in wooded areas.

 One of my favorite pictures of Speedy enjoying the Nature Trail at Colonel Denning!

Speedy and Dean Dog eager to get into the woods at Glen Highland Farm!

And when Tessa came along, I found the same thing about her!  The first couple of times I hiked with Tessa, I was amazed with the joy and wonder in her eyes as she would gaze away from the trail into the trees around her.

As Speedy got older, and I became very interested in giving Tessa good quality exercise as my Agility partner, I began to take most hikes with Speedy and Tessa.  I called this little group "The Walking Club".  Sometimes we included Dean, but most often it was just the three of us together.

We went many different places together, but most often we hiked on the Nature Trail at Colonel Denning, the Pine Plantation Trail at Kings Gap, and, on our favorite trail of all - the Watershed Trail at Kings Gap.


All of this changed when we lost Speedy.

When spring of 2014 came and Tessa and I set out to enjoy our favorite trails, the experience felt like I had a deflated balloon inside.

Tessa and I did continue to take our favorite hikes, and I always enjoy them to some extent, but without the other member of our "walking club", the experience was always lacking something that I had loved.

"The Walking Club" - Speedy and Tessa

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This is another of my favorite places to hike - the Nature Trail at Colonel Denning

I hoped that including puppy Bandit in our "Walking Club" would restore some of the joy that had been lost, but that did not happen.  As a baby dog, Bandit was not really ready to be a hiking partner.  And, Tessa did not really seem to enjoy Bandit's company on these walks.

We still went out and about from time to time, but I found that my interest in hiking with dogs seriously waned.
 
That was, until last summer, when everything changed.

Of course, last summer we began our involvement in Canine Parkour.

I distinctly remember the first time I packed up my camera and tripod and a bag of chicken, and set off into the woods to film Parkour Interactions with Tessa.
 
To my great surprise, I found that going out into the woods with Tessa felt right again.  Once again, the Watershed trail was beautiful, and Tessa and I were walking along with a shared sense of adventure and purpose.

Stopping to have her interact with various objects was different, and Tessa did seem a little confused at first, but she got right into the new game, and she and I have never looked back!


This is the very first Parkour Interaction that Tessa and I ever filmed together!

When Tessa and I started going around filming our Parkour entries together, I found, very much to my surprise, that the distinct feeling of something being missing vanished.

Not that I forgot about Speedy!  I always think of him when Tessa an I are out on a trail together.  But somehow it was almost like his heart and his spirit were again with us.

 Tessa and I had no idea how important these bridges would become for us someday!

Lately Tessa and I have been working hard on the Grand Champion track in All Dogs Parkour and we are currently in Level 4 (out of 5).  This has been a worthy challenge for us!  Some of the skills that Tessa has needed to master to be able to Q at this level on this track have not come easy to her!

I actually did not plan this deliberately, but the location where we filmed our third submission toward our Level 4 Grand Champion title turned out to be . . . . the Watershed Trail!

And what a cool adventure it turned out to be for us!

I took Tessa to the Watershed Trail back in March to do some filming for an online Parkour class that I have been teaching.  I found that after a long winter of low activity, we were both completely out of shape and out of practice!

We managed to get a couple of Interactions filmed, including a sequence that was really cool, but that it turned out that I could not use in our submission.

I decided after that to put filming at the Watershed Trail on hold, and we filmed at Willow Mill Park instead.  That turned out to be something of a difficult entry to film.  At Level 4 Grand Champion, we needed to include four different Advanced Interactions, and a 5 Interaction Sequence!  Tessa struggled a bit with the Sequence, and we needed to visit the park several times over the course of about a month before we were able to complete our submission.

However, we did get it done, and it was a Q!!  One down!


Our Submission for Leg #1 of Level 4 Grand Champion at Willow Mill Park


I considered going back to the Watershed Trail at that point, but I happened upon another location with Bandit - the White Oaks Trail - and I decided to film there with Tessa instead.

That entry turned out to be very straightforward to film, and Tessa and I managed to complete the whole thing in just two visits to the location!  We even took a bit of a side trip over to the Watershed Trail, which is nearby, on one of those occasions, and we filmed a couple more Interactions there!

The White Oak Trail entry was a Q, as well - two legs down!


Our Submission for Leg #2 toward Level 4 Grand Champion on the White Oaks Trail


After we finished our second submission at this level, I decided to finish our Watershed Trail entry.  By this time, summer break had begun and I had plenty of extra time to get there with Tessa to film.

But that did not make it simple . . . !

Tessa and I set out on an overcast day and I had the goal of walking the entire Watershed Trail loop - which is about 2 miles total - as we filmed some Interactions!

It started out as a beautiful day, and it was a lovely hike ... at first!

Cooling off in the creek in between hiking/filming

With about 1/4 of our hike left, it started to rain!  It was a light rain, but Tessa was none too pleased!  She started making a beeline toward the car, making exactly the right turn at each place where the trail split!!

By this point we had filmed almost all of the Regular Level Interactions that we needed, but we still had to film our four Advanced Exercises and the Sequence, which were the most difficult components of the entry!!

Since one of the Advanced Exercises that I had planned was Advanced Novel Uses, which consists of seven Interactions in and of itself, I decided to break those up and visit the location at least two more times.

And so, on another overcast day, Tessa and I returned to the trail.  I hoped to film Trick on a Platform Small, the Sequence, and possibly a couple of Interactions or Advanced Novel Uses.

We did get the first Interaction filmed (although I ended up re-doing it), but as we moved toward the area where I planned to try a sequence, there was a sudden clap of thunder!  I didn't even know there was thunder in the forecast!  Fortunately, we were not very far from the car, so we headed right home!

At this point, filming at this location was starting to feel a little . . . . drawn out!  Granted, I love the location, and I was enjoying our frequent trips there.  And I was very pleased that Tessa wholeheartedly approved of these ventures.  But I was starting to feel like we were stalling out!

On our next visit, just a couple of days after our session got cut short by thunder, we finally had a "break through" filming session!

We re-did the Trick on a Platform video, and the sequence turned out to be very straightforward to take care of.  Then we went and filmed seven Interactions for Advanced Novel Uses before Tessa started getting kind of tired.  We also had a bit of run-in with a bee while we were filming Novel Uses!  Tessa did not get stung, but the bee brushed against her side and it took a while before she was convinced that it was really gone!

So, now we were down to needing just two more Interactions - Go Around Distance and Get on Send.  And we finished those off today!  To celebrate, we filmed one more Interaction where Tessa and I sloshed into the creek together!  After all, it is the Watershed Trail!

In the end, getting this entry finished felt absolutely wonderful!  It had taken quite a bit of time, and we did a lot of walking and filming, but in the end I find that it is intensely satisfying to finish up an entry that we needed to put so much of ourselves into.

And this one is for you, Mr. Speedy!  Just as you always put your whole heart into everything you did, Tessa and I put our hearts into filming every bit of this entry!  In some mysterious way you are always with us out there.


Our Submission for Level 4 Grand Champion - Leg #3 - Watershed Trail


Now, on to Level 5.  This will be one of the most difficult challenges that Tessa and I have ever taken on together.

And I know we will love every minute of it!

Verbal Cues

Six months ago I made a decision to stop all work on verbal cues with Bandit, and focus on attitude, focus, and bringing enjoyment into our training together, especially our Freestyle training. 

That was one of the best decisions that I have ever made!  Since that time Bandit and I have truly started to know one another as training partners.  Our communication has improved, and our enjoyment of training has skyrocketed right through the roof!

And now we are at a point, with certain behaviors, where we are ready to start working on putting some of his trained behaviors on verbal cue.

I think that some people got the impression, when I made the decision to put all verbal cue training on a six month "hold", that I am against the training and use of verbal cues.

That, actually, is not the case.  With some dogs, in certain contexts, there is a time and a place for the use of well-trained verbal cues.  In addition, there are dogs who respond very well to verbal cues - with clear understanding and enthusiasm.  For those dogs, the use of verbal cues is perfectly appropriate.

What I am against (for myself) is approaching the discipline of Canine Musical Freestyle as an exercise in the performance of trained behaviors on verbal cues to music.  When one of my dogs and I perform a Freestyle routine, we are creating art together.  Freestyle is a form of expression - of who the dog is, of our bond, and of the joy that we find in the performance.  It is not a display of verbal cues.

That said, again, there is certainly a time and a place for verbal cues.

Since I do not want to fall into the same mistakes that I made, both with Tessa and Bandit, when I tried to train verbal cues in the past, I have come up with a detailed plan for our work with verbal cues.

Kristine and Bandit's Verbal Cue Training Plan

1. I will not take on a "stiff" demeanor because we are working on verbal cues.

I will strive to always keep my body language "loose" and natural.

2.  I will ensure that each behavior that is to be put on verbal cue is being performed consistently with strength, understanding, confidence, and joy on physical cue before making any attempt to put that behavior on verbal cue.

3. When working on verbal cue training, I will approach it as a game.  The introduction of the verbal cue is simply a new twist to the game.

4. When first working on verbal cues, I will reinforce all attempts on the part of the dog to avoid deflating Bandit.  Incorrect attempts will be reinforced with a treat of lower value, or with just one treat.  Correct attempts will be reinforced with a very high value reinforcer, or with a mini-jackpot.

5.  I will use verbal cues that Bandit already knows to work on the concept of listening for cues:  Whiplash Turns, Releases to Hand Touch on verbal, Releases to Leg Weaves on verbal, Spins and Twirls in center position, and Splat Downs.

6.  When putting a verbal cue on a new behavior, I will use a "food anchor" to help Bandit first listen, and then respond.  In addition, I will support his movements and choices with my eyes.

7.  Once Bandit begins to respond correctly and consistently to new verbal cues, I will have him practice by working on opposite behaviors in the same training session, and we will play "find the cue".

8.  Once Bandit knows a small selection of Freestyle behaviors on verbal cue, and he is performing those behaviors consistently, and with understanding and joy, we will introduce verbal cues into simple movement phrases.  I will remember to keep my arms and body language "loose" and natural.  No stiffness!

9.  I will remember though all of this that verbal cues are a tool.  They can be used selectively to enhance our dances.  We are not showcasing verbal cues - we are showcasing Bandit and our dance.

I am not striving for Bandit to "do everything on verbal", but to be ambidextrous - equally able to perform behaviors on obvious and supporting physical cues, and on prudently chosen verbal cues.

I will remember this!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I am excited about this because I believe that Bandit and I are really ready to take this challenge on at this stage of our work together.

It will be an adventure, not an obligation.  Perfect!

Introducing Rocky

We have a new dog!  Well, as of this past New Years Eve we have had him.  I have only just now gotten around to updating this blog since then!

My husband and I had been talking about adding a fourth dog for quite a while.  We had gone back and forth and back and forth, and had actually decided not to add a new dog at this time.  Of course, we were thinking about a Border Collie, or Border Collie mix, and were planning to adopt through rescue.

On New Years Eve, I was driving us home from church, and Ben suddenly said, "Look out - there's a dog!"  I didn't even see him at first, but then there he was - a small dog meandering up the road, in my lane.  Of course, there was a car coming in the other direction, but that person got over enough for me to just manage to squeeze by the dog.

At that point, the dog ran off the road into someone's yard.

We stopped, hoping that we would be able to catch the dog, and that he would have ID.  He was super easy to catch.  We called to him and he stopped and let us approach.  Just to be safe, we looped Ben's belt around the dog's collar and led him to the car, and he got right in.

At first we were very happy - he had a tag.  And then . . . it turned out to be a rabies tag.  That was it.  No ID.  No address.  No way to figure out where he belonged.

It wasn't terribly late, but it was dark and nobody was around outside in the area.

So, we took him home, knowing that we would probably have to hold him until Monday, when we could call the vets office to see if they could hook us up with his owner.

We could tell that he was a little Beagle mix of some sort, and he seemed to be young.  Not a baby puppy - we guessed about one or two years old.

We got him home and put him in a crate with some food and water, and put the ex-pen around it to keep our dogs back away from him.

He stunk to high heaven.  It wasn't a horrible smell -  he smelled like a farm.  But in the house it was strong, so we ended up giving him a bath, which was no problem.

By this time we could tell he was friendly, and pretty compliant.  He didn't try to bite, or fight us in any way.  I am not sure that he had ever been in a crate in his life, but he put up with sitting in there, near the space heater, while he dried off.

The boys seemed curious about him, and Tessa acted like she would like to get in there to bite his head off!!  Tessa has never taken well to new dogs coming into our house.

Ben really took to him.  Before long, Ben was carrying him around, and holding him, and taking him out when he needed to go.  By the time Monday rolled around, the little dog - who was completely nameless to us at that point - was like "Ben's little dog"!!

I had a Freestyle practice at the training building on that Monday morning.  I planned to call the vets office and see if I could get the owners info.  I told Ben that I would give his number to the owner and have them call him to make arrangements to get him back.

I did call the vets office, and they told me that they would get in touch with the owners and have them call me.  Several minutes later, I got a phone call.  The woman on the other end said, "I hear you have our dog!" 

Since I was on my way to the building, I gave her Ben's number so she could work out the dog's return with him directly.

When I got home, I was in for a surprise.  Ben had spoken with the woman's husband and he had asked if we wanted to keep him!

We talked about it, very briefly.  We knew right away that we did want to keep him.  We called them back and made arrangements to buy him for a very reasonable fee, mostly to make it official. 

It turns out that he is a mix between a Beagle and a Smooth Fox Terrier.  He is about two years old.  He ran loose on their farm and slept in a shed on the property.  He is very friendly and loves children.  And his name was Buddy.

The owners were having a difficult time keeping Buddy from running off.  They tried tethering him, but he did not like it (knowing him now, I am sure he screamed bloody murder on a tether!), so they continued to allow him to run free.  They were concerned that he would eventually get hit by a car, which, of course, is what almost happened!

And so, we now have a "Beagle Terrier"!  He has presented his share of challenges, but we really do love the little stinker! 

How could anyone not love this face?

We changed his name to "Rocket", but soon changed that to "Rocky"

This is very typical Rocky!!

He is, especially, Ben's dog!

Parkour Champion!!!

Yesterday Tessa earned her All Dogs Parkour Championship title!  Tessa is a Parkour Champion!

I am particularly excited about this because I really do love the mutually satisfying experiences that Tessa and I have had creating our Parkour entries for this venue.

We started out titling with the International Dog Parkour Association (IDPKA), and we had fun doing that.  Tessa and I explored the Parkour behaviors for that title in that venue, and we made videos of Tessa carrying out those behaviors - some on training equipment in the house, and others outside.  For IDPKA, the behaviors do not need to be filmed in a single location, so our final submission was a combination of videos from different places.

Tessa and I created a nice entry and we earned our Novice title, and that was very satisfying.

I considered going on to the Intermediate level with her, but I did not feel that some of the requirements were appropriate for Tessa, and so I decided not to.

And that is when we got into All Dogs Parkour.

At first I did not like the requirement that all of the behaviors would have to be carried out in one single location.  The first few times I filmed, I had to work very hard at coming up with 12 behaviors (although some could be repeats) on the EF's (Environmental Features) that Tessa would find in one single location.

However, as we progressed through the levels, I began to find that going to a single location, which can cover quite a lot of ground in some cases, was precisely the aspect of All Dogs Parkour that I enjoyed the most!

I also came to appreciate the fact that we could choose the Parkour behaviors that we wanted to do for each entry.  I never had to ask Tessa to do something that I felt wasn't quite right for her.

I found that I loved packing Tessa up to set off for different places, and then Tessa and I would get there and we would explore together.  She would sniff as I looked around for EF's that we could use.  Then we would try different Parkour behaviors out with what we found.  Then we would film.

Sometimes our filming attempts completely failed.  Sometimes it became clear that Tessa did not want to interact with a particular EF.  At other times, she rocked the exercises with enthusiasm and style.

I learned that it is OK to go back to film at a location twice.  I learned to film extra behaviors, especially when Tessa was in a focused and happy frame of mind, in case something didn't end up working on the video.

And after all that, I had the pleasure of cutting down our video clips, putting them together, labeling them, and submitting them.

I found that this whole process of choosing a location, searching out EF's to use, trial and error and filming, and then putting it all together is like creating an art project with Tessa!  And there is nothing that I love better than creating art with my dog!

I loved everything about this.  And - even more important - Tessa thoroughly enjoyed it.

Tessa has always been a team player.  Her love for engaging with me and accomplishing something with me as a team really shines forth in her Parkour.  And, we get to do all this, as much as we want, out in the woods where she and I have always loved to go!

Last week we filmed one of my favorite entries of all that we have done.  We went up to the top of the mountain in Kings Gap State Park to film in the area of the mansion that is up there.  Tessa absolutely loved working up there, and there were many great EF's.  On top of that, the setting was beautiful!  I enjoyed adding in bits of beauty to our film clips - the mansion, the view in the distance, a quaint light post, pumpkins, fall leaves . . . . this video really is beautiful!

I entered this as our final leg for Level 5:



As we go on to start to work toward our Grand Championship, I want to go back up the mountain to film there again!  We are allowed to re-use locations the second time around, and I plan to re-use most of ours.

We won't have the gorgeous fall background next time, but it will be fun to go and film there in another season.

After we filmed the mansion entry, we needed to do just one more.  I was completely at a loss for a last location.  On top of that, the time change had occurred, and I would not be able to go very far from home and have daylight to film in with her after school.

On a whim, I thought of the trailhead for our local rail trail right in town.  I live about 7 minutes from there, so we went to check it out.

It was a perfect location!

We had to go twice because the camera battery died on the first day that we filmed.  But I was glad for that.  On the first day we shot the Advanced Novel Uses (at the end of the clip), and that is almost an entry's worth of work unto itself with 7 behaviors!

The next day we went back and finished it up.

We both liked this location.  Tessa was a little leary of the people in the area at times, but she didn't mind them very much, and they always moved on pretty quickly.

My favorite clip in this video is her "Get Inside" in the planter.  She just got a kick out of jumping into that thing.

Here is our video for this entry:



I submitted those two videos together and yesterday we got results!  Both Q's, and we earned our Level 5 Title and our Championship!!!

Go Tessa!!!  Parkour Champion!!!!

On we go!  Weather permitting . . . we are having way too much fun at this!

Rambling Thoughts on Creativity

"You're so creative".  I hear this a lot.  Especially in the context of Musical Freestyle.

 

I don't think I am, though.  Sure, I can come up with ideas, but most of the time I don't take that all-important step of carrying them out.

 

And then a lot of times I feel like I'm just stuck doing the same things over and over.  Like I haven't come up with an original idea in years . . .

 

I WAS creative once upon a time . . .

Back when I did Freestyle with Speedy, I was always coming up with ideas - and we carried some of them out.

We danced to "Here Comes the Sun" and I made him a sunbeam collar and I designed the choreography to fit the music.  We danced to "Reunion" and we made it very flowy and elegant.  We danced to "Waltz from Maskarade" and our movement together was truly a dance.

And even with Dean I came up with some original ideas and we performed routines that were truly ours, as a team.

 

But when I go to choreograph, or design, a Freestyle routine now, I get stuck in putting together the same movement patterns I've been using with my dogs for years!  I just feel like I'm in this enormous rut!

 

Freestyle is a sport that requires coming up with ideas.  It's not like I can get what I need from someone else.  And, really, I want my ideas to be my own.  Sure I get inspiration at times from watching others - sometimes I see a move or a movement phrase that I want to try with my dog.  But that's not creativity unless I take it and do something with it that makes it belong to my dog and myself.

Also, I'm not like other Freestylers.  I know that turns some people off, but I have never been one to go along with the crowd.  I don't march to the beat of my own drummer - a lot of times I am turning handsprings to the beat of my own marching band playing music that nobody has ever even heard before.  That was true for me in grade school, in High School, and it's true now.

 

So, my routines tend to be outside the box.  The problem is that they have gotten stuck inside my own box.  I want them to be free . . . !!!

When Speedy and I did this, we did it to suit ourselves.  And now Bandit is leading me down that path again, but in a different direction altogether.

 

The problem with being different from everyone else is that it is easy to stagnate.  It is easy to fall into a pattern and circle there endlessly.  And then that gets old and tired and I feel like I want to go a different way, but I have no idea which way to go.  Part of me might want to go where everyone else is going, but somehow that just doesn't work for me.  I've tried it and crashed and burned.  So, if I'm not following the crowd, what do I do?

The only thing that has ever worked for me is to let my dog lead the way.  Whatever success I have had in the dog sport world I have had at the times when I have listened to my dog.  I can trust Bandit to help me figure this out.

 

That said . . . where is Bandit leading?  That's what we have to work together to find out.

 

Right now I strongly feel that exploring creativity is the next step for us.  How do I find our style as a team?  Only by trying stuff.  Thus far with Bandit I have pretty much done what I have always done.

What is the starting point for something new?  I don't even know.  That is where I am just stalled out right now.  I know that creativity is the answer . . . I'm just not quite sure how to go about becoming more creative.

 

But I need to think about it, and I need to figure this out.  Bandit and I can't go forward unless we find a direction and head out together.

Hopefully someday I will post a follow-up to this where I say what the resolution was . . .

Where do we go from here?

The Fruits of Good Changes

It has been just a little over a month since I made the post entitled "Thoughts on Freestyle".

Since that time, Bandit and I have adopted a completely new approach to our Freestyle training.  I barely work on verbal cues with him, other than to keep the training that he has on verbal cues fresh.  I have not been focused on precision or training anything "flashy".

And, again, it is not because I consider those to be "bad" things in some way.  Having a heavy focus on those elements of the discipline of Canine Musical Freestyle is just not right for Bandit and me at this point.

I have focused, instead, on engagement, joy, and enthusiasm.  I have focused on what I need to do, as a handler, to help Bandit be a confident and competent performer.  We have worked on honing the skills that have already been trained.  We have worked on flow and on chaining skills together.  We have spent time moving together, and we have worked on changing up reinforcement patterns.

And yesterday all of this paid off big!  I know that we are definitely on the right path together right now.

Several months ago I entered Bandit in the WCFO Freestyle competition, "Barkaritaville".  When I entered him, I was honestly not sure if he would truly be ready, but I entered because I knew that it was time to turn up the volume on our preparation and that the only way that I would be really motivated to do that would be to enter an actual event.

That was a very good thing to do.  I did focus - at least for a time - on stepping up our training and preparation.  Recently I got a bit sidetracked by the See-Saw class, but that turned out to be a very good thing in the end.

Bandit chose music a few months ago.  At first, I planned a routine and we started to practice it.  But . . . it didn't exactly . . . . click.  When we would doodle to the music together, Bandit was brilliant - focused, willing to try different things, engaged, and happy.  But when I tried to have him do choreographed sequences, his performance became somewhat flat.

I was honestly not quite sure what to do about the situation - we had a competition coming up, and I had no routine with an extremely green dog!  This called for action, but I took none whatsoever!

Instead, I just focused on doing what he and I had been doing.  We went to Rally class, and we worked on him doing the Rally exercises with less, and varied, reinforcement.  We went to Rally FrEe class and focused on enjoyment and varied reinforcement.  We went to Agility and focused on staying connected, engagement, and enjoyment.  And at home we just trained whatever I felt like training.

And all of this was very, very good.

But it didn't seem that any of it was preparing us for our first actual Freestyle event.

As the event got closer, I considered dropping out - or, at least, changing our entry to Innovations.  But, that idea did not really resonate with me.

And so, yesterday morning I found myself driving in the car with Bandit to Barkaritaville.  I had music burned onto CD, an outfit that I could wear that was nothing special, but halfway decent, and Bandit . . . and we went!

I was not excited, although I was not exactly dreading the event, either.  Really, I felt quite indifferent about the whole thing.  I really love this particular Freestyle event and I was looking forward to being there, but Bandit was such an unknown in competition, that the net result of my personal emotions was pretty much . . . nothing.

In retrospect, I think that was actually a good thing.  Too many emotions on my part - even happy excitement - might have confused Bandit.  From his perspective, I was acting normal.  The same way I would on the way to a training class, or if he and I were just out for a ride in the car.  For a  young green dog, the less that is "out of the ordinary" on a competition day, the better!!

That said, I knew I had to resolve the problem that I found myself in before we actually arrived at the event.

So, I thought about it.  And I thought hard.

I knew that I could not be thinking about qualifying.  I had to put that out of my mind altogether.  And I knew that a focus on "just having fun" was not going to get me anywhere with a dog this green with no choreographed routine and no reinforcers in the ring.  I needed some objective in going into a situation like this, so I can be supportive of my dog.

So, I gave the matter due consideration . . . . 

I accepted the fact that we were not really ready, and I put aside any ideas of actually putting together any kind of routine at the last second.

I considered what we could do out there.

First, I could be very aware of asking Bandit only for behaviors and moves that I knew were rock solid for him:  Moving in heel, side, or center, twirls and spins, switches, leg weaves, clockwise circles around me, sit and give paw, and maybe backing away from me in center as I move toward him.

There are a good many movement sequences that I have choreographed from other routines that are sequences that I tend to use quite a lot: such as me moving backwards diagonally across the ring, with the dog moving toward me in center, and pausing to ask for spins or twirls or weaves along the way.  And Bandit is familiar with those because we often do them in training. So, I knew I could go ahead and see what he could do with some of those.

But it was more than that.  I made a decision not to be outcome-focused, but to really keep my attention on helping Bandit to be relaxed and enthusiastic.  If that meant using hand signals, I would use them.  If that meant doing quite a lot of movement and few stationary moves, I would do that.  I decided not to care if he missed moves, and if he refused to do something, we would just move along and I would not ask for that move again.

I decided to do everything I could to give Bandit a chance to explore this Freestyle world, to the greatest extent possible, on his own terms.

And, if I saw him become stressed or shut down in the right, I would thank the judge and we would leave the ring.  That was not what I was hoping for, of course, but I prepared myself mentally for that possibility and accepted it.

And then it hit me out of nowhere:  this competition could be an experience that would prepare Bandit and I for our future in Freestyle performance!

Today might not be about striving for a Q, but today could be about setting a foundation of joy and good partnership in the competition ring, and that could set us up for our future.

And it occurred to me that it is truly a precious gift to have the opportunity to prepare for our future!

And, mentally, I was on board with that.

I also made a mental resolution to let the past be in the past for this one day.  I said to Bandit out loud, "Today this is all yours - today this is for you!"

I was in a pretty good frame of mind when we arrived at the competition site.  Still somewhat indifferent to the whole thing, but feeling cheerful and at peace with the whole situation.

I unloaded our stuff, and set up Bandit's crate space.  Then I walked him a bit and brought him in.  Bandit just sparkled with joy when I brought him into the building.  He has been there before - twice - to do Innovations.  But this was the first time that he and I had gone to any kind of competition completely by ourselves, without at least one other dog.

I took him out in the ring with a toy and we played.  He was very focused on me, and he was clearly thrilled to be in the ring.  It was obvious that he definitely had some idea of what we were there to do, and he was excited.

Thankfully, our turn was very early - we were the 5th team to perform.

I warmed him up in the warm up area, and then we went in for our sound check.  I did take his tug toy in with him for sound check, and I think that was a very good decision.  It got him into a really great frame of mind.

In we went for the real thing and, honestly, I don't think it could have been a more perfect first-competition experience.

I was not at all nervous or stressed.  Bandit was in a great frame of mind - engaged, eager to do whatever I asked.  I never lost his focus once - not one sniff!  And he did absolutely everything I cued him to do!  He twirled and circled and weaved and moved and sat and gave paw with skill far beyond his experience!

I was so happy that he stayed engaged and worked, even without treats or toys out there!  He loves performing in front of an audience, and he was just shining with joy the whole time!

After leaving the ring, I was happier than I ever thought I could have been with the whole thing!  Bandit gave me the best of himself out there, and I would never ask for anything more from any dog.

I found that I didn't care at all about our score - it was just such a success for Bandit and I as a team.

After giving him a good walk, we hung out and I watched a lot of the other performances.  I chatted with friends.  I fed Bandit bits of chicken from time to time.  I wished I had frozen him a Kong so he could have chilled out with it after his performance, but I hadn't.  Next time, definitely!

What do you mean, I don't get another turn?

We went to lunch and returned to watch the rest of the show.

And we got our results, which absolutely floored me!

8.0 Technical and 8.1 Artistic!!!!

For Beginner, we needed 7.3 in each category!  For Beginner scores, these were quite, quite high.

And the comments the judge gave were very positive!

Qualifying was icing on the cake, but the surprises weren't quite over yet!

We also scored in First Place in our class!!  I simply could not believe that!

My first official "Ribbon Photo"!!

In the end, the thing that makes me happiest is that Bandit and I accomplished this by doing what was right for him.  Our path may not be typical, but it is right for us.

And the changes that I have made in my approach to Freestyle have paid off.

Now I am thinking about where we go from here and I am very excited!!  Great things ahead!  Bandit is a dancer with heart and his own style!

And I love everything about him!

Here we go!!!