So I am at work, having to work late, but mainly just setting stuff up and waiting for it to be done so had a minute to get on here and type a little. Had something that is been bothering me so the best way to get it out is to write about it. I am just disappointed in how harley turned out and that really bugs me. I am sure it is something tony and I did when he was younger of course. I had gotten harley with the intentions of him being my main agility dog. Right after we got him, Miller started showing interest in doing agility so I suggested to my husband that he do the puppy agility classes with him so I could take the advanced classes with Miller. We did this for quite a while and things went great. Tony decided when harley was old enough to enter him and show him, which i thought was still a great idea.
The problem started when Harley started fudging on his contacts and tony let him get away with it. Harley's contact position is 2 on and 2 off (meaning two feet on the ground and two feet on the contact obstacle). As they showed more and more, Tony let him get away with more and more. It started out as letting him release himself off of the contact, to a moving contact, to no contact and even flying off the top of the obstacle. Now mind you, in class he had perfect contacts so tony held to this ideal that he would eventually get it. Well, our trainer was in the background saying "pull him for this", but Tony just couldn't do it. Doing agility was harley's reward, so letting him continue the course after he had done something wrong just reinforced the behavior. Tony finally started pulling him after getting into EX A and then getting stuck in standard for a year, but it was too late. The damage was done. Tony finally decided that showing wasn't for him because it lost all of its fun for him. Who wants to continually run a dog and have to pull them at the very first contact obstacle on the course, every single run? Anyway, Harley was still young and I saw him slowly maturing so I just wanted to give it time. I had been running miller and decided to take on running both dogs and just use harley's runs as training runs. I felt like I had no problem pulling him for not doing his contact criteria because Miller's run was the one that counted anyway. Well, that started off great, however now Harley got stressed because he knew he was in the wrong so then our table performance fell apart. He would get on the table and you could just see the stress oozing out of his pores. He would do the whole, "i don't see you" routine, so here we go again, pulling him for this, even though it was stress related. I decided to re work the table as I hated having to say "table, down" or "table sit". I decided the command "load up" should mean get on whatever and lay down. We got a table and worked it and now he is doing very well on the table.
The contacts are still another story. I do believe that pulling him is the best thing to do as he knows his job since he is perfect everywhere else. I have toyed with the idea of retraining the contacts with a different method (not running), but we moved to a new house and all of my contacts are stored as we don't have enough room for them in our yard anymore. Retraining the table took alot of time and effort so I would need contacts in the yard that I could work every day. Harley is going to be 6 this year and Miller did not really come into his own until he was 6 so there is hope. The problem now is that he needs one more Q for his EX A title and even though I don't show him often, I have found myself letting him fudge on his contacts to get the stinking Q. I have also stopped showing him very much because I to hate to pay entry fees to do three obstacles and then leave the course. Tony use to pay his entry fees, but he stopped and miller also started doing so well that I wanted to enter him more and money doesn't grow on trees so I have had to make some hard decisions. Of course my trainer thinks that not showing him is hurting him but why show him when he still refuses to get his contacts in a trial. I have tried everything with this dog as far as taking him to showngos to get him to break his contacts, taking him to NADAC trials where you can physically put them back on the contacts or redo them, and pulling him. I am at a loss as to what to do next. I can't really concentrate on him right now because I am trying to finish up my MACH with miller and go to nationals again for 2010 in AKC and in USDAA (2009). I want to do more USDAA and have cut out all NADAC so I can afford to do this. Harley is just getting put aside, which could be good in a way, more time to mature. I often wonder if we put too much pressure on him as a young dog to do well. We waited to teach weaves till after he was 1, waiting to jump until we thought he was ready, took handling classes as well as obstacles classes with him, and socialized the heck out of him because he went to all the shows that miller went to. He was so awesome and usually won first place in his classes and soared through novice and open. We saw so much potential and then it all vanished. I still take classes with him every tuesday night, and i do see moments of brilliance and of course perfect contacts, so I know someday he will be great, but when is someday? I think Miller probably has one more year of good competition in him, but I will probably continue to show him as long as he wants to go. I will move him to preferred when it is time, and maybe do more NADAC for fun, but hopefully, knock on wood, this is at least a year or more from now. Miller will be 10 this year but I sure don't see him running like he is that old. I do look forward to handling harley more as he is a blast to run when he has contacts. He is much faster than Miller and takes alot more finesse than miller. He is very obstacle focused so keeping that balance between handler and obstacle focus is hard. He also prefers to be driven on the course, even if he is faster because if you let him drift and distance, his brain goes out the door! He takes a lot more front crosses and staying on your toes than miller does, which can be nerve wracking and can be exhilarating too. So all of that is to say that I just don' know what to do and wish i had the answer. I know that financially I will have to either show miller less to show harley more and that just isn't going to happen just yet. I have worked two jobs before to pay for my addiction as tony calls it, but then I never saw tony and barely had much time for training, so even though i was going to more trials, we weren't doing any better. I am hoping that we strike it rich with the lottery because that would help and then I could buy and indoor arena for my trainer so we could do classes indoors and have class year around, temperature controlled, which would help. We current do everything outdoors which sucks right now as it is below 0. well, enough of my whining and moaning! Timer is fixing to go off so better get ready to go home!
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