Silvia Trkman- Run More, Talk More

Vito ran in the intermediate dog handling seminar by Siliva today!  I was very nervous for me and the baby dog especially since we do not practice courses anything like what was presented!  We run in a class with a NADAC judge instructor and just started competing in NADAC and CPE.  Yup, we have never practiced pushing to the backside of jumps, have never done a simple 270, and very rarely practice wrapping.  Vito and I were very much out of our element and loved it!  I am also excited to report that every single one of Vito's aframes and all but one of his dogwalks were perfect!  Unfortunately my brain seemed to be shutting down and by the end I was just handling like an idiot!

I can sum up Silvia's advice in four word: Run more, talk more!  She loves blinds and front crosses as it speeds dogs up.  Always telling us to just run and never stand still.  Silvia also believes that we need to take advantage of being allowed to run and talk at the same time!  Repeating cues can help create drive and also gives them a constant stream of information.  You don't have to worry about timing of giving the cue since if you're too early you'll have plenty of more times to repeat it and are bound to get one of the words in at that crucial moment!  And talking is one way Silvia keeps the connection between her and her dogs on course when she isn't always looking at them.  And of course Siliva is huge on having different cues for different behaviors.  Wrapping needs a separate verbal cue from jumping in extension and using the outside arm to precue a dog they're turning vs inside arm for sending straight. 

I found out that Vito and I need lots of work on the following:
- Turning out of a tunnel.  He comes out real wide and is not prepared to do those tight 180's. 
- Call to hand!  I thought this was a solid skill of ours but apparently not when there are so many more fun options out there.
- Learning a wrap cue or at the very least practice them!
- Practicing sending to the backside of a jump and put it on verbal cue.
- Me not losing my brain when doing quick successions of  front crosses, backy uppys, or any other maneuver like that!
- I'm a pretty silent handler and need not being afraid of talking to Vito on tight courses.

Here's video of the courses.  We made a LOT of mistakes and spent about 5-6 minutes out on each course.  To make it easier on the eyes I edited so each mistake is only shown about once and then we move on to the next one :P

Very much looking forward to tomorrow's mini seminar on running contacts!!!