This picture has nothing to do with this post, but I just love it.Goal: Complete the relaxation protocol.
Progress: As you already know, Maisy and I are rocking the relaxation protocol. We don’t do it every day, but we probably work on it at least three out of every four days.
Looking Forward: We will definitely continue to work on the relaxation protocol for the remainder of the year. It’s not so bad once you make it a habit.
Goal: Increase Maisy’s physical exercise.
Progress: We continue to take regular walks, although we still only hit about half the days (we walked 60% of all days this period), which is pretty pathetic. There have been some legitimate reasons- I was in a car accident at the end of June, neither of us can tolerate the heat, we had to take a week off following that run-in with the loose dog a few weeks back- but they feel like excuses. Still, it’s a huge improvement over a year ago.
Looking Forward: It will be hard to complete this for the year, because we are now entering into the Cold Season. On one hand, I’m looking forward to winter (fewer loose dogs and children), but it does make it harder to get up the motivation to go for a walk.
Goal: Develop novice obedience stays.
Progress: Oh, oops. We haven’t worked on this at all.
Looking Forward: And, I’m not sure that we will accomplish this next quarter, either.
Goal: Improve heeling so we can perform a novice obedience heeling pattern.
Progress: Last quarter, I noticed a tendency for her to go wide, so I’ve been working on reinforcing her when she comes in closer to my leg. I’ve been working a lot on right-side heeling, and she’s done really well with this.
Looking Forward: I need to work about turns and the figure eight since she still lags on that. I’d like to get “switch” (the cue to move to the right side) down a bit better, too.
Goal: From heel position, hit proper front position on the first try.
Progress: We haven’t worked on this much, if at all.
Looking Forward: Probably won’t, either.
Goal: Develop jumping skills for a recall over high jump and directed jumping.
Progress: I’ve done a bit of jump work here and there, and I’m pleased that in a new class last week, she was able to do a recall over high quite well.
Looking Forward: I anticipate on working on this some more in class.
Goal: Reduce ring nerves.
Progress: Definite progress here. I was surprisingly relaxed at the MMBC trial at the end of July.
Looking Forward: I probably won’t go to any trials for the rest of the year, so I won’t have any opportunities to work on this.
Goal: Complete ARCH.
Progress: Not much, although we did get 15 points in Level 2B.
Looking Forward: There definitely aren’t any opportunities to work on this any more this year.
Goal: Get one leg towards a CD (any venue).
Progress: None. Maisy and I did go to a CDSP run-through in July. We wouldn’t have qualified, but it was a good experience anyway.
Looking Forward: Again, we probably won’t have the opportunity to complete this goal this year, and I’m okay with that.
9 comments:
Wow Crystal and Maisy! You guys really rocked this last quarter! I like how you lay out your goals so precisely and then show your progress. I may have to steal that.;) I am trying a month by month goal record in a new page on our blog. Hopefully that will help us stay on track.
If it would help with your goal to increase physical exercise you can join our walking challenge. I always set a "so many miles in so many days" goal, I find that motivates me. But if anyone wants to join us they can always set their own distance goal, or whatever details help them. Then I post all of our miles so we can help encourage one another. We would love to have you, if it seems like something helpful.
That's an awesome review - and a lot of excellent work got done too.
with the walking thing - I hate the cold adn the heat so I tell myself I'll just walk to the bus loop (in our case close and easy) when I get to the bus loop I'm like oh that wasn't bad and look at how happy the dogs are I'll just go a little further, and then sometimes I even go further. And then when I get back in the dogs had a good walk. I LOVE that you actually know your rate too!
In regards to the trial goals (especially reducing ring nerves) you can work on them without actually competing.. when you have a minute imagine yourself at a trial you were really nervous at. Break down when and what you were nervous about. Rehearse the same actions mentally without the nerves.
I actually put myself to sleep running old agility runs in my brain (good ones. I'm not prone to nerves anymore anyhow but just the rehearsal of relaxed flowing runs means I can run even when stressed now.
I look forward to the next quarter report :)
Katie, I've actually thought about joining your walking challenge. I haven't because... well, I don't know why. Maybe I should?
Crystal we would love to have you and Maisey join us! We try to keep it pretty relaxed, letting everyone set their own goals, but I keep the list updated with everyones progress so we can all encourage one another. It is fun when we have a list of people to check on their progress and I know it really encourages me when I see what others are able to accomplish. I should be doing the starting post in the next couple days. Seems I never get it going on the first of the month so I usually just do 30 days from this day to this day.
When I have had a bunch of people in the past I have thought of giving some kind of virtual reward, a certificate or something, do you think things like that encourage people?
If there is anything we can do that would make it easier for you guys let me know!
Katie
(BTW I can't figure out how to subscribe to comments by email anymore. Is it only in an RSS feed?)
Andrea, you're right- I CAN work on the ring nerves. In fact, I did a lot of visualization this spring, which helped a lot. I suppose what I should have written is that I have no way of TESTING my progress.
Katie- I have no idea about subscribing to comments. Do you mean for individual entries, or the blog as a whole? For individual entries, I'm seeing a "Subscribe by email" link right below the text box. For the blog as a whole... I can't figure that one out. :(
Oh, I can say that blogger may be having problems with email. I've turned on the setting to have all comments emailed to myself, and I'm not receiving them all, and not in a timely manner, either.
for your blog as a whole I figured out I can do your RSS feed by typing in this in my reader:
http://reactivechampion.blogspot.com/feeds/comments/default
you can add a button though on your blog by adding a "gadget" to your layout called "Subscribe now" and then people can easily have the option to subscribe to your general rss or your comment rss.
Oh and I'm really glad the relaxation protocol is working out so well for you! Although I'm personally a bit bummed to see your not focusing on the obedience crap any more...
Hi Crystal, I think it may have something to do with blogger, because when I comment as my google identity I get the subscribe by email link, but with just my name and URL I don't see that link. I will use the other identity and see what happens, Thanks!
Laura, I'm bummed by that, too! I didn't do it consciously, and was surprised by how much I've neglected the obedience stuff. I know I've been focusing on the RP, but I didn't realize how much it took away from other stuff...
And thanks for gadget tip! I added it, so it should be easy for people to do! It's in the sidebar now, so anyone who wants to subscribe to my posts or comments should be able to! :)
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