a Taj MuttHall Dog Diary: Got Video?

Thursday, September 04, 2008

Got Video?

SUMMARY: Selected videos and course maps from regionals.


If you want to see nice weaves, all of Boost's runs look pretty good in that way. Otherwise--see notes. Click dogs' names to view videos.

Grand Prix Round 1: Tika , Boost (Tika is called on Aframe; Boost hits 3 bars & has a couple of refusal/runouts)


Team Jumpers: Tika, Boost (Tika is clean; Boost has a wide turn, a runout, a refusal, and a bar before backjumping near the end)


Team Standard: Tika (clean run)


Grand Prix Round 2: Sweep (22" winner), Tika (clean and bye into semis)


Sunday Master Standard: Tika, Boost (Tika dogwalk up, Boost not too bad, one bar, then finally a refusal just before the end when I'm trying to get ahead for a front cross probably)


Steeplechase Round 1: Tika, Boost (Tika bar, Boost runouts and refusals galore, leaving the Aframe without a release, and not the best handling for an early off-course)


Monday Masters Jumpers: Tika, Boost (Tika clean, Boost a mess)


Monday Masters Standard: Tika, Boost (Tika clean but slow table down; Boost slow table down, just a couple of spin refusals)

7 comments:

  1. These are wonderful videos to watch! Especially for me who is taking my sheltie to her first agility training next spring. Do you as the handler get a printed course description prior to the run to study? Otherwise how do you plan how to attack it? I know you get a walk through, but still...

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  2. I sure wish we had someone like Eric to video around here. These videos are are worth every penny you had to pay for them. Probably worth as much as five private lessons from what you can learn from them.

    I am more convinced than ever that the issues you have with Boost are *so* similar to the ones I had with Jaime. And I think I can offer some insights that might help but I don't want to push them on you so I will keep them to myself unless you want to hear them :-)

    The things I will say are that Boost has awesome poles and very fast contacts. You've done a great job training them.

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  3. Videos vs. course maps: MOst trials I go to have course maps available. Sometimes they run out, sometimes there just aren't any. I find that planning my strategy with a course map is 80% useless because the course never really looks exactly like it does on the map, and I tend to plan my course and my path based on the way it looks & feels on the field. I never even started picking up the maps until I'd been competing for a year or so, and then mostly to make notes on things I was having trouble with. Other people completely rely on the course maps to plan their strategy. Obviously varies by individual. They're somewhat more helpful for gamblers & snooker if the judge's rules for that course are printed, but they aren't always. And they are helpful AFTER you've walked the course and you suddenly don't remember what the course was like.

    Videos: I wish I could afford Eric's videos all the time. He's excellent.

    Suggestions on handling/training: Really I always appreciate hearing it. Hope I don't sometimes come across as dismissing comments; if I comment, it's usually to try to clarify what my own thinking is or why I'm doing something. So fire away if you want to--either I already know it, in which case it reinforces that I'm right on the mark, or I don't, in which case I learn something new.

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  4. Wow they are great videos. I have a question. On the second course map it looks like #5 should have been like a serpentine. But when I watch the video, it wasnt. The number #5 and #12 cones are on the same side, but they shouldnt be according to the course map. Diana

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  5. Hey, that was fun watching all those super-high-quality agility videos. I almost feel like I should have paid an admission fee or something. Well ok, I mean don't expect a cheque in the mail or anything, but you know what I mean.

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  6. Dang! I could use a check in the mail!

    Diana: Interesting, you eagle-eye, you--I didn't notice that. I have no idea what the story was.

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  7. Love watching Eric's vids. Really nice GP run, and Tika's nasty weave entrance on (oh, can't remember), was superb!

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