For all you agility experts out there, maybe you could help me out with a problem?
My 5 year old mix, Pixie, has been in agility training for about 2 years. She can do every obstacle quickly, safely, and cleanly, and I'd love to compete with her more. At agility practice, she is AWESOME. She's fast, clean, and pays perfect attention to me...but at trials, everything goes wrong. She gets stressed, distracted, and just refuses to run. This is frusterating for me because I know that she could be Qing and placing in every run if she made an effort like she does at practice; but at trials, standing in the ring and refusing to budge is completely unacceptable because I know how well she could be doing. Even if she does move, she walks slowly with her nose on the ground the whole time.
How can I make trials a more enjoyable experience - for us both? And how can I keep her fast and motivated? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
My 5 year old mix, Pixie, has been in agility training for about 2 years. She can do every obstacle quickly, safely, and cleanly, and I'd love to compete with her more. At agility practice, she is AWESOME. She's fast, clean, and pays perfect attention to me...but at trials, everything goes wrong. She gets stressed, distracted, and just refuses to run. This is frusterating for me because I know that she could be Qing and placing in every run if she made an effort like she does at practice; but at trials, standing in the ring and refusing to budge is completely unacceptable because I know how well she could be doing. Even if she does move, she walks slowly with her nose on the ground the whole time.
How can I make trials a more enjoyable experience - for us both? And how can I keep her fast and motivated? Any help would be greatly appreciated!