Braddock and Frye Clemson Nov 2017

Well, I have learned that Braddock still needs training time.  I've been giving it all to Frye. While normally Braddock and I look very polished, I realize that when the course requires him to think a bit, he's not doing it.  He makes quick and easy decisions without considering all information, and this I believe is because I haven' t been working him as much.  Also, when I do work him, we are doing the same pattern of exercises, which allows him to follow on autopilot and not have to use his brain that much.  So, for the next 2 weeks before Invitational I need to get his mind back focused.
On Day 1, he blew the dogwalk contact, and I have been working that at home.  But he shut his brain off, and missed it.

In JWW, Braddock misread my pull as a rear cross at jump 15 (because I was facing into him).  I saved it, but then he knocked a bar.  Frye on the other hand, in her first Excellent JWW debut, ran the course flawlessly, and the only reason she didn't qualify is because she knocked the second to last bar.  Perhaps I didn't get out of her way fast enough after the front cross.

Frye was great in Open STD.  She really listened and tried to get things right.  The only concern is that she is not as good on the Aframe as the other contacts.  In order to get the "bottom" she creeps down the decent.  I think it is hard for her to come to an abrupt stop and definitely prefers to run it. I'm not sure how I will help her do this better yet.  The only mistake in STD is when I tried to send to the tunnel, but executed a rear cross, she turned off the tunnel and went to the dogwalk. Like in Concord, she is reading those rear crosses well, so I need to keep that in mind.  If I cut in to her, she turns.  It took me a while to get that, so I need to make sure I use that cue in the right way for her.

On Day 2, Braddock and Frye both had the same issues with the STD course.  The ending, after the teeter, took a lot of dogs out.  3 reasons: 1) the hard pull into the left side of the tunnel when the line set the dog up to the right of the tunnel, 2) getting the dog off the offcourse jump after the tunnel, and 3) having to be on a side of the dogwalk that allowed handler to negotiate the last jump.  Both Frye and Braddock took the offcourse jump after the dogwalk.  Frye, however, still qualified and got her Open STD title.

In JWW, the course required a lot of management.  I had not reinforced Braddock on the STD run as he missed the dogwalk contact again.  So in JWW, he was really tuned in and listening.  Thus, when I layered the jump after the weaves and called Braddock to turn, I called him off the jump.  Otherwise, he ran beautifully.  Frye also ran well.  She runs very differently though.  Her lines are not fluid.  She goes wide, and then she turns in to me, causing her to zig zag between jumps and sometimes go around jumps.  On the circle of jumps, I did a blind cross to a reverse spin.  For Frye, I should have done a front cross to get her lined up over wingless jump that she went around.  Then at the weaves, after the rear cross, I didn't move into the weave line fast enough so she turned back into me, missing the entry.  She came tighter than what I would have thought.  Otherwise, the ending, which most struggled with, she executed perfectly.  She did the layer and executed the final line flawlessly.