Frye Open STD leg #1 110517

In yesterday's post I said that Frye was not ready for Open STD, but that I was moving her up anyway. Well, I guess I was wrong.  Although it wasn't a perfect 100, she did pull off a Q.  I think there are 2 things that's have helped improved her training.  1) modification of warmup routine.  I used to do recalls but with a lot of distance so she would run wild rush past me.  So we shortened the distance so she could collect as she approached each of us.  I found this to improve her focus.  2) she gets muffins as a reward.  It's the only time she gets muffins and she loves them.  When I give her a taste before she enters the ring her legs start to quiver.  I have to be careful though, because if I give her too much she runs too high.
The challenge in STD is needing to babysit the contacts.  I think she thought the #2 teeter was the dogwalk, so when she got to the dogwalk she was careful.  I loved her response on the reverse spin before the walk. I was so excited she nailed her weaves first try.  However, because I had to race to the aframe to manage the contact, Frye accelerated so much that she ran past the frame.  I didn't call her to correct her line for the approach.  I thought there was no way to miss a HUGE aframe.  It taught me that when she's chasing me down, she prefers the running as opposed to the obstacles so I need to make sure to remind her to do her job and to find the line.