This year seems to be a bit of an odd one for me. Since February I had lots of problems with my car. I spend loads of money to get it repaired, but in the end I had to admit defeat when I was on my 3 rd alternator and still nobody knew what the actual problem was.
I was lucky though and was given a car by a friend of mine, which was a real life saver and I cannot thanks Paula enough for that very kind offer.
Not having a car was a nightmare. I missed training and shows and had problems taking the dogs for a really lovely long walk...
Now being mobile again I got slightly paranoid and always waiting for something to go wrong now. So far we managed to break the car key in the door and last weekend a passing car through up some stones and broke the rear windscreen! It seems never ending. So I wallow a bit in self pity in times, please forgive ;-)
Agility wise we are not doing badly. Max is quite reliable and so far we managed to come home with at lest one clear round from each show. Sometimes we even manage places. I was considering moving up on points, s we always seem 5-10 seconds behind the winner of the class...
But I realised I am not sure my confidence can keep up with this. Yes, it sounds sad, I know (remember, self pity time)
Max is great and very responsive, just recently I get so nervous in a ring, forgetting the courses or doing really stupid things. The effect is that I seem more hesistant and so is Max consequently. He is not the sort of dog who just blasts through a course, though he works ahead, he always keeps an eye on me and if I slow down, so does he. He is very sensitive so loses confidence immediately when he thinks he did wrong, so I always have to keep it light and happy and not beat myself up about mistakes. I cannot repeat stuff to often he doesn't understand (probably because I don't "teach" them right) as he then loses self confidence and goes into snail mode....
He had lovely contacts, but holding those made him pretty slow on the equipment, beside that he was worried (again) of not getting it right. Now I try to run his contacts. I am not sure that is a good idea, but worth a try ;-)
At the weekend I went to see a friend who gave me a whole day of her experience and helped me with Luke and max. She was amazing in helping to build up my confidence and suggested that we move up on points as Max and I seem to do better on handling courses. I will seriously contemplate this now, not sure I want to leave my comfort zone though :-O
It was amazing how much time she spend on rather building me up than my dog, as Max is already very good....
So why is it so difficult to believe that I can do it and we are actually doing quite well??
I am very pleased with Max. He is lovely to run. We (probably rather "I") are still to slow for that "win".
At the moment lots of stuff is going on in my life which need sorting out and maybe this is all undermining my confidence in general??? Oh, where is the psychologist when you need one??? ;-)
Friend took some lovely photos when we went for our days training , when I receive them, I will post some. She worked Luke for me and boy, did he work for her. He had lovely turns (something I am really struggling with him) and did very well. Next weekend he is entered in the Helter Skelter class at Newlands and I am very curious to how he will do.
I think I should have more faith in him, but I am still worried that he might leave the ring, run off etc... So ll fingers crossed it will go well.
Can't believe the season is already coming slowly to it's end. Where is time gone?
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