OneMind Dogs Coach Channie Elm Ørsted tells us a story about her border collie Lady. This is the first part of a series of two blog posts.
First let me start by introducing myself. My name is Channie and I am part of the OneMind Dogs coaching group. I have three border collies: Zindy, who is 12 years old, Lady, 9 and Mayday 3. This story is all about Lady.
Lady
Lady came into the world in 2007. A sweet chubby little border collie puppy. I had followed the bitch and the male dog previously, met them and seen them work, so my expectations for this litter were high.
I didn't know it was Lady I was going to have until she was around 7 weeks old, but I visited the puppies every week. The puppies obviously had their eyes checked and underwent a veterinary examination during their time with the breeder.
Lady was going to be my new agility dog. I already had great plans for us, which included trying out for the Danish national agility team. Dreams are just fantastic to have, particularly when your dream dog is born. Lady was an exemplary puppy, she had no bad habits and was adorable with other dogs - just separation from me was a problem.
Just an ordinary day
Just an ordinary morning we are out for a walk. Lady is on the lead and just like all other dogs, is sniffing the ground and around the hedges. When she turns to me, I notice that one pupil is larger than the other, almost completely black. To my great surprise, as they are supposed to be equal.
I call the vet immediately for an appointment. The first vet I visit is a regular vet and thus not an eye specialist. They are unable to see anything unusual, so I am given an appointment with an eye specialist.
I decide to go to the best eye specialist we have here in Denmark. After they had tested Lady's eyes, I was told that her eyes were fine. There was a little scratch, but definitely nothing to be worried about. To my delight I took it that my dog had no problems with her eyes.
Training and minor observations
We began gradually with agility foundation training, when it came to increasing the height of the jumps, she managed nicely. The jumps are not too high for her and she has quite long legs, so 'set off' was good and long on the jumps. Alongside agility, we also did obedience training. Here again she's my little star - not as switched on as she is on the agility course, but a happy dog just wanting to cooperate.
However, I am very happy that the dog does not need to grasp a dumbbell as Lady was just SO bad at gripping things. She followed the ball really well, but always ended up getting hit on the head. Sometimes however, she succeeded in catching the ball, so it could just be that I was a bad thrower.
We quickly made it through the various agility classes and our times were really good; we were usually among the top three every time. We were heading towards my goal - the national team.
However, the most difficult class, class 3, which we had now made it to, created minor challenges. Our times were still good, but not as good as they used to be. The courses were clearly more difficult and contained several turns.
In 2010, Lady and I were designated as the most promising agility equipage, and we won the Danish Championship individually. In 2011, we put ourselves forward for the national team and made it as reserve.
I began to wonder why Lady was so bad at wraps; she chose to take the jumps diagonally, rather than around the support and as a result, she landed at the opposite wing. Then when I moved forward, she would often back jump. Of course, the fault lay with the handler, so in the process of our own training: "remember to look at your dog", "keep your hand down", "remember your legs" (several of you have probably heard these same words from OMD Coaches) but I have to say it didn't really work.
So I had to start using a screening net to shape Lady’s line, some of you may have become familiar with these at a OneMind Dogs seminar. Actually, Lady could do some great wraps with a net and the bar at low height. The problem came at max height and speed. I actually think that I have tried ALL versions of performance of the wrap. The best solution for us was that I served as a "wing", shaping Lady’s path around me, in this way I could bend her off and give her a good approach to the jump.
The Tunnel
Whilst competing at a national team meeting, Lady comes out of a tunnel. I stood at the right side of her behind a jump, ready for a Forced Front Cross. I called to her, trying to get her attention but she continued straight ahead, just as if she hadn't seen me. Here too, it must have been a handler error, most errors usually occur after a tunnel, and I certainly lost connection with her.
I was slightly puzzled but I had to get home and set up the combination again - it's not always possible to recreate the situation, but I certainly wanted to give it a try. The outcome was the same, she didn't see me waving my hand to attract her attention, she could hear my voice, when I called her name, and she then slowed down – just before she was going to take the jump she shouldn't be taking.
Jump challenges
The second challenge I had was that Lady set off 2-2.5 metres before a jump, as a result, I had great difficulty in turning her before a jump. I therefore decided to control her lines, but I couldn't be at all the jumps to steer her in the right direction and it wasn't consistent with the principles of OneMind Dogs. So there were places where I knew she had difficulties, and we would always take the oblique line instead of wrapping.
I also had problems sending her to the backside of jumps. Lady actually drew into me again after I had sent her around it - surely again, a handler error or an error in teaching Lady, so we started practicing sending her around the wing for a toy. It went well, she ran directly to the toy. I changed the toy for a neutral toy, that blended in with the ground and was quite difficult to see. I now had the same error as in competitions and training - she didn't run out for the toy. So I showed her where the toy was - but it still blended in with the ground, she did not go to the backside of the jump. It was actually only on the right side that we had this error. And as previously mentioned, it was on the right side that she was unable to see me from the tunnel…
Keep your eyes peeled for the second instalment of Channie’s story to see how she came to the realisation that all of these minor observations were the result of an underlying issue that would shape Lady’s agility career forever...
