Tracking Test -- epilogue, post-datum

Iunderstand why you feel bad about being judged like that, but we know, you know, and most importantly, your dog knows that it wasn't harsh, you both were having fun!

I had a similarly imperfect getting judged experience with a clip I sent into a freestyle "fun match."

The deal with the fun match is you need to send in an entry in order to see what everyone else is doing, and I know lots of people in the club and wanted to get the DVD even though we really didn't have anything ready. Plus, I didn't realize we were right on the deadline, so on the very last day entries could be submitted, a friend stopped by, taped two improvised routines. All I was doing was seeing how long Tigerlily could perform without food reinforcement, because that's really the tricky part of freestyle for a highly distractable dog like Tigerlily, is teaching her to maintain a strong focus for two minutes straight, especially outside where there are passers-by and birds and noises etc. So, we were taping a training session where I was pushing the reinforcement schedule a bit, and changing food reinforcement over to other types of reinforcement (where she would get a game or a reinforcing move instead of a food treat).

Anyway, I stepped on her toe, crows were flying overhead and she was stopping to stare, she would slow down for a second, and so I would rough-house play a little instead of food reinforcement, and then she got back into the game. It wasn't a finished freestyle performance, it was more of a practice, but I still thought there were some cute innovations and interesting moments, and interesting reinforcing ideas (like, run!) that I wasn't ashamed to share with my freestyle friends.

And all the judges felt we were running around too much, but one of the judges thought that my roughhousing (I give her a little push and she comes right back at me with greater enthusiasm, I pick her up and rub my face in her belly, she loves getting touched and handled) looked like "harsh treatment." She disqualified me for "harsh treatment!" I had to go lay down in bed and cry over that, and Tigerlily came over and leaned her head hard against me as if to say, don't worry, it wasn't harsh in MY opinion, but getting "judged" in that way really did feel not "fun" at all. So I learned that it truly isn't worthwhile to rush an entry. Maybe it's supposed to be "fun" but most likely everyone else is making several recordings and submitting their best, they aren't just having fun, and they don't submit the entry try accidentally step on the dog. Dog training is serious fun!

Live and learn. I guess that's why they call this class "novice!"

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