Shady and the bad dogs.: I can't = I don't want to try....

BEFORE you read this I have to apologise for the lack of paragraphs,its bloggers fault,I made paragraphs,they just aren't publishing my post as I wrote is?! So here's a vid to show the behaviour which dominated our runs,and produced,or at least contributed to my negative thoughts. The ever looping Mookie turn. For her first 2 years of agility,Mookie was allowed to turn very badly,she was never taught to collect her stride,and jumped long every time,and I mean LLLOOONNGGGG! Since training with Dave,we've tightened her up a huge amount on front crosses,she is never gonna turn as tight as a well trained Collie,but I am very happy with her turns on front crosses. I did a good bit of thinking,and realised how people,myself included get despondant about things we don't believe we can,or understand how to fix. Mookie's thing is looping out,and jumping long,Shady's thing is his jumping,and his inability to judge distances in agility. Floozie is a different kettle of fish.(where on earth did that saying come from??It makes no sense at all!!) Having only trained Flooz with Dave and Dan,I see her as having no major problems,and I feel that when we come across them,which we undoubtedly will,Dave and Dan will spot them immediatly,and out into action a plan to fix it,long before it has a chance to become something ingrained and difficult to fix. Each time poor Mookie looped out,I gave up.I gave up again and again and again....and then again.God only knows how Dave remained cheerful with me. I didn't mind if I went the wrong way,I just did it again.But the looping makes me want to give up. Of course the looping is only a product of my lack of foundation work,I have only myself to blame. I DO know how to fix it,and I am GOING to fix it.Simple as that. When I came home yesterday I had a re-found enthusiasm for my home work lol.I've never been good at homework,I didn't do it at school either! I just did 15 mins each with Floozie and Shady. Weaves and contact position with Flooz,which she was brilliant at. She just went wrong twice on each thing,got no reward,figured it out,then was perfect from then on. Shady did shadow handling,I was trying hard to get him to blind cross me (which is ILLEGAL is Dave's system hahaha),I couldn't make him. We did contact position too,he came off a couple of times when I threw his toy,I beat him to it and didn't let him have it,asked him what he had to do and he put himself back in position,which is a HUGE thing for Shady,he was never shaped as a young dog,and I helped him every step of the way,so thinking for himself is a big deal. I had forgotten how useful short sessions are,I'm always more likely to drive for miles and pay to be taught,than I am to just get off my backside and do it myself for a short period of time. So hopefully I'm back on track,I needed to be so crap yesterday,to see it,and work out why I was like that. Which in turn makes me realise I can change the things I'm not happy with. Dave really is a brilliant trainer,and of course handler.I'm very lucky to have found him :)He's so motivating to both handler and dog,and he always has an answer for training problems. So I spent alot yesterday frustrated,I learnt from it. I'm honestly like Shady,a dog who hasn't been shaped (taught to think for themselves),who knows how to have a tantrum,or give up and get people to help you or simply do it for you! I have a new found sympathy for Shady as I teach him to think for himself!lol Dave showing how to teach Mookie to turn tight,with no check arm. There should be no check arm because I am behind the jump. Dave telling Becky my homework lol. Hehehe,poor Dave,he deserves double at least what I pay him to have to teach me!! Lol I'm not sure what we're all laughing about here,but I love happy Mookie is doing a runner hahaha. Lol this was Mookie breaking the rules entirely haha.You can see which jump I'm pointing at,but she nips behind me, (flicking off my line).You can see Dave doubling up,he is laughing not crying haha,though I suspect I make him want to cry tears of frustration at times!! In case anyone is wondering,she's being 'play slapped' whilst tugging on the contact,her tail is a waggin! Starting with the contact as she'd just come off it before released.The end of the course had a crap turn on the second front cross,and at the end I rewarded the poor dog by throwing the toy over the fence!!haha. Got it.Though I'm not on the damn flaps!!So I wasn't in the optimum places. I can see here that I didn't wait for her to commit to the new line before I started moving,so pushing her round the jump. Movement on my part = you got the line now move on it to the dog.God agility is SO easy on paper hahaha! Got it. We tried the end of the course 2 different ways,firstly with a pull in,timed at 7.3 seconds. I tried a couple of times to get the pull in,and failed,so bailed out (again) and let Dave run her.Its not fair to Mookie to keep running her with that attitude,so Thank God for Dave for taking over :) Then with the front cross,time 7.6 seconds. Smiley Dave:)