So on to the newfound confidence. Long story short, August and September were not good months for Kraft and I. Way back when we first started doing baby agility, I knew getting the toy off of me was going to be a problem. Then along came all that RDW work where he got heavily reinforced while victory lapping with the toy. And I still didn't really address the issue. Then three months before his very first national event, I upped the criteria. Such a bad idea on my part. Somewhere in the middle of that, he tweaked a knee again and I worried I'd have to scratch him from his first ever national, worried that it was just another sign that I shouldn't be doing this trip.
Baby steps. We took baby steps. I tried really hard to do it all the right way, but it was really difficult. I'm still not sure I did it the BEST way. I couldn't help it, I was panicking. But, the good news is he feels great. It finally clicked about a week ago. The new behavior chain. We still have a ways to go before I can leave a toy on the ground and take him away from it to work, but at least now I can run a course or a sequence, and he's THERE, he's the old Kraft with all the joy he used to have, the joy that went MIA when he was confused about what he was supposed to do.
So we're going to take all the confidence we can scrape together that has come in the past week or so. We leave for Cynosports next Thursday. All of us. In a Ford Expedition.
Four days there. Six days in California. Then about a week to get back, with adventures in Portland, Seattle, and Montana on the way back. No matter what happens on the field, it's going to be fun and wild and memories will be made. The girls have some great teams lined up. Deb Harpur even made us some fabulous posters.
How could I not be excited about these?
Good luck and have a great time!!
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