The Dreaded "Handling System"...

In response to my recent video of the puppers doing agility stuff, someone asked me privately...Well I couldn't really TELL which handling system you use...

Um...well...that is because I don't have a SET system I use. I am so not a "follow all the rules" sort of person. I do what works. So that makes my handling a hybrid of sorts...one that does not 100% following the Derrett OR Linda M systems...

I am "unique"... :-)

Now..that doesn't mean I am not consistent...I try to be as consistent as possible, but when someone tells me "you can't do that because if you do THIS system" blah blah blah...well I just go on with what I am doing :-))

I find some people even form little groups at agility trials BASED on these systems...wow. Amazing really. I guess I am the dreaded "floater"...I go from Derrett followers to Linda followers...and back and forth...never stopping..just bobbing around in agility land.

Maybe I am just not ready to committ...committment is so hard, heck, I was engaged to my husband for like 3 years before we actually got married. I like both of them, I like to dabble a bit here, a bit there and even do a FLIP to a tunnel every once in awhile (shudder...I can here all the gasps now!)...I guess I am a system slut perhaps...

I like to be able to mold things to my dogs...to find a system that works for me (or more like a way of handling---system is way too defined--sounds like and engineering term)...

I am not an analytical person (the hubs is..) I am a driver personality...
RESULTS..NOW...NOT LATER. ME WANT NOW! But I have to make myself be analytical to train...but really, I can't take something down to a TINY MINUTE MICROSCOPIC shred. My talent doesn't lie there...I will admit...watching my husband analyze everything his JRT does...well I will be honest...it bores me..it overwhelms me. If something isn't going well...then sure! I will analyze it...but if it seems fine..well I don't even think twice about it...

If the result doesn't happen how I want..then I go back an analyze it..but to look at every step...yawn...

Which in a way CAN be a good thing...I don't obsess (about agility anyway)...if my dog does something funny on a contact I don't go back and analyze videos for 10 hours or put stride regulators on my contacts for 10 years...I just see if it works itself out...I am not quick to jump to analyzing it just because it happened. My dog misses WP entries, I don't CONSUME myself with fixing them. I incorporate stuff into training that might work them harder...but not crazy about it. I am NOT a driller. I don't work drills...I get bored...yuck. I play around...just watching the dog, asking myself why they did it..but I don't over analyze...I am very laid back about the dog learning...let nature take it's course...go with the flow :)

So systems with lots of rules and things you can and cannot do...make me feel claustrophobic. I wanna run free and naked in the agility world (figuratively of course...the other would be downright scarey and nauseating) and be able to change things...make them MINE. MY PRECIOUS...

Not to say following a system is evil or bad, or that all people who do it form little groups at agility trials etc etc. There are TONS of people that work well following the different guidelines..Just not for me personally.

I may never be on the world team, or win USDAA Nationals, or even be a finalist...and that is OK with me...my goals are not that...if it happens, then fine, but if it doesn't..well that is OK. I am good :)

I just like to go out and have fun, enjoy training and working the dogs..and being a floater amongst the system followers. Most of them are happy to let me float around with them :)