| RUNNING TO DO YOUR BEST versus running not to fail. On the video, first you get to experience Dudley with Sweet and Mary with Sony running for Q's on a typical AKC Jumpers course. Next you get to experience them breaking the tie, really going for their very best. When it comes to the crowd, the dogs, and the competitors, YOU GET WHAT YOU GIVE. When the game is predominantly about going clean and qualifying against a reasonably attainable standard, the competitors all too regularly tend to run not to fail. The competitors are more careful, the crowd more reserved, "good job, nice run, next". When the game asks a bit more of the teams, and the competitors respond by giving their very best, the crowd feels that difference, and gives their energy to the moment. The handlers and dogs often feed off of this energy. Mary and Sony cut a half second off their original time. Dudley and Sweet cut three quarters of a second off their original time. Watch the handlers as they push their dogs forward into the first tunnel and drive their dogs through the finish. Listen to the difference in the crowd! Look at how exilerated the handlers feel at the end of their runoff runs. Feel the difference in the experience, in the moment. Dudley and Sweet happened to earn their first MACH earlier that same weekend. However, what they'll remember most from this weekend, Dudley, Sweet, the crowd, everyone, is not the MACH, it's the runoff. AKC agility already offers three games that reinforce ... |
