Well, this posting is not going to say what I had hoped it would say - that Rivi now has wonderful running contacts. Unfortunately the exciting progress made in the garden is not generalising out to other places. Even with just a plank on the ground it is as if all the activity over the last five months has never occurred.
Whilst I would find that some fall back in behaviour might occur, I would not expect it to fall so far back that it is as if it never took place. And it would not be so bad if she offered a 2o2o - she was offering 'I am the best long jumper in the world' behaviour - and my thoughts were 'where did the frick that come from?' as Rivi was not a pinger of contact zones, she was a hugger, too much of a hugger in fact.
Pehaps I just need another 12 months of retraining and we would have cracked it. I just don't know. In my last posting I said, about how well it was going and this is why I was in confusion...however I am not down and out...talking it through with friends perhaps I needed to do all this retraining so that as least I have rebuilt her confidence and improved the contact performance on the DW.
The time spent is not wasted, and as said on a previous posting, I think it has enhanced Rivi's and mine relationship which is a fabulous bonus and I have learn't quite a bit more about RC. Sometimes what you get in life, is not what you expect or planned. Afterall the running contact performance aspect are my hopes and aspirations. They are irrelevant to Rivi and she is currently happy over the DW and now we will rubberise the AF - as I am pretty sure with all the learning I have achieved over the last few months is that Rivi was spooked by the frequent changes of contact surfaces whilst competing last year. And it has impacted on things that would have been exciting to do such as the semis or the EO tryouts.
By the end of March we will have rubber at home and at club it is painted wood, so she will build more experience of going over the two different surfaces. Running her at club last week was so exciting as we could do the DW, I was grinning it did feel good.
What all this means in relation to competing I am not really sure. It is really unknown territory for me.....but the main thing is I have Rivi by my side :-)
I am hopeful that a puppy may arrive this winter or next spring. I am really excited about welcoming a new puppy and having all the fun of playing, training and all that stuff. With Zev now four and Rivi fast approaching 5, it has been a while since I have had the puppy buz. 
I have options on several potential litters, and it really a case of waiting and seeing as to what arrives and what happens. The other thing I need to factor is how Nutsey will be doing, at the moment I am blessed as he is doing well and I think would enjoy a puppy in the household. The vets at his check ups keep saying he has a grade 4 heart murmur, but so far there has not been any side effects and it has been like that for the past year. Phew! Admittedly he does tire rather quickly these days, but that is to be expected with all things considered and I am just in the fortunate position that he is doing better than expected :-)
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