Wow, yes, Kim. To get her interested in playing with me with toys I gave food reinforcement after every engagement. I have never discontinued that! Ahhhh. Wow, yes, I see the handler focus. Damn. Someone coached me from the sidelines of a trial run, screaming “run, run, run” to get me to get ahead of her and stay there. That definitely increased her speed. However, that continues handler focus. You can see several spots in the Invitational run where I did not take the chance to blind ahead of her when I clearly had the chance. Again, reinforcing the handler focus. Yikes.
Okay, now we are getting to the root of my problem. Can’t wait to see how to fix it. I have no idea.