Criteria - Lessons in Life?

First off, GREAT JOB EVERYONE!!!

What a wonderful couple of weekends watching all the dogs run!!
I'm working on a movie, but with 99 videos to review, it could take a couple days! G

There are so many lessons to be learned in life. I often wonder whether I'll live long enough to learn them all. It's not likely, since I feel the need to repeat some of the same ones so OFTEN!

For the last two years, I've lived and breathed 'criteria', when it comes to working with Seeker. Life is made up of rules, you do your 'job' and I'll 'try' to do mine. Unfortunately, he seems to be the more successful one! In the spring we were having some "table issues", Seeker would touch and go. So, we played some games of tugging on the table, racing to the table, etc.
He developed a very nice table. So, today, he spun in front of, bounced off of, and pretty much 'dis'ed' the table. Hum........watch this clip and try to determine for yourself what went wrong. I'll provide you with my thoughts a bit later.

Did you know that the average human attention span is 15 seconds!
Is it any wonder we can't make it through a simple agility course without
thinking about what we have to do when we get home?
Am I the only one that does that?

I'm the ultimate in "FOCUS ESTER".
If you look up ADHD, there's my picture.
Of course, I'm ABD.
(All but Diagnosis!!)

So, back to this clip.
What is my criteria?

Well, Seeker must hold his start line. Perfect.
He must hold his contacts until released. Hum.....
He must go directly to the table and assume a down.

So, the table issue might be what jumps out at you initially. I believe, however, it was the teeter performance that caused our ultimate demise. You might need to watch the clip again, but on that teeter performance, I did NOT release him with that rotation. He released himself. Had my brain been engaged, the 'game' should have been OVER. By the time I figured out what just happened he was already over the jump and into the poles. As he's weaving I could justify the teeter performance.....um....somehow. I made something up on the fly! Honest, I was going to be able to justify my poor criteria performance! Either that, I was just going to hope that I was the only one that noticed! BAD HANDLER!!!

I 'reasoned' that if he missed his dog walk that I'd pull him. Seeker is one smart dog, he handled the dog walk perfectly. So, I front crossed the A-Frame and guess what happened! He left on my motion!! I jig and jagged and shame on me, I kept going! At this point in the game, our roles had reversed. Seeker was now the handler and I was 'along for the ride'. The voices in my head were screaming, "Make it stop", but it was like watching an accident unravel before your eyes, I was a helpless bystander in my own accident. Then came the table. How could I NOT pull him by then!! I wish I would have thought about it. My mind was back on the teeter that had started it all. Tell me, am I the only one out there that has a complete conversation with myself out on the course? YIKES!

Bottom line, I was taken by surprise. This little dog had 'lulled' me into thinking he wouldn't perform obstacles that didn't meet our criteria. This was a valuable lesson and I will in the future be ready each and every time I walk into the ring. I hope........

So, what is your criteria????