Rally Advanced A - 1st Leg

Today was a good day =) Red earned his 1st leg toward his Rally Advanced title, with a score of 95, and 2nd place in our class.

Michelle, being the awesome friend she is, came with me for moral support even though she wasn't entered in today's trial. She met me at the house and we left around 10:30am. I takes about 25-30 minutes to get to the club and we arrived at about 11am. The trial was set to start at 11am, starting with Excellent B (18 entries) & A (4 entries), then Advanced B (24 entries) & A (9 entries), then Novice B (13 entries) & A (8 entries).

Red and I are in Advanced A, but I wanted to get there with plenty of time to get relaxed beforehand. They were just starting the Excellent walkthrough when we arrived. I was glad to be there early so I could relax and get myself calmed down before going into the ring. The last 2 trials were so rushed and I felt very frazzled - I hated it. I was happy to know I'd have a lot of down time.

We left Red in the car while we carried in our chairs, the crate, and my bags (my "bags" being my purse, my camera bag, and my dog stuff bag). We found a spot and set everything up. While I was setting up the crate, Michelle saw the course maps taped to a nearby table and went to see what I was up against. She read out the exercises, and I relaxed a bit - nothing too bad. I was hoping there wouldn't be the 180° left pivot or the halt, side step, halt - since both of these exercises were not polished at all. And thankfully, neither exercises was in the course. phew!

After everything was set up, I went outside to get Red, and took him directly to the potty area like I always do. He sniffed around for awhile before squeezing out a few drops to satisfy me. We went inside, and he was very excited as usual. I took off his flat collar, and attached our show leash to our show choke, and prepared my treat pouch. We warmed up with a few exercises, went into the practice ring and did some heeling and a few exercises. Then we went back to our chairs to play around with the frisbee and burn off some excited energy. After he started to calm down a bit, I put him in the crate, which he went into without a problem and accepted his treat.

Michelle and I sat and watched the Excellent B class do their runs. Unfortunately, I hadn't had any coffee yet this morning and forgot my cash that was laying on the dresser, so Michelle bought me a coffee and I happily sipped it as I relaxed and watched the other teams perform. Red being completely silent and still just laying in his crate watching the world go by. I was feeling much less nervous and anxious than I was this morning. I love watching the excellent teams trial, and I also played around on my new iPhone for a little while too ;)

Our friend, Dawn, who has the Mastiffs, Atticus and Delilah, arrived and set up her crate next to us. She was trialing Atticus in the same class as me, Advanced A, for his 1st Advanced leg, and Delilah was entered in Novice A for her 1st leg.

While we were waiting, we got a couple pics (click to enlarge):





Excellent A & B finished and received their rosettes and ribbons, and they started changing the course in preparation for Advanced around 1pm. I had planned to leave Red in the crate until after the walkthrough, then get him out again while Advanced A was running. The judge called everyone from Advanced into the ring and told us that we would be doing the walkthrough now, but she would be taking a 25 minute break afterwards, so the first Advanced B dog would be going into the ring at 1:25pm.

I walked the course 4 times this time. I have never done an Advanced course before and there are more signs than Novice, and the course seemed more complicated - easier to get lost. The ring size was 40' x 50' and the signs were as follows:

1. Halt, Sit
2. Straight Figure 8, Weave Twice
3. Left Turn
4. Halt, 90° Pivot Left, Halt
5. Moving Side Step
6. Call Dog Front, Finish Left, Forward
7. Halt, Walk Around Dog
8. 270° Right Turn
9. 360° Right Turn
10. Left Turn
11. Send Over Jump (16" height)
12. About Turn Right
13. Fast Pace
14. Normal Pace
15. Halt, Turn Right 1 Step, Call to Heel, Halt
16. Right Turn
17. Halt, Call Front, Finish Right, Halt

After the 4th walkthrough, I felt pretty confident that I wouldn't get lost, and confident that Red could do all the exercises well. I did want to work on #15 more when I got him out again because we hadn't trained that one in awhile. Everything else was ok.

Since the judge was taking her break, they announced there was lunch available for $5.00 per person. The stewards and people running the show brought a potluck from home, including shredded beef sandwiches, tuna salad croissants, salad, rolls, cookies, and pie. Michelle bought me lunch and we sat and ate in the eating area.

I finished my lunch and it was about 1:25pm. I wanted to get Red out and take him outside to a neighboring vacant field, and let him run a bit. I grabbed the frisbee, got him out of the crate, and went straight over to the field where I let him off-leash to run off some steam. It was a bit chilly, but sunny and not too windy, so it was a nice day. Red chased the frisbee happily for awhile, then we played some tug, and just generally hung out out there for about 15 minutes. Then I put the leash back on him and since he didn't potty out there, took him back to the potty area, where he refused to go. Normally I wait til he goes, but he just didn't seem interested at all so I figured he must be empty...

We went back inside, cue the usual bounciness of being back in the building. We played more tug. Once he seemed like he was tiring of tug, we went into the practice ring to practice the side step thing. After a couple minutes, we went back to the chairs and started doing some casual focus exercises for treats. Advanced B was still running and I planned to keep Red out this whole time, otherwise I'd have to re-prepare him all over again if I put him back in the crate. Preparing = get out of the crate, take outside, come inside, play and tug, then focus and work.

Advanced B finished and had their awards ceremony. Red and I would be the 2nd team to go in Advanced A. We were supposed to be 3rd but the first team was absent. So while the first team went, I removed my treat pouch, grabbed a handful of hotdog bits and stood in line at the gate in preparation to go. I did focus exercises and few other things with Red while feeding the hotdogs from my hand. I fed the last bits as the first team was finishing.

Michelle said to start being formal when we go into the ring, so he is in working-mode and ready to go. It worked great - I heeled him into the ring and halt/sat at the Start sign as if it were an exercise. I removed his leash, handed it to the steward, and we were off!

For the very first exercise, a simple Halt, Sit, I thought he was going to keep walking or throw a very crooked sit, but he pulled it off and was better after that. The cones were a little rough, he did bump me a few times and I vaguely wondered if that would count against us... The left pivot was really nice, just how we practiced. Everything else went smoothly. The jump was fine and he didn't tap it - thank god! and came right back to heel (though bumping me a little in the process). On the Halt, 1 step right, Halt, I thought for one horrid moment that he was going to move with me - even though we had JUST practiced this over and over in the past 30 minutes, but he didn't - came back to heel position, and sat. phew! The very last exercise was a call dog to front (without moving the feet). During training and even earlier today during warm-ups, he came to front beautifully. But during this exercise, he only came halfway and sat out of position at about a 90° angle. I contemplated for what seemed like a long time, but was only a fraction of a second if I should retry or not, and decided not to. Then I couldn't remember which way to finish him, so I had to glance at the sign to see it was supposed to be a right finish, halt. He finished fine and sat, and then we were off through the finish sign.

Once I got the leash back on Red and we left the ring, I lavishly praised him and took him back to the chairs where I let him dip his nose into the treat pouch. My initial reaction after the run was that I thought it was just ok. I knew we had lost points on at least one crooked sit, and he didn't completely front for sign #17 (the very last one!). His attention wasn't the best but he stayed with me. But other than that, I was happy with everything else, and especially the jump since he hasn't had too much exposure to jumps. Michelle said we looked really good, and all she saw wrong was the out of position front. I was glad she thought we looked good because I always think we do worse than we really do. She checked the scoreboard and reported that we got a 95. I was so relieved to hear that! Phew!! And we might even place too.

Dawn and Atticus did their run and did very well. I always really enjoy watching them trial. We got them on video, too, since I think seeing yourself and dog work is a very helpful learning tool. They did well, but we didn't know what their score was since they took the sheet down without posting it.

Our Advanced A class was not a good one. Out of the 8 people that trialed, only 4 qualified - including Red and I, and Dawn and Atticus. There were 2 dogs that went running around the ring during the middle of their trial, completely spazzing out. The one was dismissed before they could even finish since it was clear the dog was out of control. I had never seen a dog do that in the ring before.

Red and I earned a score of 95 out of 100, and 2nd place in our class. We lost 4 points for the bumping/handler interference during the cone exercise, and 1 point for the out of position front during the last exercise. Dawn and Atticus got a 94 and 3rd place. Atticus had a slight issue with one of the dogs during our ribbon ceremony - we think the clapping set him off. He went toward the springer spaniel, but didn't do anything. It was more startling than anything else. Dawn had him back under control again, and then he was completely fine again.

We received a lovely red rosette, green qualifying ribbon, and a small stuffie toy. After the awards ceremony, we went back to the chairs and Red started happily tearing apart the stuffie. I promptly took it away once he put a hole in it and started removing stuffing.

Michelle got a photo of Red and I with our ribbons (click to enlarge):



I put Red back in the crate and we sat back down to wait for Dawn and to trial Delilah in Novice A. They had a great run and ended up with a score of 100 and 1st place in the class! Very cool, and I got it on video.

After that, Michelle and I packed everything up and departed. It was about 5pm when we left. Red fell asleep on the way home since he didn't sleep at all in his crate all day. It was a good day =) And thanks again, Michelle, for coming with me and supporting us!! You are awesome!!! *hugs*

Without further ado, here is the video of our run:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGZunIpGsgM


And here is Red posing with his rosette and ribbon after we got home (click to enlarge:



Redders is now passed out in front of the fireplace... one very tired puppy! =)