The Excellent walkthrough was set to start at 11:00am, and that what time I wanted to get there, to allow myself time to relax and chill out. Red and I left the house at 10:10am, I stopped at Dunkin Donuts for some coffee ;), and then we were on the road. We got there a little before 11:00am. We didn't have to park too far away, and thankfully Michelle had already taken Red's crate and my chair and set it up last night, so I didn't have to haul it in. (Thanks soooo much, Michelle!!)
The Rally ring was upstairs, so climbed the stairs to the 2nd level. It didn't seem that crowded. The Excellent class was doing their walkthrough. I saw Dawn in one of the corners near our crates and went over to deposit my stuff. Another friend, Jennifer with her GSD named Libby, was there to compete in her very first Rally Novice A trial. So Michelle was there with Maisy competing for her RAE (not sure which leg), Dawn with Atticus and Delilah and Atty's 2nd RA leg and Delilah's 2nd RN leg, Jennifer with Libby for her 1st RN leg, and Red and I for our 2nd RA leg. We set up our crates in the same area, so that was nice.
Red was a ball of energy when we first arrived. I was trying to upload my stuff and finish erecting the crate and Red was all over the place. Dawn held onto him for me while I got things in order. He was jumping around acting like a retard so much, even after warning him, so he received a nice sharp collar pop/shake from me and he was MUCH better behaved after that.
When we first get there, I always walk him around so he can sniff the place, then start with a few exercises, then play tug to release some of that initial excited energy. We were exuberantly playing tug with the frisbee and Libby started getting really worked up, pacing, whining and barking. I was going to take Red somewhere else to play, but they ended up taking her out to the car for awhile. Red and I played for awhile longer, then he started calming down, and I put him in the crate.
I went and checked in and got my course map. As usual, I was scheduled 2nd in the ring and the person in front of me hadn't checked in yet. Gah! I HATE going first - I don't have any time to warm up Red after the walkthrough. Got the course map and looked it over. It's a small, tight course with 17 stations. No 180° left pivots so that's good because Red still isn't as proficient as I would like at them, but the dreaded "halt, side step right, halt" was there. Also a "halt, stand, walk around dog" which we haven't really practiced either. No biggie, we'll just do these exercises when I get him back out.
The judge was zooming right along. Before I knew it Excellent A was over, so I got Red back out to practice these iffy exercises. The stand walk around was fine, but the side step right one kept giving us issues. He wouldn't move with me, and then sat really crooked. I got a couple better ones out of him, so maybe we can salvage it after all...
Excellent B finished and the course was changed for Advanced. We did our walk through - I think I did it 3 or 4 times. It was a tight, somewhat confusing course so I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to miss any signs. I did ask the judge about the stand walk around because I wanted to make sure we are allowed to touch the dog - which we are, though Excellent level cannot. By the end of the walkthrough, I was confident with it. Mercifully, the team in front of me showed up so we would be going 2nd as originally planned.
Went back and got Red out of the crate, grabbed a handful of hotdog bits, and proceeded to the ring in our "on deck" position. Red was nice and focused - right on. I fed the last treat as the other team was exiting the ring.
We didn't quite heel into the ring, and Red started sniffing around a little, but I was able to get him into position with minimal effort, and then removed his leash and handed it to the steward.
The judge, who was a friendly fellow, wished us luck. After his forward command we were off...
1. Halt, Stand, Walk Around Dog: No problem.
2. Fast Pace: No problem.
3. Normal Pace: No problem.
4. Right Turn: No problem.
5. Halt, Right Side Step, Halt: This was the exercise I was most concerned about since we really haven't practiced it at home. He started to sit, then popped back up, and I told him to sit again. Fleetingly, I wondered if that would be counted against me and if I should retry. I decided to keep going. I got him to come to my right and sit relatively straight again. ah, crisis averted!
6. 270° Left Turn: No problem.
7. Send Over Jump: For a second there, I thought he was going to stop and go around the jump, but thankfully he made the jump. Came right back to heel well.
8. 360° Right Turn: No problem.
9. 180° Pivot Right: He didn't come the way around and was little behind me when he sat again. oh well, I just proceeded to the next sign. There was a long heel between this sign and the next one (which included going by the jump again) and he did great.
10. Halt, Walk Around Dog: Again, he sat somewhat behind me and crooked, but I walked around him anyway and kept going.
11. Right Turn: No problem.
12. 90° Pivot Right: No problem.
13. Serpentine Weave Once: These damn cones exercises are our downfall. He bumps me on every turn. I had a feeling we'd be getting deducted for this exercise...
14. 360° Left Turn: No problem.
15. About U Turn: No problem.
16. Left Turn: Bumped me a little, but otherwise ok.
17. Finish. I made sure to praise him well afterwards because I always seem to forget that part...
Michelle was videoing and thought the run looked good, but I thought we IPed #5 because of his double sit. I took him back to the crate and jackpotted him. I was praising and giving him treats and didn't realize Dawn and Atticus were the team after us. So I missed most of their run. After Dawn's run, Michelle checked the score and said we'd gotten a 94. She said she thought we had a 95. I didn't care as long as we qualified! And in the 90's too!
We waited for the rest of the Advanced A people to go because they did the ribbon ceremonies after each class. Went back into the ring when we were called and we ended up with 1st place! Very happy indeed! =) And Dawn and Atty got 2nd place!
After a little more playing, I put Red back in his crate so I could unwind a little. During the Novice walkthrough, I asked the judge about my scoresheet to see what I got marked off for. Turns out I got 1 point off for each cone bump (4 points totoal), and 2 points off for an out of position on #5 (the side step). We definitely deserved the points off on the cones, but watching the video back, I still can't see the out of position on the side step. oh well...
Dawn and Jennifer were competing in Novice A and I wanted to see and video their runs. Jen and Libby qualified, but Dawn and Delilah didn't after a questionable call on the moving right side step. Unfortunately for some reason, my camera wasn't recording their run so we couldn't even look back to see if it was legitimate or not. I was really upset about that. I've never screwed up on videoing before and I felt horrible.
We left after the ribbons were handed out. It was a lot harder to leave since I had to carry my 2 bags plus the chair and crate, not to mention the 80 lb Doberman at the end of the leash. But we made it out to the car and I allowed Red to eat the rest of the treats in the pouch as usual. After strapping him into his car harness, we were off back home.
I was really happy with our trial today. Definitely need to work on our cones. The cones have lost us major points in the last 2 legs due to bumping. Not cool. Other than that, I was really happy with how Red did. Such a good boy =)
Here is the video of our run:
And all of us together. From left to right: Me and Red, Michelle and Maisy, Dawn and Delilah, Jennifer and Libby
click to enlarge
One more leg to go for Advanced!! =D
2 comments:
Congratulations!!! Notice in the group picture Red is the only one looking at his human? :)
Dawn King
Thanks! And congrats to you too!!
haha, I didn't even know he was looking at me at the time! I was just glad to get all of us in the same photo!
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