Last weekend at Pals and Paws, Xander had a number of Baby Dog moments, compounded by the fact that I wasn’t handling him to the best of our ability. Wide turns, shopping for off course obstacles, random flipping, and things like that which indicated inexperience, loss of focus, and a lack of connection in our partnership. Much of that I attribute to my own lack of focus, being tired from long days of course building, and being unable to spend much time with him outside of working. This weekend however, the Xan Man was looking very much like the Big Dog I know he can be. He has really only been to less than ten shows since we started in September, so I have to remind myself that we are still learning about one another. Up until now, I have been tentative and unsure about his reactions to certain maneuvers. In essence, I wasn’t trusting him, or I was leaving him to make his own decisions in situations where I should have been giving him more information. In Orlando, at another spectacular Dog-Gone-It USDAA show, we finally truly came together as a team.
Dog-Gone-It Club shows are spectacular for several reasons. For one thing, the weather is often gorgeous, as it was this weekend, and the site is beautiful. Lush green grass, blue skies, warm sun, and cool breezes were the recipe for perfection at this Central Florida gem. The trial is smoothly run, the competitors are fun and happy, and the dogs are fantastic. The atmosphere is so positive and enjoyable, and the site itself so peaceful and relaxing, that in spite of some heat, it was virtually impossible to not have a good time.
This was our second weekend in Advanced, having picked up one Advanced Gambler and one Advanced Snooker Q last weekend. Saturday began with Advanced Pairs, and although Xander and I ran our half flawlessly, our poor teammate had already NQ’d on the first half. This gave us the opportunity to work on a few things and to run hard and fast, which we did. I was not even disappointed that we didn’t Q, because I hadn’t forgotten the baton, and the mistake was not my fault this time!
Gamblers was the next class we ran, with a strategy I had carefully planned for timing and points. I was thrilled that we handled it precisely the way I’d planned, and the timing of the buzzer was perfect. Sadly, I doubted myself, so we killed a few seconds making a wide turn around on an extra jump, but he nailed the gamble and we earned 1st place. Gamblers also provided us the opportunity to practice a few elements we would see in Advanced Standard, which was the next class to follow. The practice seemed to pay off, as our only mistake was a wide turn before a front cross, which cost us several seconds, and earned us a 2nd place Q(missing 1st place by 1 second).
Steeplechase was the last class on Saturday, and by then it was approaching ninety degrees. Buster was clutch in keeping our shade shelter properly positioned to keep us all cool, as well as offering expert filming services to myself and a few others. The course was fast and fun, with a few tricky spots. Xander handled it almost flawlessly, and was extremely responsive to my cues. He barely missed the entry on our final pass through the weaves, due to an extremely fast line of jumps leading to up to it, so we lost a few seconds there. However, we qualified for the finals in 9th place.
Buster and I enjoyed an exquisite dinner at Bonefish Grill that evening while the dogs relaxed in the hotel. We all slept very soundly that night, and awoke dark and early for another day of fun. After packing up and checking out of the hotel, we made it to the site just in time for my Advanced Snooker briefing. The big dogs ran first on Sunday, so I had no time to obsess over a strategy after walking the course, I just decided on one and we were in the ring before I had time to think! I chose the 7, 7, 5 strategy and in spite of the cool morning and his obvious excitement, Xander responded to every collection cue I presented, and we made it through clean! He did yell at me when I steered him around the outside of a tunnel, but he respected my handling and didn’t go off course! We ended up with another 1st place Q.
Standard came after Starters Snooker had wrapped up, and after a nice long walk with the corgis around the park. Sunday was also Kaylee’s 9th birthday! Although she didn’t get to enjoy any agility, she did get to sleep on the bed three nights in a row, as well as spend time walking around the gorgeous park and rolling in the soft grass. She seemed happy. At any rate, the Standard course was extremely tricky, and I was thrilled to run with no off courses. The heartbreaker came when Xander knocked the displaceable tire, an obstacle we don’t have access to for practice, and we received a 5 pt fault. He also got a bit tangled in the chute after I chose to rear cross it, as the course was almost set up to force that maneuver. I despise rear crosses to the chute for that very reason, but he recovered quickly and I wasn’t forced to intervene. He was also a bit naughty on his dog walk, but stopped when I marked it with an “uh oh”. His contacts all weekend, except for a dogwalk in standard on Saturday, weren’t really a stop so much as a slow down to pause. I think I may have to insist on a stop in practice, and a pause in competition, as that’s what he’s come to expect. I still regret my decision earlier on in releasing him early, but he was so creepy and slow before. Now that he is confident, he is fast and doesn’t want to stop at all! Luckily, he still has never missed one, and as long as he respects that he must slow at the end, I may settle for our “managed contact” approach. This remains to be determined.
Steeplechase finals were another heartbreaker, as he was running hard and fast, in spite of the heat and handled it brilliantly until another wide turn to a front cross resulted in a bar down. Still, he handled some tricky elements that many seasoned dogs had trouble with, and made a respectable time just a few seconds from the first place dog!
Advanced Jumpers was almost immediately following Steeplechase, and my poor boy was worn out. I was dragging myself, and although he gave it a valiant effort, he dropped one bar toward the end of the run. Even with the NQ, he still earned 3rd place ;) More importantly, we finished the weekend with ZERO off courses! His only mistakes all weekend were two dropped bars and one displaced tire! We felt very in tune, calm, and connected all weekend. His weaving was BRILLIANT, his stays were rock solid, and I was able to keep him focused and responsive in spite of many tempting off course possibilities! Overall, we just had FUN and really enjoyed the game together. It is such an incredible feeling when you can begin to trust your dog, to push them for things you know they can do, and to get the behaviors you see in practice! Hopefully I will have time to post some video this week.
Now we need two Standard legs, one Pairs, and one Jumpers leg to earn our AAD. And we only need one Gamblers and one Snookers to move up to Masters in those games! We have already planned for AKC trials in the next couple of months, although I wish there were more USDAA shows! This game is so addictive; I played all weekend and now find myself on Monday wishing I were back there playing again! At least I will be teaching class tonight, and can get my fix that way. I suppose there are worse things to be addicted to, although I doubt this addiction is much cheaper than any other…Time to buy more lottery tickets!
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