5 days of Dog Adventures

Wednesday – FAST class

Our agility class on Wednesday was a FAST course. To be honest, I didn’t enjoy the class much, but we did well, and it was interesting. Carla has been much speedier in class lately, but if I get lost, and stop to figure out where I’m going, it definitely slows her down, a LOT. I also learned that the send was not as much of a problem as I expected – good to know! Since we did well, I’m not sure why I didn’t enjoy the class more, but I suspect it has to do with the fact that l still feel so inept at planning a course, and FAST was all about the planning.

Thursday and Friday – Rally

On Thursday and Friday, my senior citizen, Dash, was back at a dog show for the first time in over 5 years. Dash always enjoyed showing, and was thrilled to get back into the ring again. He far exceeded my expectations, and came home with a blue ribbon from Rally Novice B both days. He scored a 98 on Thursday, and a 97 on Friday. I got several comments from spectators about how happy Dash was and how much fun he was to watch. Here’s a picture of him from when he was much younger. He’s still a handsome happy guy.

Saturday and Sunday – Agility

Carla and I entered our first ever agility trial, the Y2K9′s CPE trial. I entered this trial primarily so we could work on our (my) stress issues, in an environment that doesn’t have our “trouble” obstacles, the weaves and teeter. So, to that end, I guess the weekend was successful, I went from feeling drastically ill on Saturday to actually being able to enjoy eating on Sunday.

On Saturday we were entered in Standard and Jumpers. Our standard run was very, VERY, slow and painful, right up until when we were whistled off for time. Our jumpers run was more successful, although still way over in time faults.

On Sunday we were entered in Standard and Colors. Our standard run on Sunday was the most successful of the weekend, only 10 time faults. Here’s the run:

I know that it was our first weekend, and that I should be thrilled that Carla kept working, albeit slowly, despite the new environment and her stressed out handler, but I’m still frustrated and discouraged, not so much because of the slugg-y-ness, but more because I haven’t a clue how to fix it.

I’m trying to remember that in our first off lead Rally trials, our stress behaviors were much worse, a LOT of sniffing, and some out and out refusals, so I’m hoping that there’s hope for us in agility yet.

To end things on a positive note, here’s a picture of Carla practicing with Reanna at Y2 2 weeks ago, both of them having a good time.

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