ugh!
it was a HOT HOT HOT weekend!
saturday went well - berlin passed her PTT so now she has more initials after her name, she was graded as passive with the group.
rah also passed his adult temperament test and the judge was surprised he didnt have any protection training, good boy :) he was graded as stable with the group and satisfactory with the aggressor. He also has new initials after his name!
berlin got dumped in her class and took second, but the judge was going to do that - she was dumping all dogs that looked like her, including her bro rudy, and seemed to like the bigger dogs. berlin also moved like CRAP yesterday and was so hot - judging takes a LONG time in the UDC (she was in the ring about 45 minutes total, and she had already been out earlier to do the PTT) so she was HOT... the biggest thing the judge had to say was she looked immature, which is true, especially compared to the other dog in her class :)
come to today... warm rah up, we're looking good. he's attentive, he's bright. i chase the rabbits off the field before we get there, im not too nervous, i can do this in my sleep. i get him in there, judge has shown us the pattern, ive got it in my head.
im ready, rah is in heel, and judge is fiddling with the honor dog (this is a UKC judge - the honor is ALWAYS done in a down, i dont know WHAT he was thinking - its a sit???) but it took about a minute to set her up, so im trying to hang out with rah and keep him interactive with me but i lost his attention, i should have broken him out. that was my first mistake. i need to ask my trainers what to do in this situation here - because my concern was i had already done our training games into the ready to get started position - and he was ready, and we just waited... and waited...
so then we finally start - remember i know the heeling pattern. he gives us the first halt. and doesn't say anything. one second goes by... two seconds... i look at him, and finally he goes "forward" and by now, im just confused - im wondering to myself "In UDC, do I just go forward like in schutzhund????"... so I go forward, he gives me the left, and then the fast... and my fast is RIGHT into the honor dog... and I mean seriously, he has placed the honor dog literally one foot away from the path I am going to take, and I also know Rah crabs and is in serious danger of possibly coming very close to this dog. So I do the only thing I can -- I drift very close to the ring gate and he gives me the about turn and Rah pretty much touches the ring gate, but I had to - I couldn't let him STEP on the honor dog. I know a halt is coming... but it doesn't come... I keep heeling... and he goes... OH HALT. so I halt, and again - we sit there for 3-4 seconds and he hasn't given me a forward. I totally forgot footwork because at this point I am just confused because the heeling pattern is just screwed up and he's not giving me forwards and I don't know what is going on - it's not what he's given me. So he gives me a forward again, and I'm almost at the end of the ring and he hasn't give me the slow!!!!!!!! and literally now I am 3 feet away from the ring gate and he says in one breath slow normal right turn, and I'm like, this is fucking RIDICULOUS, I make the right and rah hits the ring gate again, and he gives me the last halt and its over. It's time for the figure8 and all of a sudden I hear the honor dog's handler go "SHIT" and I know this means one thing... the animals are out.
See, Ray's house has loose animals. Loose guinea hens with a loose rooster and a loose rabbit. This time, it was the guinea hens. The judge just tells me to try to make sure my dog doesn't see and he sends people out to herd them? But of course, now everyone has drawn Rah's attention to it (it was out there the entire time and Rah ignored it) - so now I'm completely thrown off - I try to play games with him, having him speak, jump up on me, turn in circles, but we're failing at the whole "don't see the chickens"... i try to set him up for the fig8 when it's time to start again (about a minute later), but it was very not pretty. do the SFE, get to the recall and my mind is blown, and i dont use his normal command, and he stares at me and... doesn't come. he's NEVER DONE THAT :)so a nice big fat NQ for us.
get to the down, which i have little hope he will nail, and its with his back to the chickens, but something seems to have stuck and he nailed it - even when the rabbits come out right in front of him!!!!! we get to the sits, and he nails that, even when roar goes down... so he nailed his sits, but the NQ does it for us.
straight to the next trial, and the heeling pattern starts right next to the ring entrance???? is this judge trying to kILL ME???? so we do the heeling pattern and i have no attention - rah is with me, but not looking at me - he's doing his nice impression of LLW. and pretty much doesn't sit a single time we are out there except the very last time of the fig 8, and it was a LOVELY straight sit. go figure. SFE was fine, i made sure to use the right command for his recall and he did that fine (but crooked), and we made it through. down is ok, get to sits, and both dogs on his right go down, im PRAYING he doesnt... and all of a sudden the tent the handlers are standing under starts to lift up and fly in the breeze!!!! the handler next to me and i JUMP UP and catch it and i think rah thought i was going to throw it at him, so he's like "oh shit!!) and just sits there :) but he qualified - very ugly, and barely (you lose lots of points when you don't sit ONCE in the ring)... but yeah.
he also got stung by a bee AGAIN in between the trials, and then the SAME TENT while we were standing under it later in the day, flew up in the air again and COMPLETELY flipped over while we were under it... poor rah.
im seriously never showing him at rays ever again.
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