i get there eventually

ok so the trial :) 0
so we get to the trial- i entered because it was indoors. but there's a catch - its in the armory gym (gross floors, ugh!) and they have the huge service garage door wide open and its literally 5 feet from the novice ring! and there were windows all over the room, with light shining in onto the floor. needless to say, for the girl whose dog chases lights something fierce, i was having a heart attack.

i lug all the crates in, walk rah around the room and get him aquainted, do some with me's, and put him away. watch some of the B class, and then get him out to work.

eventually it becomes my turn.

i got him in the ring ok, but i lost him right before the set up - head fell, he looked out the door. i got him back and set him up and he was good as we took off heeling - but the first halt was right past the blinding light, and when i halted, rah stopped but was staring outside at the dogs warming up. i stared at him, and he looked back at me and slowly sat (crooked likely). so instead of a no sit i got a slow/crooked sit. took back off, finished off the heeling pattern without any majorly bad things.

hard to set up for the fig8 because she had us so close to the ring gate, rah and i were literally almost on top of them. not a big issue for those small dogs, but rah and i were really cramped. not too bad until the last halt, where i lost my balance and stepped right into him, and i pushed him really far out for a crooked sit.

SFE he was distracted and he needed a second command, but he did fine, so no points off.
transition to off leash was ok again until we got to actual setting up - then he dropped his head at the last minute, but i got him back and he was there, we played a set up game. took off and he was ok and much better than on leash. however, i was WORSE for the slow, and i didnt slow enough and then i didnt come out of the slow FAST enough... bad handler.

on the recall, i left him, he was focused on me, i called him - and he came barrelling at me and hit me in the stomach with a foot before a straight front. then a nice finish.

sits were fine, but he was very uncomfortable with the down (gross floor - concrete!). but he held it.

we took the class and HS dobe, HS working dog - im not sure how i lost my points on off leash, as no one could find any substantials??????? but oh well... so that was our CD . bad bad handling, but had i known we would have had the essentially outdoor experience right next to the ring, i would have ixnayed it!



we ended up staying all day to get our awards at the end - but karen and chris (chris owns raisin!) came and i hung out with them, had dinner, and karen was judging rally and wanted me to be her honor dog extra and we ran the excellent course. he did really well :)