well, stayed home for part of last night because kathy was nervous that secret would whelp her litter - i knew she wasnt going to , but to make kathy feel better i hung back for a bit. as a result, i only took rah to class (he's the only one officially entered anyway) for utility and left every other dog home. i felt bad leaving berlin "home alone" as i said it, since i took rah - then lydia scoffed because with kathy currently here we had 6 dogs (and one unborn), and 4 cats here with her when i took rah - hardly alone :)
the puppy is a sad story - it looks like secret only has one pup. a gigantic one, that may need a csection but only one. we keep hoping against hope there is a hidden one in there for me, but i dont think thats really likely. of course, having any puppy at all is amazing since the timing and obstacles to this breeding were immense and ridiculous, any puppy is a miracle. still its sad. if no pup, ill likely hold off and not get anything this year since i dont NEED anything this year i can focus on trialing the two dogs i already cant afford to show as much as i would like :)
speaking of, need to enter both dogs in trials coming up - rah needs his next batch of obedience, and i just sent in some more entries for berlin.
i got closed out of dauphins thursday trial (what?) - actually waitlisted, but im not holding my breath.
i got wait listed for sat 3/26, but into sundays trial 3/27 at dream park.
just sent an entry in for keystone on 4/8 and 4/9 --- hopefully i get in since i forgot and mailed them this morning.
i hate that good trials close out so early...
im going to enter rah in the first day of timonium since its a dobe specialty - i just cant decide if i should stay down for additional days of obedience. the judges there are a GREAT panel for him, so i think i should suck it up and spend the money for a hotel and just show him. im hesitant only because ill have both boy dogs and berlin with me - while i can HANDLE all three dobes just fine, i hate having to bring mercury into a hotel room alone since he is legitimately going to spend the entire time in a crate he's at this show. maybe ill bring him an expen so he can have half the hotel room, or something. lydia isnt coming to this show as far as i know...
class last night was ok. kathy was understandably a little distracted so we kept it quick. started with articles - and rah nailed them ON THE OLD ARTICLES. apparently he cannot, cannot CANNOT scent his new articles which means its not a me problem or a him problem, these articles, despite after airing for a week, being washed twice, and me scenting multiple times, are still stinky. i love them but i cant use them!!!!! so back to washing daily and scenting daily - scenting HEAVILY - until he can do them. its not his fault, clearly hes smelling something odd out there - but on the old articles he's nailing them quickly and working the pile. the newer articles he fakes working the pile...
moving stand was lovely - he even added in a cute little hop, but he locked in. very very nice.
go outs - very nice go outs - crooked on one, he straightened himself on the other. i gave him his ball and he pulled up short (halfway) on the other because i had just stopped him tugging, had his ball still in my hand, and he was crazed in "ball la la land" - he was staring waiting for it. i took him, popped him out and reminded him what i wanted. next one pulled up short again (but pulled up at gait, instead of driving until i turned him) - i popped him and he beat the pop going out the last few feet.
the last go out? a thing of BEAUTY. he ran - RAN - out there - and was running his heart out and showed no signs of slowing and i turned and sat him and we had a PARTY!!! as kathy said - THAT is what a go out looks like.
i kept the ball out - figured if it gets him so amped up that he has trouble thinking, thats exactly the sort of state i need to train him in. did signals and he had a few problems focusing on me and not the ball, and did get corrected once for walking when he was thinking about karin running with simon and not me, but we worked through it and he did nice signals with ears on the top of his head.
gloves were funny as he came closer and saw that his ball was under my chin his ears went higher and he started to shake in anticipation of getting it. im going to make him come in closer to get the glove (and maybe his article though he doesnt come in and sit out that far for them) - i can see him getting further and further with his prize in the ring :)
all in all nothing bad. some ideas...
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