I admit I am sad thinking that this could be the last time we compete in rally together. He has been my teammate since rally began. I remember bringing him to an "intro to rally" seminar with Lisa Wright when he was 10 weeks old. He was just an observer then, but that is how long we have been playing this sport together. Since then he has earned a CARO rally bronze award, APDT rally champion and soon CKC RAE x2. That is a lot of rally for one little sheltie! We could continue but I just don't see what the point is anymore. He has done so much and worked like a real trooper for so long that I feel its time to retire him from the obedience sports and let him focus on the fun and fast sports. He LOVES agility, its fun, fast, he can bark like crazy and it's ok. Rally involves so much focus, and yes he still works hard but I have just felt lately like he is bored with it. I want to respect that and listen to what he is telling me. So here's hoping we go out with a bang tomorrow.
As Strider begins to retire from many sports, Spryte is taking the lead and debuting in many rings. Last Sunday she was in CKC Novice B for the first time. The venue was dark, the windstorm outside caused many distractions including flickering lights and banging doors, and the aisles crowded with dogs and people. I had entered thinking it would be a quiet first trial for Spryte, but the venue was more challening than I could have imagined.
Her first round was decent, I had a few bumps on heeling and a crooked front and finish. The stays were especially stressful as several dogs got up and tried to leave the ring, and utility go backs were taking place in the next ring. She was hypervigilant, watching every little detail that was happening around me. I was really stressing about her stays, but she pulled them off. She finished with a score of 197 and second place. Mentally I made some notes about our first round, one that she lost focus on the figure eight when I headed to the left first, so I was thinking next round I would start to the right. I also promised myself I would breath, and focus on my handling and footwork a little more. Well we went in more of a team for the second round. I kept her up entering the ring and had more "presence of mind" than the first round. The heeling was good, my handling was much better, starting to the right for the figure eight made a world of differerence. The recall was awesome too. I left the ring thinking that round felt amazing. True teamwork from such a young dog. I was thrilled with my run. Stays were still stressful, but again me made it through. When we came in for ribbons there were three survivors from Novice B. The springer took third, Jackie and her male golden took second with a 198. At that point I was thinking, wow we must have gotten a great score! Well I was blown away when the judge announced that team 203 had won first place with a perfect 200!! Oh my god I was speachless and very emotional! What a huge shock. This was a career first for me and something I never ever expected to get. I still can hardly believe it happened to me and my very green sheltie. It was an eye opener and has made me realize that my "agility" dog is an "obedience" dog too. I will have to give equal time to training both sports.
Spryte HIT and first & second place ribbons
scores of 200 & 197
This weekend is also Spryte agility debut. She turned 18 months last week and we were lucky enough to get into two AAC agility trials on back to back weekends. Tomorrow we head up to Edmonton for the DAL trial and next weekend the 2x4 trial in Calgary. I am so excited to compete with Spryte in agility. We have worked so hard together and she really challenges me as a handler. She is much faster than Strider and loves distance. I can't wait to see how she handles a real trial environment. I have goals for myself this weekend, mostly to stick to my criteria. I want a stopped contact on all the equipment and she still likes to jump the Aframe. So I need to make sure I insist on her stopping, even if it means losing a Q. I am thinking long term and the short term gains must be ignored. It will be hard in the moment, but hopefully by writting it out and telling people it will make me more accountable to my goals. I also don't want to "babysit" her. I have trained her like a masters dog and I dont want to handle her like a starters dog. So I need to trust the training and let her do her stuff. If something goes wrong it is simply a hole in our training that needs work.
So that is the plan and we'll see how it all plays out.
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