I had originally entered Perri in Level 2A. I was a little bit uneasy about that and the feeling only intensified after our rally-o class on Tuesday night. Perri had an absolutely stunning and happy first run through in the ring (including a Moving Down and a Down from a sit! She has a very hard time feeling relaxed enough to "down", no matter where, and Tuesday's class was the best she has ever done. Fast and snappy!)
but our second time into the ring I got lost and said "Oh, where am I?" That was it. Shut down.
The worst thing about Perri's shut downs is that I shut down too. I can't help it. And then we feed off of each other.
I was going to scratch our entry entirely but then I had An Idea. I e-mailed the trial secretary and asked if Perri could do Level 1. No problem, she moved Perri into 1B class for me.
And we had a great time in the ring. We got a 201 and that ain't too shabby. The pivot left was not pretty, Perri got stuck in her sit and then looped around me weirdly so we had to redo that one. She was very slow on her down from a sit and I had to recue that. And when we were heading towards the bonus she saw so many admirers ringside her tail began wagging very hard and she lost focus so I had to re-cue that. But otherwise she had very very pretty heeling with the smile and the flashy moving and everything I love about Perri when she is feeling good and working. I feel like it was a super positive experience! I do have to admit my hands were shaking in the ring. I have no confidence in the ring when I am in there with Perri. I'm just waiting for it to fall apart. It's terrible! And I'm certain it is part of the problem. But I know we are moving in the right direction, our team just needs more time and that's okay.
Ein! was entered in his usual Veterans class. We did two rounds since there were two trials. Ein scored 210 on both of his runs and was totally overjoyed and happy both times. He heels wide and still gets a little nervous but it is absolutely addictive to go into the ring with a dog so eager to do "his job." Ein also won a free bandana for qualifying in Vets class. I have to admit that I chose a pink flowery one! Ein and Perri have the same size neck and I did pick it with Perri in mind - the residents on our therapy dog visits will love it! This video is of Ein's second run of the day. Watch for it on the bonus when I ask him to down, he puts his all into that down...even puts his chin on the floor! I died of love when he did that.
I even entered Molly in this trial to see if we could get those final ten points and last QQ for her ARCH. Molly hasn't been the happiest worker in rally-o so I haven't been very excited to get her back into the ring. We took some time off and I thought we would give it a go. Level 1 was a 209 and 5th place and Level 2 was a perfect 210 and 2nd place! Wow!! Molly was still not happy happy but she didn't seem quite as miserable as before. I remembered to give her our permitted cookies (string cheese) and praised her when she was doing a good job. We needed ten points, we got thirty nine and the QQ was secured. ARCH Molly Moo!! I was beyond proud of Molly's calm behavior ringside. She has grown so much in the last few years and almost all of the time, her reactivity feels like a thing of the past. And I think that's pretty cool!
Ein's run looks fantastic! And congrats on a successful happy run with Perri and a new title with Molly!
ReplyDelete