December 06, 2010

Another Q and Flyball practice

Yesterday (Sunday) was a VERY long day!  We started by getting to the show TOO early.  On Saturday, there were notes posted on the score boards saying that Sunday started an hour earlier.  Because these were hand written notes, placed prominantly, I thought it was a schedule change.  I took it to mean that everything was being moved up one hour.  So my class was supposed to start at 10:20, so I thought it was instead going to start at 9:20.  Wrong.  The note was just a reminder that the show started at 8 (as scheduled) on Sunday instead of 9 (as scheduled) on Saturday.  So we arrived WAY too early.

Thankfully Dazzle was happy to relax in his crate while we waited.  I got him out when there were still a few people waiting to go in ahead of us and warmed him up a bit but didn't go over the top with it.  I think it worked well and he had a good level of "readiness" going in.  Then he saw the jump and the toy in the figure 8 and his brain went out the window :-)  He REALLY wanted to go check out the toy and until we got there, that's where his focus was. 

It was a jump, right into the figure 8 around both a toy AND food.  He gave both a very careful inspection and sniff, but didn't pick up the toy (YEA!!) So we lost points for the sniffing/distraction, but then I had my dog back.  He did even better once we got halfway across the ring.  We ended up with a 93, but since it was an "extra" run it didn't really count for anything as far as titles go.  I was just REALLY happy he left the toy!

The photographer (Dick Clark) was at this show and I got the photos from the Dayton show in September .  I'll most likely get ones from this past weekend too but those weren't ready yet.





After a celebration, he went back in the crate while I worked the check-in board for Advanced and Novice Rally.  About 4:30, I was on the road north to Columbus for a Flyball class.  I had a bit of time to kill so we stopped at the outlet stores so I could get some thermal clothing. 

At Flyball class, Dazzle did great.  He really liked the jump chute and was getting the hang of getting his feet on the box.  We also did a bit of sleeve work and practiced his release cue.  His strength and confidence has really increased.  He was one tired pup by the end of class! And by the end of the 2 hour drive home, I was pretty tired too :-)