Pawsitive Partners Show N Go

Penny's first trial is coming up February 18 & 19 so we took advantage of a Snow N Go held at Pawsitive Partners yesterday.  I am very grateful for the opportunity to get her on their turf and equipment to see how she would do in a new place.  I am very, very pleased!  It wasn't very crowded but she handled all the dogs, people, etc of a trial-like environment really well.  She seemed a bit stressed at first but definitely got better as the afternoon went on, not sure if this is because she was also getting tired or if she was actually starting to relax.  I did however, notice that she is much more relaxed in her crate than she was if we were waiting ringside, but at least it appears that the crate/mat work from CU is working.  She didn't really lie down in her crate at all, instead she prefers to have the top unzipped so she can sit inside with her head sticking out the top and have a nice view of everything :)

Anyway, while on course her focus was great!!  At the USDAA match we did recently, she had a bit of the zoomies and sniffed a lot.  Granted, that facility was on dirt which is more smelly, I am still really happy with her focus.  She stayed right with me for most of the time (I'm sure that the instance or two where she went off ahead of me was my own fault) and got through all of the courses.  Now if I could only get MY act together!

I forgot the first course both times we did it, and my contacts fell apart because I wasn't reinforcing my criteria.  Penny was getting the contacts, and under the influence of anxiety I just kept going even though she wasn't meeting my 2o2o criteria.  It eventually got the best of us and she completely missed a contact on the A-frame on our last course.  I made her redo it and she got the contact but again, no 2o2o, and I let her continue.  Oops.  At least I now know what our homework is.

Penny was also unable to do the weaves, but I had suspected she might have trouble with doing all 12 since it has been at least a month since we did 12.  They were also at the very end of the course so she was already pretty tired.  I had her try them a few times and she could get most of them in but always popped out at the end.  I eventually just gave up, and I'm OK with that, I didn't want to completely fry her brain!  I know she *can* do 12, and I am proud of what she was able to do in a new setting and also at the end of a challenging course.  I'm also OK with it for now because in AKC Novice she will only need to do six, so we have time to work on it.

My last concern is the tire.  Our class does not have a displaceable one so she has not done one yet.  There was a tire at the USDAA match that I could not get her to take at the set height.  I tried once to get her to take the one yesterday, at the end of the run, and she ran up to it like she was going to but stopped.  I think she will be fine with it as long as she can start out at a lower height until she figures out what she needs to do with it, so that is also on the agenda of things to work on before the trial.

Her jumping seemed good at 24", I am pretty sure that the knocked bars were the fault of my poor handling.  I am hoping that she will measure into 20" for AKC, since she does not seem to get too sloppy at that height.  (The lower I can run her at, the better, I think.  As far as long-term joint health and things of that nature go)

Here is video from the Show N Go.  Not really worth showing off, but I wanted to put it here for my own reference and also to illustrate what I'm talking about in this post.  I am still overall very happy with her performance, since we have had trouble with zoomies and sniffing in the past.  I think I will have a lot more confidence now that I know she is capable of focusing!

We are doing a rental at the same facility tomorrow so we will have a good opportunity to work on the things I messed up.  Here is a quick list of what I hope to address:

• Tire
• Contacts: reinforcing my criteria
• Weaves
• Handling (as usual!)
  

On a side note, we will hopefully be starting a running A-frame this spring.  I will definitely be sticking with 2o2o for the teeter, and probably also for the dog walk.