Today was Katie’s first ever Rally trial…Novice A, which means we don’t know what we’re doing! Seriously! This morning started out with snow, and it was still snowing when we left for the one hour trip down to the trial venue. We left early because we figured the roads would slow us up, but we arrived right around 11:00 when the trial began. They were doing Excellent A & B, then Advanced A & B and finally Novice A & B. So getting there at 11 when they were just starting Excellent wasn’t such a good idea. It meant LOTS of waiting for Katie and me. Lucky thing I bought her a little crate, so we didn’t have to walk around for the entire 5 hours!
I was curious how she’d do waiting around for that long. She’s never done that before. Usually we go to school and we get right to work! Go go go is Katie’s mantra. But she seemed fine with it, wasn’t nervous about the building or the other dogs. Even did bathroom without balking, so I knew we were good to go. If we ever got to actually go.
Finally about 3:30 it was time for the Novice walk through. I was anxious because by this time, after waiting around for 4 1/2 hours, she had begun shutting down emotionally and wasn’t taking any treats anymore so I was somewhat worried about her attitude in the ring. But nothing could be done about that now. So I walked the course three times and thought I had a pretty good handle on it, and where she might have issues.
We were the last of the nine Novice A’s so I got to watch everyone before me, and that was mostly helpful. And I got Katie a bit more excited by bringing out the EXTRA SPECIAL treats as we were waiting in line. Way better than cheese apparently. So when we finally got in the ring she was looking expectantly at me and we set off. She was slow on a couple of sits, and I had to ask her to go DOWN! twice at one station. She just didn’t feel like it I guess. Then just three stations before the finish we had to do an about turn heading into a wall, and she decided she needed to smell (for what seemed like a really long time) something on the wall before she’d about turn with me. GEEZE. That wasn’t even one of my expected problem places!
All in all though the judge was lenient and we got 98 out of 100 points! And fourth place because there were 3 people that got 100 points. So Katie actually placed, and won a stuffed lamb. When we got home I gave it to her before I took the tag off and she took off running with it. She’s very excited about having a new toy.
I’m happy with her and excited for her too. But I hope she takes a nap soon. I’m exhausted!
There’s a mall nearby that is closing. All the interior stores have closed and only a couple of the big stores on the ends remain open. There has been talk for years about what could be done to make the property more viable but it’s always seemed inevitable to me that the mall would fail. Three or four years ago I did all my Christmas shopping there because it was never crowded. Not even just before the holiday.
But for me the saddest things were in the basement where they were selling fixtures; shelving, file cabinets, decorations, mirrors, tables and manikins. The naked manikins, standing in groups, lined up or hanging in rows were somehow disheartening. Like children not picked to play on a team in middle school gym class, they seem lonely. And a little bit embarrassed at being unclothed. Yet the symmetry of their body parts was intriguing as well. The way they were grouped together, either as members of a marching army, or guests at a cocktail party seemed to inspire a story. One without a happy ending.
Katie, her dad and I went to agility tonight. I was eager to see if the success we experienced last week when she finally connected with the A-frame would transfer to tonight. And I was wondering if she’d get comfortable on the tall dogwalk tonight as well given she only ran it once last week on her own, then got scared. We’ve done a little bit of dogwalk in the driveway this week, but the weather has really limited the amount of time we had to practice out there.
Class started with dogwalk, and all the dogs trotted right over without problem. Now we’re focusing on getting them to do the 202o at the end. Even Katie stopped when I told her to TOUCH! Then we added the tire to the dogwalk. No problem. After that we did a series of 3 jumps and then tunnel; we were practicing pushing and pulling the dog, sending them to the correct entrance of the tunnel which was shaped in a tight U. Katie loved the jumps, but had difficulty doing tunnel. There was no room for me to run past the entrance, so each time I slowed or stopped she’d pop back out. That was frustrating. She was successful eventually but it wasn’t a sure thing. The first time she successfully jumped then ran through the tunnel she ran out the other end, and while I was fumbling for a treat to reward her, she spotted the dogwalk across the room and ran straight for it and was up and over it before I had time to react! We all laughed. Silly shy little pup, afraid of everything, was choosing her own agility course now!
Quick break and then the instructor added A-frame and a jump to the dogwalk, then tunnel, then jump then table. Sigh again. She HATES the A-frame. She won’t do more than put her front feet on it…and streeeeetch out for a treat. So after some of that I ask if it’s OK to pick her up and put her on the frame. They said OK, so I did that all evening. Putting her about 2/3 of the way up and she runs over the top and creeeeeps down the other side, then springs over the jump, races over the flat dogwalk, flings herself through the tunnel, does the jump and lands triumphantly on the table grinning the whole way. Over the evening we added more jumps before the Aframe, including the tire, and she did everything except run the Aframe and the tall dogwalk. I was really pleased.
Change Is Hard 