Well it wasn't exactly pretty, but we survived the NADAC games trial! And actually, Peyton did much better than last weekend and we even surpassed our goal of three obstacles this time! Here's a quick little rundown...
Novice Touch N Go: Lost him right after the start to something tasty in the grass, but after a little zoomie run and some barking at the photographer, he did most of the second half of the course and finished strong.
Novice Weavers: Again, I lost him after the first tunnel, but he had a really nice second half of the course and he nailed two sets of weaves!
Novice Tunnelers Round 1: I think in this run Peyton started to lose any remaining functioning spots in his brain. We we're almost on track, but then he decided that there was something really good in the grass by the exit and I lost him completely.
Novice Tunnelers Round 2: I think by this point Peyton's brain was completely toast - After he stopped to munch on whatever he had found during his first run, I cut this run waaay short and decided to try and end it on a good note with one final tunnel.
For your entertainment, a short video:
Despite what may look like a very sad trial performance, he did have some really nice moments. In his first run, he nailed the dogwalk contact. Considering he was running around like a wild man, this was a big surprise to me. And his weaves were great in his second run - with absolutely no babysitting on my part. Finally, I was able to catch him at the end of each run fairly easily (we worked really hard on that this week). And while these might not seem like great accomplishments, they at least show me that he had a little bit of focus, and perhaps the light is starting to come on in his little spotty brain. :)
And on another good note, the crowd seemed to love him. Leave it to the spotties to provide some entertainment for the day.
On one hand, it's hard to not be a little disappointed since I know the performance he's capable of giving. But on the other hand, I have to remind myself that this is a dog that less than a year ago I didn't think would ever be able to work off-leash, let alone trial. He's come a long way.
So, we'll see how our training progresses in the next 3-4 months and maybe give trialing another shot in the spring. In the meantime, we've got lots to work on - and honestly I think he just needs more time...as you can probably see, Peyton is on the slow train to maturity. :)
As for my other spotty - she was also a wild child today and wasn't paying *any* attention to me. I don't know what's wrong with her, but I suspect there's a little stress involved and I'm thinking it might have something to do with me running Peyton. So, I think we'll take a little break from trialing and work on building back up her confidence in class.
Crazy spotties...gotta love them. :)
Party of Four! | Venice Pet Photography
13 years ago
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3 comments:
I think it is great that you are brave and willing to trial him through his A.D.D. My theory is he is secretly an agility genious, he just wants to make sure you've earned his skills before he shows them to the world :) Congrats on getting through your second trial with him. It can only get easier.
LOL...I like that theory, thanks! :)
Ah, Dal enthusiasm. We know the look well! We've been trialing with our 3.5-year-old Dal for two years now and are finally starting to get consistently good performance. For entertainment, though, we have a 1-year-old liver Dal who is just starting to seriously train in agility. You totally have the right theory, though. Don't try to harness that enthusiasm and awesome SPEED. Go out there and have fun and the rest will fall into place. The ribbons and titles are nothing compared to the bond you create with your spotted wonder!
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