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CDX final leg–NOT… :-(

It was not to be….  Left Baltimore at 6am and drove to Salisbury (2 1/2 hour drive) on Friday morning.  Charlie was the first Open B dog in the ring at 10:10 am and I didn’t want to get there too late. 

The room had three rings.  One alone and two butted up against each other along the center fence.  Open B in one ring and Utility in the other.

If I had been smarter, I would have proofed Charlie for other handlers yelling commands to their dog(s)… and we would have worked indoors with the spectators sitting right at ring side with food, kids and other dogs…  and finally, I would have been more aware of what was going on in the ring right next door…. but alas, I was not smarter.  Lucky for me the food, kids, other dogs outside the ring did not create any big issues for us… Charlie’s heeling was good, his fronts good, his finishes a tad slow, distracted and crooked, but still ok.  His retrieve over the high jump, his figure eight, his down on recall and his broad jump all good…  and his retrieve on the flat would have been good… would da, could da, should da…. sigh… you can see where this is going.  I threw the dumbbell and sent Charlie–he went, he retrieved, he was on his way back… until the lady in the ring next to us sent her dog on the go-out and then SCREAMED “SIT”…. poor Charlie was only 10 paces from me when he froze at the high pitched scream to sit… he didn’t know what to do.  He knew it was not me, but he just looked like a deer in headlights….  he didn’t drop the dumbbell, he just stopped and stared sadly at me… he was totally confused….  I waited, then called him in and he did a good finish…. I felt so badly that he thought he had done something wrong, when he really had not…. he didn’t have the experience or knowledge to know what to do when a different handler screamed loudly a command that didn’t fit with what he was doing. 

We will wait until the Spring and outdoor shows return to garner Charlie’s final CDX leg.  He knows the stuff, he does it well and he will get the final leg… but for now we are focused on his SchH II. 

Good man CB….you tried…  and you did a good job.  There is always a next time!

November–ack–2009

How in the heck did it get to be November already?  This time of year is a mixed bag for me… I love the holidays–Halloween, T-day and Christmas and the New Year!  Give me a glass of champagne and watch me fall asleep long before the bell tolls in the new year….  But I enjoy it all.  What I do not like is the 2 plus minutes of sunlight we lose each day, until finally December 20th (or is it the 21st?) rolls around and I begin counting and watching the 2 minute increments add daylight until Spring and the time change make the days long and glorious again!

With the time change and the dark evening walks, Charlie and Zelda wear collars that blink like a Christmas tree each time they move and a strobe light hangs from their collar showing me their paths across the darkened field as they trot here and there (or in Charlie’s case-charge headlong in every direction chasing the smell of rabbit and fox and occasionally deer).  As I see his flashing strobe streak this way and that, my heart jumps into my throat and I pivot with each change in direction, determined to watch his every move in case he goes from chasing the smell of a fox or deer, to chasing the real thing! 

Life is busy in the Big B…  Charlie is preparing for his SchH II and will trial for the final, I hope, leg on his CDX title.  Training takes up just about all of our free time.  Work is busy and my friends are understanding when it comes to my lack of a real social life other than training and work.  I have no clue how someone who is involved in training a dog is able to maintain a relationship.   Thank goodness Zelda is so understanding!

Charlie’s tracking is still suspect.  I don’t have confidence in my ability to teach him or in his ability to do what he will need to do to pass his SchH II track… good conditions and luck will need to be a part of the equation.  That is not to say he cannot track.  He can and does and he doen’t quit… but, he can and does get confused and I blame my lack of knowledge.  Still we trudge on.

Obedience has a few quirks.  We are working on a moving stand.  I’ve never taught it before, but we are making progress.  Will we have it by Dec 13/14th?  Don’t know.  The other areas that need some improvement are his sits (too slow) and his crooked front/finish positions.  I’m not panicing on that, but would like to improve.    Right now Charlie’s performance is more polished than mine, but we will do ok.

Protection. Hmmmm.  We are working on Charlie’s obedience in Protection and his desire to “tell” me to get a move on.  Little by little we are making progress on focusing him on his obedience in protection and not barking at me–redirecting his energy and focus.  

His bites are not always full and that drives me nuts.  I must rely on Charlie’s training director and the helper to train Charlie and help him get it right and my desire to be in control must take a backseat—aggghhhhh…. this is very hard on me.  I can’t fix it; I don’t fully understand what it would take to fix it…. and I have to maintain control over my emotions in order to allow Charlie to focus on his job.

December trial is closer than I’d like!