Pre-Novice Disaster & Redemption. Sort Of.

The automatic finish still hasn't resolved itself but I stopped worrying about it after I checked the rule book and realized that you don't need to do the finish in pre-novice :) Then other family issues came to a head and I just about forgot about the trial altogether.

Yesterday was the big day. I wanted to get up there super early so I could relax and watch the other classes. Unfortunately I was going to be the first up in the pre-novice class so would not have an opportunity to watch someone run through it first. 'Oh well, it's all for fun', I told myself. 'Then why', I asked myself, 'do I feel like throwing up?'

Two hour drive in the fog and rain to the show site. Got there early, but not super early but no problem. Found a parking spot...pottied Clancy and staked out a spot by the ring.

Things I learned:

• Don't stake out a spot by the ring with Clancy.

In my jumbled, stressed out line of thought, I figured having him with me would give him a chance to acclimatize to all the activity and dogs so that he would be able to focus on me once we got in the ring. Yeah, didn't work that way. By the time we got in the ring, Clancy was climbing the walls. Focus? Heeling? Sit? Never heard of them. I don't know if it made it better or worse that the judge is a member of the obedience club I train with. He must wonder if we ever attended a class.

Clancy did hold his sit (all 30 seconds of it - longest 30 seconds in history!) which redeemed him a bit, enough that I didn't actually put the 'free to good home' sign around his neck. There were four entered in pre-novice and none of us qualified. I'm now re-evaluating my 'pfft...it's only pre-novice' attitude.

After we were done I put Clancy back in the van over the lunch break. I vowed that he wasn't coming out again until it was just time to go into the afternoon class. The waiting is the worst part....constant second-guessing: should I get him now? No, not yet. What about now?

We were supposed to be second into the pre-novice class but I ended up having to scramble as the team before us didn't turn up. No problem. Got Clancy and had him heel from the van to the site, throwing rapid fire treats to keep his attention on me. Into the ring, with a 'well, we couldn't do any worse' sigh and....

Clancy was the little dog I was expecting. He heeled beautiful, with full attention. Got every sit - if I had to be picky I'd say they might have been a little crooked but good thing I'm not picky at all. No lagging, no forging on the circles left/right. Perfect recall right to front (and a straight sit!) Oh, so proud of my little brown dog.

Did you notice I didn't mention the sit for exam. Yeah, that was where he nq'd. For almost a year we've been training the stand for exam. So he knows what to do. I like to think he was trying to be helpful. I put him in the sit. Judge said 'leave when ready' and Clancy's little brain went 'oh no, mom forgot - I'm supposed to be standing!' and popped up to a stand. I mean, how do you be mad at that? Even the judge let out a 'darn'...LOL. I put him back into a sit and he stayed for the rest of the exercise.

So no ribbons but that's okay. The judges and show staff were great. I learned lots and had fun and made it well worth the money. And now that the first trial is under our belt, bring on the spring show circuit!