And this one?
I ran Abby in a fun match today at WAG and mole couldn't participate... It's official, I am the worst mom ever!
The courses offered were a Jumpers w/Weaves course and a standard course. The obstacles were numbered, but you could really do anything you wanted as long as you left the ring after your 90 sec time limit was up. Since mole's back went out, we are only running tunnel courses - and no tunnels were offered today. . .Mole was very angry with me. . .I am still not entirely sure if I have been forgiven. . .
The good news is that Abby did exceptionally well - and not just for Abby! The first course we ran was inside and it was a bit difficult for the both of us. There were a lot of people and a lot of excited barking dogs. Abby was visibly stressed, and I was stressed because I haven't really run in many trials. The expected happened in that run -Abby took three jumps then ran off. I was about to leave the ring, when the ring steward told me to use the rest of my time to do a few recalls over jumps - just do something. Given the second chance, I decided to do what I felt like doing and faced her away from people - she did a few jumps, including one triple (never saw that one before!) and a tire (that looks totally different from her tire!) She left the ring a bit more relaxed - the best we could hope for at that time.
The second course was a bit easier for Abby, but much more stressful for me. This course was outside. And while there is a fence, it is by no means escape proof - especially to a frightened dog. I had some help with this one and had some friends stand at the gates just in case. I started off this course with the goal of doing three jumps and one tunnel - not the planned course, but totally do-able for Abby. . .and as far away from the (much quieter) crowd as possible. Abby took all three jumps - at a RUN!!! and took the tunnel all while wagging her tail. Since she was having fun I kept going. I think that we did a total of 10 jumps - all super happy and having fun. We ended the course by taking the jumps we did in the beginning - what this means is that she was jumping facing the crowd (and auntie Marci). I figured that she would fly over the last three jumps and head straight into Marci's lap. . .but NOPE! She looked to me afterward (OK, she wanted cookies, but who cares!)
The third course was back to the inside. This time it was much quieter and Auntie Marci was in the ring with us. We did a jump, and headed straight for the dog walk. REFUSAL! It wasn't her dog walk! Same with the beloved A-frame! She sniffed both, then looked at me like "this isn't my A-frame!" Since we were on a time crunch I didn't spend time working her through it. We are going back next week, so we can give it another try then. But after the refusal she took a super long tunnel, some more jumps - including the triple, and the tire. After the tire she did a mini yahoo, but came back for a final jump when time was called. She was so HAPPY that she actually ran around! Normally yahoos are embargoing for the owner, but it was a mini one. . .and it was Abby. . . so it was alright in my book!
This was the first time that Abby ran in this space. We have been attending trials here for a few months now - mainly to allow her to settle in case we decided to do this one day. But I never expected to be able to run Abby here this year - ok, I never expected to have Abby in a class in the next year and a half! But Abby did a great job for a first time out - for any dog. . . not just for a nut case like Abby. And the most important thing of all was that she had a great time doing it. It was nice to see that after years of being mishandled by people, this little dog could learn to trust me enough to do what I ask of her in stressful situations. And not only that, but to be able to manage her stress in a way that allows her to forget the scary stuff and be able to have fun in those stressful situations! I am so proud of her!
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