Sunday, January 25, 2009

Paw Power Rally Trial

This morning, Ian, Devon and I headed north to the Paw Power Rally trial. Ian has 5 legs toward his RAE2 title. We earned those legs back in 2007 when I was preparing for the 2007 Belgian Sheepdog National Specialty. Unfortunately Ian decided to start breaking his honor position in Excellent, which at the time disqualified him. I knew rule changes were on the horizon which would make blowing the honor a -10 points and not an NQ, so I stopped trialing him until the rule changes took affect in January 2008. Now that we're getting ready for the 2009 Belgian Sheepdog National Speciality in Wisconsin in April, it seemed like a good time to go back to rally.

I had never been to this venue, and it was a nice club. The trial was small, with less than a dozen dogs each in Excellent B and Advanced B. As I was setting up my crates, we all started smelling natural gas, and we had a brief scare that there was a leak. After they called the gas company and more exhibitors came in saying the smell was on the west side of town too, I felt more comfortable and it was determined there wasn't a problem. 

I will say there were more Rotties at this trial than I have seen in one place in my life! According to the exhibitors, our judge Ms. Ronnie Bizer trains very nice performance Rotties and most were nervous about trialing under her. I found her courses to be flowing, doable with challenges, and good for big dogs. However, I was a little concerned about Ian with all those Rotties, especially having to honor with them coming down the line toward him.

I didn't think about who would be honoring Ian as he was running until we were about to enter the ring. The biggest intact male Rottie in the building was on the honor for Ian's run -- Yeah! This guy was huge, and I was working hard to make sure Ian was with me down that line toward where the honor dog was laying. And then I realized the judge had stepped between Ian and the Rottie as Ian was nearing the honor station. While I wanted to give this judge a big hug for easing my concern, Ian was not impressed with how close she was to him. However, that worked to my advantage as it pushed Ian around the corner away from both the judge and the Rottie. In the video clip below, you can't see the Rottie until the end of the run. However, as Ian makes the turn around the cone, you can see the judge (my hero!) and you now know what she's doing.

Luckily, Ian honored for a Berner. What made me even more pleased was during Ian's honor, the judge was over by the far ring gates. Clearly, she wasn't worried about my dog; and I'm thankful for that small vote of confidence for a Belgian Sheepdog. I don't get those too often!

After Ian runs, you will see I have a devil of a time getting him to lay down on the honor. He finally crowds himself into an uncomfortable down, which he didn't hold. That's because the big Rottie left drool all over the floor during his honor. Ian wanted NOTHING to do with laying near that drool! Apparently he doesn't even like Rottie cooties! The stewards were having a big laugh, since it was quite clear why Ian was avoiding that spot! 

Because Ian broke his down, he lost 10 points and his score was 87 out of 100. That cost him 2nd place in the class. He redeemed himself by WINNING the Advanced B class with a score of 95 (first prize was $10, so he bought me lunch). I have to tell you I thought our Advanced run was terrible until I saw this video. I should have taped our runs years ago. Ian is a wonderful rally dog! Look at that near perfect heel position! And he's right with me the most of the time! The only fumble was when he wanted the jump during the spiral heeling around the cones. I know I'm working hard out there, but I've never given him the credit he deserves. He looked lovely, and at our next trial I'm going to relax more and enjoy the run! I have a great dog!

Fair warning, rally runs are almost as bad as watching obedience runs (i.e. paint drying can be more exciting). And Ian doesn't exactly rush through these signs. 

Rally Advanced B -- Score 95 points, qualified and 1st place


Rally Excellent B -- Score 87 points, qualified

1 comment:

Kathy said...

Poor Ian. I wouldn't want to down in someone else's drool either!