Crazy8 (1) - Gimme started with a tunnel and then false alerted on a litter tube (fault costs 20 points). She was certain it was the real deal. From there she found two rats and climbed on a bale. She went back to the tube she'd false alerted on repeatedly, wasting a lot of time trying to convince me it was a rat. Because of the fault we only got 20 points for this run.
I was concerned the pollen issue and reduced scenting ability might make it really hard for her to tell the difference between litter and rat tubes. This did not bode well for the rest of the weekend. The only thing I could do at this point was to encourage her to drink a LOT of water, hoping to keep those nasal passages moist. I stopped by Safeway on the way to the hotel and bought some hamburger so I could encourage plenty of water consumption.
Crazy8 (2) - Gimme found a rat within seconds of leaving the start box. Then she got a climb on the way to another rat. I cued her to tunnel and after she came out she hunted until she found a third rat. This gave us a nice 50 points.
Masters (2) - Gimme performed well in Masters. She found 3 rats and did climb and tunnel. Then she went to the gate. She's done it in the past and I found it an unreliable signal of whether there are more rats. I had her go around the ring with me checking any likely spots and we did find the 4th rat. Then she went to the gate twice more. Since I didn't have any other ideas where to check, I called "finish" and was right. Her run took 3:36.12 and would have been 5th place if they had ribbons for it. This is Gimme's 5th leg toward RATCHX; she's halfway there.
I came into the weekend not knowing what we were going toward in the advanced titles. Madam Barn Hunt proposed some significant changes right after we finished out RATCH in September. She asked for comments and suggestions from competitors. All the suggestions were shot down in flames, though the comments were mostly negative. It seemed pretty certain she was going to do it despite objections. Fortunately trial secretaries were also much opposed to the extra work they'd have to do, so for the time being things will stay the same. YIPPEEEEEE!!!!!
Saturday
Crazy8 (1) - Gimme was on fire to run. She found two rats quickly and did climb on the way to a third. I had her tunnel, then she found two more rats. She was going so fast and eagerly, I hoped we'd break the 5 rat barrier, but she was just a few seconds too slow. This judge waits really late to call "climb", many times not until you've done it several times, so I wasted time encouraging Gimme to get up on bales. We still came away with a nice 70 points.
NEWS FLASH: I was checking the results to confirm points and Q's and discovered the scribe for our first Crazy8 run didn't check our fault, so we get an extra 20 points. Other errors can be corrected, but if the scribe errs and the judge doesn't catch it, it stands. There have been other times when I thought we were robbed, so this kinda makes up for it.
Crazy8 (2) - Gimme did another great run. She got two rats right away, then did a climb on the way to another. Then she ran around and found a fourth rat. I had her tunnel and then she found a fifth rat. The judge said "sorry, you're out of time" and as I turned toward Gimme she was indicating another rat. Twice in a row we've been just seconds away from breaking the five rat barrier.
It occurs to me I spend a fair amount of time making sure she's committed before I call a rat. She's been solid on them for awhile now, so perhaps I can back off some.
Masters (2) - Gimme found two of two rats really quickly, with a climb on the way. She slowed down a little bit and I was just starting to walk her around pointing out things she could check. She alerted on one of the places I pointed to and she was barking and using her paws - the things I rely on and it was a false alert. She lied to me. She does this sometimes, usually when there is only one or two rats. She wants there to be more or she gets frustrated because the rats are all gone and we are still there, so she false alerts to make me happy. I've always said one or two rats is harder than five rats.
In the evening we had The Talk - which is where I remind her to only indicate tubes with rats in them, not any others. Gimme hates having talks and as soon as I start she gets up and turns her back to me. It occurs to me we should have the talk before the trial starts, or maybe a brief reminder while we are waiting in the blind.
Sunday
There was a potluck scheduled for Sunday, so I brought my crockpot and canned goods to make Taco Soup. I wedged it in when I put it in the car, but apparently not well enough. On the way to the trial, an IDIOT failed to stop and drove right in front of me, so I had to slam the brakes on. Suddenly I could really smell the soup. Half of it ended up under the driver's seat and in every little nook and cranny you can imagine. It took me an hour just to do a preliminary cleanup. On a positive note it wasn't raining and the car smells really yummy.
Crazy8 (1) - Gimme was on fire. She was racing around finding the rats. She's pretty funny the way she'll bark when she gets close to a rat - then I say "Can you be more specific?" Then she gets right in there and barks directly at the tube and paws at it. She got her usual 5 rats today. One of them was in a spot where it was hard for her to paw at it, so she just barked right at it. I said, "Are you sure?" To which she replied "Awwraaa waahr larrr awwwhhh larrrrr." Everyone was laughing. The judge was laughing so hard she could barely reply "Rat 4" when I called it. I think this is Gimme's response to our having The Talk last night, probably meaning... "You never listen! I said it's a rat!"
Masters (1) - There were just two rats and she found them pretty fast and did a tunnel the first time I asked her. She went to the gate a couple of times. I walked her around pointing out places I hadn't seen her check. I made sure to keep myself moving the moment she went to check them. She resisted any urge to false alert - Good Girl. As hard as it is for me to call "clear" I did and we got another Q. That brings us to 6 MasterB Q's, so we just need four more to get a RATCHX.
Crazy8 (2) - Gimme did a nice clean job in our last class. She seemed to be moving a tad slower than before. It was a loooooonnnnnng weekend. She came away with another 60 points. This brings our total to 360 for the weekend and we need just 100 points to finish the next level Crazy8 title.
Gimme's new rat toy sings, instead of squeaking, which I'm not sure she likes. When it starts singing she puts it down and stares at it. Then she waits awhile before she tries playing with it again. Right now it is on the floor, she's on the couch staring at it. She might be okay with letting me keep this one on the shelf. Here's a little video of it Singing.
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