My first concern was how I would handle the walk through since Nadine had Sugar entered in the same class, so she couldn't hold Gimme while I did a walk-through like she did last year. My solution was to arrive really early and hope to get a parking place close enough to crate Gimme in the car, which worked.
I had both a wire crate and my soft crate in the car, but didn't set them up. In hindsight I should have at least set up the soft crate. If I had, then Gimme could have chilled in her crate, spending more time getting used to the environment. I had my chair and a pad for her, but when I had her out she was busy "working" me, and not relaxing. Given the week of rest for her sore toes... more time in the environment might have worked better. And I could still have taken her to the car just before walking the course.
I did have her brain briefly right before going in the ring, but then a dog in a crate 25 feet off the end of our ring started throwing a tantrum, while the owner stood nearby chatting with someone and ignoring her dog. So rude. It was really too too much for Gimme and the judge wouldn't allow me any time to re-engage her brain at the start. You'll see how Gimme settles down for the last couple of stations when the noisy dog finally settled down. Even though she was better, Gimme was still unfocused so you don't get to see what she is capable of.
Nadine rushed back from putting Sugar up to video us and misses just the first station. We were assessed ten Out of Position faults, 1 point each, and one Interference of 5 points (my fault). Every time Gimme forged (except the first time which the judge missed), I gave her the whole leash so we didn't get a tight leash fault. The last three exercises had a "wait" in them, which was easier for her to do than focusing while moving.
PSDC RN Title video - The stations were:
START
- Moving Side Step Right - Gimme did move to the side with me on her way to forging far ahead. There was a tight leash, but the judge missed it. I'm sure she didn't miss the out-of-position.
- Figure 8, No Distractions - The figure 8 was weird to wrap my brain around, since I'd never done one set on a diagonal. I don't know how they judge out-of-position, but Gimme could have gotten three of them in this exercise alone and it adds up for the times I thought she was out-of-position. I pause at the end of it, because I had to go through it in my head to be sure we'd done it right.
- Right Turn - I'm sure there was an out-of-position for this.
- 270 Left - And another out-of-position here.
- Off Set Serpentine Left - I think she did a pretty good job with this, not great heeling, but she stayed with me.
- Stop and Down - I also thought she did this well, she stayed with me, even though I had to bend over to keep her in the down. It's possible she got an out-of-position fault for having her heiney turned out 45ยบ, but it doesn't add up so I think not.
- Left Turn - I'm sure this is where we got the interference fault. Gimme dashed ahead of me to check out the stewards' table, earning an out-of-position fault. But then I just wedged myself in between her and the table to create the left turn. Had I called her back into position and then turned, we could have saved 5 points and would have gotten first place.
- 270 Right - Another out-of-position fault. Here is where her brain was just starting to engage again.
- 360 Left - We surely got another out-of-position, but once back in position, she did it nicely, even showing some of her lovely rear awareness, pivoting for the last part of the turn.
- Halt, Walk Around - I had my shoulder turned to her and she thought about doing an "otto" but then stopped and sat. So this worked well.
- Call Front, Return to Heel - She was working better here. She sniffed the ground where another dog had peed about a half hour earlier and all they had was plain water to dilute it. She was slow to sit, but otherwise did this nicely.
- Call Front, Finish Right, Forward - She started to forge and I turned it into call to "center". She finished this nicely, but then blasted forward when I started moving for her final out-of-position.
Not a pretty run, but not as horrible as it seemed in the moment, eh. She was trying to work with me despite the distraction and I appreciate her efforts. Gimme's first trial was in 2011, when she was just 1 year and 6 days old. She scored 81 points for 2nd place. Her second trial was July 2018 and she did pretty good, but I cost her 15 points with handler errors. She scored 79 points for 1st place. And then this trial she scored 85 for 2nd place... and a New Title!I was happy for Nadine to get First Place with Sugar. Nadine and her girls are our tracking buddies. Gimme and Sugar finished their RN titles together. How sweet it is...
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