May 25
irbe at her first ever rally obedience competition / đ¸
#10 months#golden retriever#rally obedience#look how pretty our little irbe is growing up to be!!! she got many compliments :)#and all the photos are so nice#i especially love that last one <3#we placed 2nd with 96% and 88% and i was quite happy with our performance#for a young dog with very little experience i think irbe did a great job mostly staying focused#and i was happy to note that i didn't feel as stressed as i used to in past trials#although i also didn't feel quite as grounded and mentally present as i would ultimately like to be#before i'd consider trialing kaija again#still - it's progress.#also irbe was such a pleasure just to be there with#she is so perfectly stable and friendly/neutral with everything and everyone#being able to just leave her wherever and not having to worry that she might get stressed by it or get into trouble#truly what a good little dog :')#(well then just to put a damper on things i guess#i went to chat with our instructor after the trial#and that wasn't great.#she had some critiques#stuff like#''if i didn't know you i would say your run looked good and your team has good potential#but i do know you for long enough and well enough that ...''#so. that was a little bit painful to listen to.#i'm not really sure why such personal critiques were necessary#but you know)
