AKC Scentwork (both dogs) & Rally (K'seil) July 3-4
This was a test balloon in a lot of ways--can we (all 4 of us) handle two back-to-back days, where is K'seil at for rally, how are we doing with the chaos levels of a big confo show, etc. Add on that this was 36 hrs after returning from vacay and K'seil got a facial injury Monday and so was 3 days out from anesthesia + on gaba/carprofen/antibiotics...Yeah.
Overall: A+! For everyone! We all did fantastic and it was a great experience. Would not do frequently but certainly a couple times a year.
Friday was 4 scentwork searches per dog + a rally run for K'seil. Saturday was the same, but different scentwork levels.
Hazard, scentwork:
Stellar. He Q'd in 6 of 8 runs and finished 3 of the Advanced elements to complete his Advanced level title. By element:
Interior: Advanced both days. Friday he got caught up in pooling odor and wasted most of the time working that, then found the first hide with about 30 sec left. Judge complimented his thoroughness. He just never got over to the second hide. Search area was in the middle of a massive hall and so odor was going fucking everywhere. Saturday the search area was up against an exterior wall with more predictable air flow and he rocked it, placing 3rd. This finished his Interior Advanced title.
Exterior: Excellent both days, Q'd both days, 4th on Friday. Really no feedback here. Good, solid searching both days. Worked the search areas intelligently. I just let him do his thing.
Containers: Advanced Friday, Excellent Saturday. Friday he checked the boxes, I asked him to do them in order, he said no thank u, and we got 2nd, so shows what I know. That finished Containers Advanced, so Saturday we tried Excellent. He found two of three hides on the first pass, I asked him to make a second lap, he hemmed and hawed, and I finally just called finish because he was not getting it. Judge pointed out--one of the fabric bags, which he had sniffed on the first pass and not done anything with. So that's the one thing we need to work on.
Buried: Advanced Friday, Excellent Saturday. No placements either day, but Q's both days, and finished his Buried Excellent. Really solid searching.
Hazard, trial skills:
You know, I'm not gonna say flawless. He jumped for a couple of dogs, one who was just way too close & a surprise, and one who was jumping on her person in a way he found inappropriate. But: Zero problems with humans. Zero problems when we were moving (both lunges happened when we were waiting). 99% no problems while waiting, which we did a lot of. We spent well over half an hour waiting around on Sunday, and he saw soooooo many dogs passing by. Nobody gave us extra space. At narrowest he was allowing dogs to pass by within 2 feet.
He was fine with people staring at and talking to him. He met my NW mentor's Brittany bitch and flirted with her. He thought very very hard about introducing himself to a Tibetan spaniel bitch. He ALSO thought enormous evil thoughts about an intact Akita dog but I persuaded him that would be Unwise.
He went into every search area happy and working. He dragged me into a couple of them. He loaded & unloaded from the car reasonably, and he didn't seriously fuss about being left, even when we took K'seil.
He handled a very, very busy venue with lots of hurry-up-and-wait, lots of dogs hanging out within 6 ft of each other, lots of people moving erratically and loudly, with calmness and competence. I am so proud of him.
K'seil, scentwork:
Literally flawless. Q'd 8 of 8 runs, placed in the top 4 in 6 of those. Finished all 4 elements for her Novice title and got to work on Advanced.
Interior: Novice both days (would have moved up Saturday but Hazard was stuck). Placed 1st on Saturday and 2nd on Sunday. Both days she dragged me into the room (where the steward closed us in!) and immediately got to work.
Exterior: Novice Friday, definitely was frazzled in this one. Went out and screwed around for 30 seconds before picking up odor and alerting. Advanced Saturday for 4th place. No critiques there!!!
Containers: Novice both days, 3rd place both days, so at least we're consistent? What stands out for me is how sure I was. I didn't even think about doubting her despite our history of falsing in containers. She was sure, I was sure.
Buried: Novice both days, 2nd on Saturday. Friday she was bewildered. Came in, tried to leave the search area, checked the tubs, hesitated on one, moved on, came back, checked them again. I walked her out of the search area, reset, and sent her back in. Again hesitated at one. I oriented myself to that particular one and waited for a clearer response. Alert, yes. Judge afterward told me to be aware of my body language pressuring her and to trust my dog when she checks a bin multiple times; I opted not to explain K'seil's history with falses in container-like-searches. Saturday meanwhile she came in and treated it like an interior search? Paid no attention to the bins, just air scented, head turn, alert, yes. Sure!!
K'seil, rally:
Hazard has his rally novice, which he earned in 2 in-person trials and one virtual entry, which means K'seil got to enter in Novice B.
I wish I'd thought to have Friday's run videoed; I did get Saturday's, but by 2 pm Saturday asshats were setting off fireworks and she was a little rattled. Friday she walked in confident and focused. One instance of a tight leash and one moment where she dragged on a turn looking at the obedience ring, and then -3 more for getting excited on come front and taking out a sign. Overall score of 95 for our first go at it!!!!
And most importantly the whole way around she was connected with me, wagging, prancing, happy to be involved, just overjoyed.
Saturday again she was fussy about the explosions and definitely worrying. I'll upload the video tomorrow, she's still enjoying herself, tail loose, but not as prancy as she'd been Friday. One point for a tight leash, one for being distracted (but on watching the video, there's several possible points for that...), and -3 for her being COMPLETELY out of position approaching a left turn so I just redid the sign.
(Note: Possible we would've lost 1-2 if I hadn't redone it. Oh well. I needed the mental reset and a moment to try again. Absolutely worth it.)
Second score of 95!!
Again very proud that, knowing what was going to happen, she walked in and remained connected. She worked her heart out both runs, and I'm beyond thrilled that she's scoring above 90 already. Rally with Hazard has always been me assembling a puzzle blindfolded; his rally scores are so fucking impressive for him, and it was more work to get him an 82 than it was to get her a 95.
But. Allow me to be human and prone to ego. That 95 feels better for me.
It also feels more sustainable. Like this is a dog I could get to RACH, if I wanted. Like it won't be constantly running just to stay in place.
So that's exciting.
K'seil, trial skills:
Flawless. Charmed everyone. Happy happy. Willing to settle when we needed to settle. Ignored or showed polite interest to other dogs. When I have the "sit politely for petting" sorted out, I definitely think she'll go for CGC at a dog show, because she sooooo clearly brackets it into There Will Be Dogs Here And I Will Ignore Them.
Didn't fuss with the incision on her face. Let the judge stare at her face to evaluate it. Only marginally grumpy about being crated with the cone of shame on.
