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Back in the saddle again

Back to reality and training and tracking in the rain and….

Saturday dawned wet and rainy and I thought long and hard about getting my butt in gear and heading to training early.  I wanted to track with Butch so I could get some insights on what we were doing on the track and what we should do and in general, get directions.  Obviously my track last week during the Schutzhund trial told me I needed help!  So I pulled my sorry a_ _ outta  bed and gathered Charlie and our gear and headed to Rosaryville. 

Just as I was getting ready to lay my track a woman from the Hyattsville Dog Training Club stopped and told me there was going to be an AKC tracking trial Sunday at Rosaryville.  Bummer for those of us who had planned to track at Rosaryville, but we had to honor their need for untracked fields, so we were off looking for another place to track. 

There was a group of us and when we resettled at a different place, we each staked out an area for our track and once I finished I waited for Butch to come back from laying his track so Charlie and I could show Butch how we were doing and get his advice on the track, the handling, …. but it was not to be.   Butch didn’t find a place to track where we were, so he went to a different field and I went ahead and ran the track with Charlie myself.  Not what I’d planned, but Butch is getting ready for a trial and he needed to get his dog tracked while the conditions were good.

We went to the DC Club field for our Obedience and Protection and I was a tad late getting there… I met Tori, Mike and the boys at Rosaryville first and then we all went to the DC Club.  It is always great to see Tori, Mike and the boys and right now, with Tori going through the FBI Academy, their sightings are few and far between.  With luck we will see them again at our Club Trial in two weeks.  Another delight was seeing Snipes, Tori’s 10 year old bitch who looks like she is going on 5!   I love that dog.  And, of course, Frodo, who at 7 months is growing up, but is still enough puppy to play like a silly boy with Charlie and Zelda.  When he gets a tad bigger and older, he and Charlie won’t be able to play, but for now they are both silly boys.  Frodo looks like he will grow into a big dog, with lots of substance and bone and a wonderful, social temperment.  Can’t wait to see him when he begins to get serious!

Obedience was just a tad of heeling, retrieves and a go out.  All were fine.  I plan to work on Charlie’s retrieves over the jump and wall to proof him and reinforce–over and back, not over and around….

Protection was a quick bite and slip and sending Charlie straight into the blind for the bark and hold.  Butch told me to call him out of the blind with a heir, fuse…  something we had never done…ever.  I gave him a strong heir, fuse command and I’ll be darned if he didn’t come and go straight to the proper heel position.  After the escape bite, Butch said, ok, now for the back transport (again, something we have never done)….  and again, Charlie did pretty darn good for the first time.  I was happy and we called it a day.  On to our II.