Rancho Murieta TRACS trial, 12-27-08 to 12-30-08

Post date: Jan 2, 2009 12:59:53 AM

Where we last left off, at the Rancho Murieta SDTC trial in early December, Trevor had refused the teeter twice and blown his A-Frame contact once, leading to 3 Std NQs.

Trying to figure out why he had suddenly decided to boycott the teeter consumed many brain cycles. In the end, I explained it to myself like this:

• When it comes to the teeter, Trevor doesn't have much confidence to spare.
• Anything in the environment that seems out of place or suspect can push him out of his comfort zone.
• At the SDTC trial, I think it was a combination of the proximity of the judge to the teeter, the proximity of the table with the suspicious pile of spare legs under it, and maybe me running ahead in a situation where he needed a little more hand-holding to feel secure.

After the SDTC trial I tried to practice the teeter as much as possible. But I was heading to the east coast for Christmas, and not coming back until right before the TRACS trial. We didn't have class, and our regular practice day was rained out.

When I came back, I made the last minute decision to drop into a practice at ACE the night before the trial. I was exhausted from my trip, and the last thing I wanted to do was make the trek up to Brisbane. But it seemed like too good an opportunity to pass up--a new location (indoors, no less) and new teeter for Trevor. It was a productive practice, if not exactly encouraging--Trevor was pretty good on the teeter when we got there early and the room was empty, but once everyone else showed up, he got psyched out and refused the teeter about half the time.

Going into the trial the next day I was discouraged, not to mention profoundly depressed all over again about his PRA. I decided to focus on my relationship with him and try to see things from his perspective. What did he need from me to feel comfortable and confident at the trial? We spent a lot of time hanging out by the Standard ring, doing "look at that" and getting treats whenever a dog went over the teeter and banged it.

Maybe the judges were more unobtrusive at this trial. Maybe he liked the equipment better. Maybe hanging out by the ring helped. Maybe I did a better job of supporting him on the teeter. But whatever it was, Trevor didn't refuse the teeter once. It turned out to be a good trial for him:

• Saturday: got his 4th Exc B JWW leg.
• Sunday: got his 5th Exc B JWW leg. Finished his AX title. Was the only 24" dog to Q in Exc FAST, even though it was his first time in Exc FAST.
• Monday: got his 6th Exc B JWW leg. In his first time in Exc B Std, Qed--in other words, he double-Qed the very first time he was eligible to do so.
• Tuesday: got his 7th Exc B JWW leg, and double-Qed again.

I was very proud of him.

Touki did a pretty good job too. She Qed in Std on Saturday and JWW on Tuesday, and the other 2 days she QQed. She didn't get as many MACH points as I'd hoped. The inch-by-inch struggle up Mt. Everest continues.