Well, we passed our BH! I have to say this has been a roller coaster of emotions and decisions on my part. I looked at my calendar for the past year and had training with a real person (who specializes in IGP) 10 times. All the rest has been on me. I know many theorize to get your dog to a point of training beyond what you want to see in trial and I certainly don't have that. Asha stayed with me, she kept her long down, she didn't growl or hair up (I'll get to the one explosive bark in a minute), she did great sits and her recall was about 90 mph with a stop not quite soon enough so almost knocked me off my feet, and of course landed crooked. She still wants to be ahead of me and she still leaks really bad - but overall, it was about as good as she could be at this point.
During the judges review of our exercise the two handlers & dogs come before the judge, also in front of everyone outside the working field who is watching and he critiques each dog/handler so everyone can hear/learn what he saw. For those of you not familiar, two dogs go in & out together, working at the same time (one is on long down while the other does the routine, then they reverse). So I had Asha on a down at my side and there's about 15 people hanging out listening to the judge, looking toward him and at the two of us handlers & our dogs. He critiqued the other team first, and Asha seemed pretty relaxed, but he finished up announcing them getting a passing score and then everyone clapped. LOL, Asha went from down to stand in .03 seconds, but did not bark! I put her back into a down and then the judge began talking about our routine. I wanted to show respect to the judge by listening & nodding so was not glancing at Asha, who had decided that all these people watching us was just about all she could take. She let out a huge BOOOWOOOOWOO without breaking her down. Oh Lordy. But the judge had a great sense of humor and said "Asha, don't talk that way, I was saying mostly nice things about you!" I'm SOOOO grateful for a sense of humor and somehow the laughter from the "audience" relaxed Asha rather than stir her up. Anyway all's well that ends well.
With more experienced training and a club visit more than once every 4 - 6 weeks, I'm sure she could shine. As it is, I'm happy, she's happy and we are both exhausted.
I'd like to thank all of you who've encouraged me - having "you can do this" tossed out here & there really can help!
Someone was taking photos for the club, but I'll have to wait for those to be posted - hopefully there will be a couple of Asha to share here. For now, our little plaque for passing, and an exhausted Asha last night.
During the judges review of our exercise the two handlers & dogs come before the judge, also in front of everyone outside the working field who is watching and he critiques each dog/handler so everyone can hear/learn what he saw. For those of you not familiar, two dogs go in & out together, working at the same time (one is on long down while the other does the routine, then they reverse). So I had Asha on a down at my side and there's about 15 people hanging out listening to the judge, looking toward him and at the two of us handlers & our dogs. He critiqued the other team first, and Asha seemed pretty relaxed, but he finished up announcing them getting a passing score and then everyone clapped. LOL, Asha went from down to stand in .03 seconds, but did not bark! I put her back into a down and then the judge began talking about our routine. I wanted to show respect to the judge by listening & nodding so was not glancing at Asha, who had decided that all these people watching us was just about all she could take. She let out a huge BOOOWOOOOWOO without breaking her down. Oh Lordy. But the judge had a great sense of humor and said "Asha, don't talk that way, I was saying mostly nice things about you!" I'm SOOOO grateful for a sense of humor and somehow the laughter from the "audience" relaxed Asha rather than stir her up. Anyway all's well that ends well.
With more experienced training and a club visit more than once every 4 - 6 weeks, I'm sure she could shine. As it is, I'm happy, she's happy and we are both exhausted.
I'd like to thank all of you who've encouraged me - having "you can do this" tossed out here & there really can help!
Someone was taking photos for the club, but I'll have to wait for those to be posted - hopefully there will be a couple of Asha to share here. For now, our little plaque for passing, and an exhausted Asha last night.