Where the heck did August go and where is September going? I fully intended to write a blog in August. I'm sure I'll get he hang of it all eventually.
Just at the moment it seems that "if it can go wrong it's going wrong!" Cars, machinery, dogs, workmen not calling when they say they will, work shifts not allowing me to get things done, and certainly not being what I imagined or the impression I was given. I have a list of jobs piling up, I maaaay get one thing done but another two add on at the bottom. So what to write about. I had an idea in mind after my first writings but things have changed so now it's........
When it just doesn't go right!
I thought I would write about the times when whilst competing, judging or stewarding things just haven't gone to plan. I know that when I first started to compete I felt in awe of those people who were in the higher classes with their well behaved dogs, their perfect footwork. It felt intimidating, well this is to help you not feel intimidated, it happens to us all!
Just last weekend I judged at a Rally show in Somerset. My first judging appointment since Covid restrictions have lessened. I was judging levels 5 and 6 and, after correcting a huge error in my level 6 course plan at 9pm the night before the show, I traveled down to the venue early Saturday morning. I laid out my course and gave instructions to my scribe as the competitors walked the course. My jump is two cones and a pole which I have only used once up til this point and that was indoors. This was an outdoor show and others had the same style of jump. Would my pole stay on the supports, oh no! Not even at 10cm would the pole deign to remain in place. I tried everything I could think of but the slightest gust of breeze and the pole would drop. The funniest moments were when, having persuaded it to remain in place, I thought, the competitor would start and I would here this slight "pop" as the pole dropped to the ground, "There it goes again" I would mutter to my scribe. The best still has to be that when, for a few competitors the pole would remain in place, the dog sailed beautifully over the pole, three or four exercises later the pole would drop off the supports!
Let's go back in time......... Solly, my late, and sorely missed, obedience dog was a devil when it came to the retrieve. She would pick a dumbell up no problem, that's fine in beginners, novice and A, but when you reach B in obedience the dog must retrieve the judges article. This could be anything, I have had a plastic garden tie that nearly flew out of the ring to a strip of leather. A defining moment came when, in a B round, the article was a plastic pan scourer. Great, I thought, to me this was a lovely, highly visible, easy to pick up article. I set myself and Solly up. Command your dog, "Sit", throw the article, done, send your dog, "Solly hold". Off she goes, gets to the scourer, sniffs it, looks at me and decides she doesn't want to hold it. I sigh, inwardly, my shoulders drop, ever so slightly and Solly dashes off round the ring, tail between her legs like I beat her daily for not retrieving! I am sooo embarrassed, what must the judge think? Staying with retrieve, several years later, after much work on the exercise and a dog that now is totally reliable, I am in a C class. All the same instructions, command your dog etc. then, send your dog. What comes out of my mouth is some something like "Solly fthehf!" certainly not the command, hold. To her credit she did go out to the article, but looked at it and then at me as if to ask "What did you want?".
What about the stay exercises, not something you have to worry about in Rally. In particular the nerve jangling 10 minute down stay. Actually I didn't worry about stays. My Solly was a cracking stay dog. Even when, in one of her first shows, she did her down stay whilst shivering because, having got wet in the rain, she was lying in a draft ..... did I ever feel cruel. Then there was the time when, straight after the stays, she dashed across to the long grass she was sooooo desperate for the loo. So I set her up for the ten minute down in my C class. Last command and left. 10 minutes later we all return. As I approach the ring I look at Solly. Something doesn't seem quite right, I'm sure that's not where I left her. Must be wrong, she's on her side as I left her. Anyway, I stand by her side, and the exercise is over. At this point the judge comes over to me.
"I'm afraid she had a jolly good roll on her back. She had a whale of a time, all four feet in the air. I did go over to her, correct her and ask her what she thought she was doing?!"
She'd never done it before and never did it again. At the same show she defecated in the ring during the scent exercise in the second class we had entered. Do you sometimes think it's just not your day to win?
Here is the greatest(?) blooper I ever made. I was at a show and had booked into my two classes. I had plenty of time before I needed to be at the rings so went off and chilled out. When I was ready I went to my ring, put my number on the waiting list, warmed Solly up and waited to be called by the steward. My turn came and in we went. Great heelwork, A recall and retrieve. I was chuffed to bits. As we left the ring the scoreboard steward looked at me and asked,
"Are you in the right ring?"
I stopped, looked round and the realisation crept over me that I had gone into the wrong ring. My ring, the one I had booked into, was further down the field. I was devastated, the steward was disappointed for me, so were the spectators. The judges comment,
"I thought I had my winning round."
Aaaaaggggh!!!!! Trust me I am much more careful nowadays.
So I reach the perils of over training, bugbear exercises and brain to mouth miscommunication all with a covering of nerves. All can be seen in the video that follows. You now meet Smokie, daughter of Solly and our outing to Crufts in 2017, the inaugural inter regional Rally competition. Smokie has done some obedience but most of her life has been in Rally, so we tried out for and were selected for the Wales team, level 6. I trained really hard but hoped and prayed that the exercise, Moving Stand, Leave Dog. Turn, Down, Sit, Recall. Finish L/R was not in the course, well it was. Not all prayers are answered the way we want. Below is the video that shows my round, we are the first in, and you will see:
a) Over training - the Moving Stand is good. I turn and give a way to big a signal to call to heel. Having over trained, Smokie responds by going wide and thus going around the sign before coming to heel.
b) The bug bear exercise - Smokie has never been and still isn't very good at this exercise.
c) Brain to mouth miscommunication (nerves)- recall over jump. I say Smokie come. She does just that, missing out the jump. I should have said Smokie jump. Eeergh!
d) You don't realise after that that I am muttering, "You'd better flamin' go over the jump next time!" Of course I'm praising my dog all the way round!
e) The HUGE extended command I give Smokie to make sure she goes over the angled recall over the jump.
f) The smile at the end of the round that is actually fake because I ran out of the ring and bawled my eyes out. It happens.
We did however get a qualifying score of 185.
What we must learn from all these sorts of things is that our dogs are not robots. They are living, breathing, feeling and THINKING beings. They try desperately to understand what we want them to do. They do not disobey or do it wrong out of spite more often than not we get it wrong. We say it wrong, we give the wrong signal, we are inconsistent with our tone of voice. Dogs are hugely sensitive to sound and tones, and the more connected they are to us the more sensitive they become. Hence, with Solly, the very slight, and I mean slight, drop of my shoulders, if something went a bit wrong, and she would drop her head and slink back to me, or not return at all. During competition the dog must always think it's right, because 99.9999 percent of the time it is US that got it wrong.
I also know that despite everything that has happened, inside and outside the ring, I have ALWAYS gone home with the best dog in the world, and so must you too.
Until next time
Yours Nikki.
(Owner of the four best and most embarrassing collies in the world, and a person who regularly gets her muddles in a word!)
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