Dang it We worked hard setting up this course for Cyber Rally and thought we had a qualifying run, even if we did have to retry one station. I think Moss thought we were doing another schutzhund turn. Then I read the rules again and discovered that we didn’t do one station correctly. He was supposed to stand without sitting first at station 10.
I’ve already picked up the signs but at least I haven’t removed the signs from the stands yet. I’ll have to set it up again and retape. This cyber rally stuff isn’t as easy as it sounds.
Just back from a Show and Go Match. Naturally, we were in the first class and the last class of the day. A long day. Moss was fantastic in the Novice class. The judge told me every time she saw me that he was such a nice dog! Flattery gets me every time.
But just before the Rally class, a thunder cloud rolled in and Moss wanted to leave. I made him do it anyway. He wasn’t great, but at least he more or less made it through the class. I’m pretty pleased with my boy.
Today we had a couple of rumbles of thunder, but it was mostly a cloudy and rainy day. Moss, as usual spent most of the day in the bathroom, with quick forays out to check on me.
This afternoon I got out our nosework boxes and we did some searches. His attitude improved radically. So then we did some heeling doodles in the living room. He was GREAT. Amazing that he was actually working while it was raining outside! There’s hope yet!
I’m looking at a week of cloudy, thunderstormy days as an opportunity. Since Moss is so storm phobic, I know we’ll have to scratch at trials if the weather turns bad. I’ve come up with two solutions. One is to get him titles through cyber rally o (but that’s another post to come) and the other is to work with him during these bad days and see how much we can improve.
Yesterday we did go dock diving in the morning, but the afternoon turned cloudy. He seemed fine but when we went out for our evening walk, he started shivering. Sure enough, it had rained. Just a sprinkle, really. We walked for a while and then tried some easy obedience work. He was taking treats slowly, but he was taking them. He even played for a minute. We stopped while we were both feeling better. I have learned, if nothing else, to take any improvement as a good sign and not push to get to where I think we should be.