Clean Run - April 2017 - 64


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More Trials...Less Tribulation
This is the last installment of the
four-month competition and training journey that my husband Jim
and I have been on with our littermate youngsters Mojo and Spell.
They will be two years old in just
a couple weeks. We are pleased
with their competency in comparison with where other of our dogs
have been over the years. My last
four dogs-Panic, Ace, Scoop, and
Pie-have finished Novice titles
when they were 26 to 21 months
old, respectively. In comparing
where top trainers might be with
their novice dogs, I'd guess that we
are way behind many competitive
young teams. But I try not to look
at that and just train the dog I have
at the moment, moving forward as
the training and competition opportunities present themselves.
I am not in a hurry to finish titles,
other than the fact that getting out
of the lower classes means all my
dogs will be in Masters and hence
the same competition ring, reducing the conflicts and my stress
about being sure not to miss walkthroughs and runs. My focus over
the years has often been on what
it takes to qualify my adult dogs
for the national events I want to
attend that year, and the youngsters are just along for the ride,
getting a few legs at each show.
Other than nationals-qualifying, I
pick shows because of the show
environment and who among my
64

friends and students will be there
to share the experience.
Since last month Mojo completed
his AKC Novice Standard title and
last weekend got his first leg in
Open Standard. He got four Standard legs in a row, the three Novice
ones and then the first Open. He
finished AKC Novice Jumpers with a
few bobbles and NQs along the way,
and then last weekend got his first
Open Jumpers. I really like that he is
in Open level for both classes. I was
worried we would finish Masters
Jumpers before I got out of Novice
Standard since I started competing
in the Standard class many months
after starting Jumpers, and I did
not know how his running contacts
would hold up in competition. So
far so good on that front. We missed
one A-frame last weekend but, if
memory serves, we have yet to miss
a dogwalk in competition.
Being in Open Jumpers and Standard with one leg in each feels like
we really are an Open-level team,
progressing through all the challenges of contacts/weaves and
handling skills at about the same
level. I am really trying to balance
Mojo's training and this gives me
hope that I am actually doing that.
I shared a list last month that
broke down how I was planning
on spending my training time with
him and I think we pretty much accomplished that goal.

Last weekend we had a match on
the Friday evening before the AKC
trial so I gave up a day at home
to drive the three hours through
San Francisco Bay Area traffic to
make it to the afternoon match to
get Mojo in the ring. I try to take
advantage of every match opportunity and the ability to use a toy
and have two or three 60-second
sessions in the ring to train him.
The Match
I have previously written about what
I hoped to accomplish with my pup
in and outside of the ring at a trial.
I am working really hard to keep
Mojo focused on me, to have him
willing to do tricks outside of the
ring, and to play with me with his
toy or leash both outside the ring
as well as on the start line (just the
leash in the ring!). I'd have to rate
our play performance at the match
as barely a 50% success.
We have been at this trial site
many times but from the moment
he got out of the RV he was distracted and acting like a juvenile
male with too much testosterone
pumping through his veins. He
made me work way too hard to get
him to play the closer we got to
the rings and the other dogs. At
least a few times there was really
"no one home" in that little boy
brain when I asked him to engage
with me. I am so used to my pushy
playful dogs trying to engage with
Clean Run | April 17
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run - April 2017
