Pepper had somewhat of a coming of age this morning with the loss of his first tooth! Such a reminder that he is still just a baby:) We were in puppy class sitting in the shade when one of our classmates spotted the little canine. A quick check, and yes, Pepper’s lower left was missing. So we packed it up an took it home for the tooth-fairy. It was funny timing as my niece had just asked about Pepper losing teeth before I left that morning. I was running late as I showed her Rosie’s photo album which has a collection of Rosie baby teeth (sad, I know 
)
Unfortunately Rosie and I didn’t do very well at the GSDA trial on Saturday night. Less nervous going in but the ground was prickly and very spikey, all the novice dogs did very poor heeling as they just didn’t want to walk, sit or lie on the ground. I also learned that once you start having to worry about keeping your dog with you its hard to follow the judge’s instructions and so I missed a few turns, etc.
She then did the same in the figure of 8 as the previous test. Somewhat my fault again. We were halted to the outside of the right post and I should have gone around the outside but instead tried to go through the centre which made an awkward start. Rosie did two of the four ‘posts’ but just waited in the middle for the others. I think she has worked out that I am coming back and has concluded that she can just wait! Additionally, we also don’t train the full heel pattern then immediately into the figure of 8; it’s always two separate exercises so I will have to work on combining the two into a longer session. Interestingly, most of the their dogs stopped to sniff the ‘posts’ so she wasn’t alone here either.
Rosie got close to full points for the other exercises, included the stays. Her only other baulk was the recall where she really slowed down and then sat about two metres away. I was fairly sure this was due to the judge standing about two metres to my right – so that’s something else to get used to.
Only one dog passed the CCD (out of seven). The Novice triallers were all ready to head off and miss the stays thinking no one was near passing but it turned out that Anne with Alvin were still in the game so we went back in. I had to hold back a moment to see what the other competitors did to get in position using a number marker – did the dog go on it or me, behind, left, right? I had no idea so had to watch what what the others did – all so new! Anne and Alvin got their title in the Novice so it wasn’t a complete waste
Our CCD/Novice instructor was away this morning so I took the class and was able to put my newfound knowledge to good use to help the others. Unfortunately it meant that Rosie didn’t get to train but as it is starting to cool down we will head over the road to the oval and do some practice tonight.
Clicks and treats
Ang, Pepper and Rosie
Hehehe Heather has almost a full mouth of teeth now; the canines are already errupted – she lost her baby teeth some time ago, and now has a beautiful smile… with just the nubs of the new bottom canines showing.
In a trial situation, you are well within your rights to ask for clarification, and frankly you should have been briefed before the stay: unless told otherwise, YOUR right foot should be on the peg with your number on it. Don’t be afraid to ask – it is NOVICE after all! Hell, Gemma and I hardly do a single practice or trial without asking a curly question.
You did the right thing though: if in doubt, look for someone who looks like they are confident, and do the same
On returning to your dog (stays) make sure you stay together and walk in unison, arriving back at the same time. Try to stay in line.
It’s only a wasted trial if you go away without learning anything. One way to make use of an early “zero” is to push the envelope in the later exercises; take risks that you wouldn’t otherwise dare take! You never know what you’ll learn! It may well be that something you’re worried about is not really an issue… Turn everything into an opportunity.
Like I have the ‘opportunity’ to get a shiny new blower for my Car’s A/C and possibly a new Oil Pump as well, after the trip to Bemboka. Oh joy! What fun I had, trying to find the fuses and test them all!