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Bing Blog #25


	"The Little Man Grows Up" -- December 3, 2006 I haven't reported on Bing for almost two months, but he has a lot to tell us about! In his last blog, I told you that he got his first APDT Rally leg with a 198. That was in the morning of that day; in the afternoon, the ground warmed up and his nose took over (as did the nose of every other dog there) and he just pulled out his second leg with a 176. He was all over the place, but completed every sign, and stayed with me enough that he qualified. Whew! At the end of November, we went to a trial in Harrisburg which was held in a horse arena. The smells and sights were overwhelming to Bing, but we took him in and out a few times and really let him settle inside before trialing him, and that seemed to ground him. He was able to score a 191 for his third leg and his very first title! Yay, Bing!

					Photograph of a sign along the road to Estes Park, Colorado
	That afternoon, he trialed again, and got a 192, for his first Championship points. His heeling is still pretty rudimentary, but the excitement of being in a place with smells and dogs and sights is really the biggest challenge for him. I am so proud that he was able to focus at all on me, despite the distractions! A week later, after having been out of town all week and leaving him at home, we went to another trial. The night before, I realized that I had entered him in Level 2!!!! When I saw this, I laughed so hard I cried….we had never even practiced level 2 skills! Level 2 is all off leash, which is not something we've ever done. So, we went down to the barn that night and worked on a few things like the jump, the stand for exam, the halt call front while running, things like that. He really picked up on the moving down.
						The next day, I told the judge, Sue Oakes, that I had forgotten that I had entered Bing in Level 2, and he wasn't ready. She gave me the advice I thought she would….”just try it”. We agreed that I'd train him for a few stations if he had too hard a time. I had prepared everyone there for some real comic relief. WELL….we went into the ring, and the first sign was the moving down. He did this very well, and we continued through a 360, a 270, and the spiral. During the spiral he started to run away from me; I think he was worried and not sure what to do, since he'd never done this off leash before. He seemed to be thinking of going into a blind run, but I managed to call him back twice and keep him with me long enough until we got to a stationary sign so I could treat him (this is the beauty of APDT rally; you can feed your dog in certain places on the course). His eyes lit up, he got excited, and he seemed to suddenly realize that we were working! His facial expression was obvious and adorable! From that moment on, his heeling was PERFECT, he was prancing and having a GREAT time…and he scored a 201….his highest score ever!!!!

	And the Award goes to "Signature's Grand Idea," aka Bing, and Ali Brown
	So, Bing got his first Level 2 leg! I was pleasantly surprised but not shocked. Bing is so incredibly smart, loves me, loves to work, and learns quickly. The whole ‘off leash’ thing was a new experience for him, which creates some anxiety, but once he wrapped his brain around it, he was fine. Tonight, we practiced rally a bit, especially the food bowl figure 8. Of course, he figured it out quickly. We also worked a bit on the skateboard. I happened to realize the other day that teaching the skill of riding the skateboard might well help Bing past his fear of the teeter totter in agility. Acacia has proven to be quite the role model; he watches her and understands that it's OK to do ‘that thing’, and then he does it. It's so nice to have a big sister! Since Acacia loves riding the skateboard, he seems to have decided that it's OK for him, too.

	We need to register for a few more trials, and we also need to work more extensively on heel. Usually when I teach rally, I teach the signs, and the dogs just sort of figure out to go with the human. We fine tune the heeling as needed. But Bing loves to forge and go wide on turns, and I know he's capable of doing much better than he usually does, so that will be our main training goal. In the next blog, I'll explain the tremendous progress he's made with his fear of hands…
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			The trophy case is starting to shape up!