Payoff Time-- December 4, 2010

On Friday, November 26, 2010, Bing and I had the rare opportunity to compete at an agility trial. It’s rare because of my work schedule and because I feel guilty taking time off to run Bing when I have Cyan at home. But on Fridays she’s with her beloved babysitter, Ellie, anyway, so I jumped at the chance.

 

The 1 ½ hour ride was manageable. Traffic wasn't too bad, given that it was Black Friday, and Bing was only mildly anxious. When we arrived at the show site, I immediately crated Bing in the van and went in to check in.  As is turned out,  they were running early so I got there just in time to walk the course and check in. As I walked back out to the van, I could hear him barking. He was mad. When I got him out of the van, he was pulling and panting, sniffing but not peeing, couldn’t focus on anything, wanted to get back to the van, etc. This is typical of Bing in a ‘new place’ (even though he’s been there half a dozen times by now).

 

I took him in the building, and we found our training buddies Cheryl and Rio. Bing couldn’t calm down. He was panting heavily, squeaking and moving around without purpose, but was able to target for me, sit, and do other things for treats. That was a good sign. I tried to keep him off to the side where there wasn’t a lot of activity, but that can be hard to do.

 

When it was his turn, I took him into the ring, set him up at the start line, got a small lead-out, and off we went. We have been training weekly with Karen Schelling, and I had every confidence that he could manage this course well. I was RIGHT…he was PERFECT! He did everything I asked him to, other than to sit on the pause table (he has NEVER refused a sit or a down on the pause table, so I knew he was worried), and once he looked over toward the exit, but it lasted only a partial second. At one point he was thinking about taking the tire jump when he shouldn’t have, but I was able to call him off.

 

Our run was allowed 69 seconds; it took 52. He had no knocked bars, no faults, refusals or wrong courses. His weave poles (12, onside) were perfect. We ended up with 2nd place…and a 2nd leg in Standard Open! I was thrilled beyond belief. I had such trust in his abilities that I didn’t have the slightest worry about what he’d do. It wasn’t that long ago that I was seriously worried about whether he’d take 6 weave poles!

 

I took him out to the van to sit with him and have some lunch. OMG he was AWFUL in the van. He was panting, pacing, hopping around, putting his mouth on everything (to shred), throwing drool everywhere. This went on for the entire 30 minutes we were in there. Then I had to leave him in his crate again to check in for our next class. I gave him a Greenie to work on and amazingly he settled in to work on it.

 

When I returned to the van, he was lying in his crate (unusual), but it was soaking wet from drool. I took him out to walk around and pee, but he was only able to sniff, not pee. His behavior deteriorated when I took him into the building. He was really lunging and dragging me to get to the exit, and was pretty frantic. I was at a loss; he was now refusing treats. Not knowing what else to do, I suddenly remembered the TTouch we had been doing. Of course, I had forgotten his Thundershirt, and hadn’t done any TTouch with him that day. SHAME on me. I tried some Python Lifts, and he accepted the first arm I worked on, then turned around for me to do the other arm but then walked away. So I tried some Zig Zags, usually his favorite TTouch. Nope, he shook it off and moved away. Confounded, I tried some Hair Pulls. Not a word of a lie, within 20 seconds he was calm, looking around, checking in with me, ready to go. We went into the ring and he KICKED BUTT. It was a Novice Jumpers with Weaves course, and it was easy. Again, he did everything I asked. He didn’t look to exit, and was with me the whole time. Our allowed time was 41 seconds; we needed 29. No faults, refusals or off courses. His off-side weaves were perfect. We got our 2nd leg and 3rd place. Wow.

 

I took him out to run around a bit more, but he only wanted to go back to the van. I set him up in the crate with a bully stick and he was happy. When I returned a short while later, he was lying in the crate, not panting,  and the floor was dry.

 

I cannot ask any more from my dog. He was perfect. I, on the other hand, neglected to give him the TTouch that might have helped him through the day. I didn’t use the Thundershirt, but I did give him a homeopathic remedy for stress. I felt very calm all day, which hopefully helped. This dog loves to work, and when he can push through his anxiety, he does really well. He is learning to do that, I think. And if I can remember to support him, he will prevail.

Bing Blog 53