Yesterday was the start of the Tropical Treat Cluster sponsored by the Caribbean Kennel Club and the Ponce Kennel Club. It's a four day show with conformation, obedience and rally.
I have Roxy entered in Rally classes Advanced A and Novice B. Advanced is the second level of Rally and all stations are performed off leash. I've also entered her in Novice B(for dogs or handlers with previous titles)for some more show experience. If you'll recall, we were having some problems with distractions and the whole show experience being totally overwhelming for her.
Well, yesterday was still quite overwhelming. I ended up pulling her out of the Advanced class only 4 stations into the course. Being off leash wasn't necessarily the problem, it was just that there are so many other very interesting things to see that I was having to ask her to do things like 3 times. Rather than start a bad habit of ignoring me, I decided to retire.
Novice B is on leash. She did an OK job, not brilliant by any means but not awful. I know she was fed up by then since we'd already been at the show for close to 3 hours. I have learned in the past that it's not good to over work her or practice too much and that she doesn't like to hang around. She kind of shuts down.
Today we are back to the show this afternoon and entered in the same classes. I plan on getting there quite late!
On a positive note, I did notice that she was much more relaxed during the show. I might not have had her full attention but she was not nervous or freaking as she was at the first show. Slooooooow progress.
Next week, we'll be back in class and back to work.
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