First, I was very pleased with Tucker. We walked around the show site (this is a big conformation show) for about 20 minutes playing "Look At That Dog" from Control Unleashed. We had NO outbursts of barking! What a good boy! I took Tucker into the crowded rally building and worked with him for a few minutes on simple cues with lots of dogs around. Again, no reactions to the other dogs, but lots of great focus!
I took Kilda into the rally building several times for short sessions of focus. I tried to limit her work time to less than 10 minutes to prevent stress. She gets "sharky" taking treats when she's reaching her threshold. She never got near that point!
Her time in the ring was VERY productive. I asked a friend to pose as a judge, since Kilda was very concerned about the judges in her scary trials. We walked in the ring, and Kilda started stressing immediately. I stood calmly, letting her look around. In just a few seconds, she sat and looked up at me. GOOD GIRL!! I gave her very special treats, real meatballs, to make a big impression. Next, I took her leash off. Another treat for sitting calmly! Then I stepped to the right and asked her to line up with me. She seemed to visibly relax and realize that we were having a great training session! I only planned on taking her on a short "up and back" but she was doing well, keeping calm and focussed, so we practiced a leadout on the rally jump and did a lot of the signs around the ring. Angie (our faux judge) kept following us, and Kilda didn't seem to mind.
I think with another 100 or so matches, she'll be confident and comfortable in the ring!
I didn't get any video of the rally match, but here's a clip of Kilda practicing agility on Saturday afternoon in a park.
It was a dark and cold afternoon.
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