Here's an overdue post on last weekend's trial.
Wednesday was our club specialty, and I was working the fundraiser sale/raffle tables. I took Laev for some socialization and experience. It was a good idea; she'd never been crated in a venue before and really struggled to adjust. I covered her crate, but being in a row of barking show dogs obviously bothered her. She was stressy -- which for her looks a lot like "normal," but glancing away from me more often -- but finally settled, and we did some obedience outside the conformation rings. We amused people with the extra appendage attached to her end :-) but actually one person was quite nice about her tail and complimented her.
Friday we came back for Rally and Obedience. Shakespeare qualified in Rally, as did Laev, but Laev was entered in Novice A instead of Novice B and they wouldn't allow a correction, so her leg doesn't count. :-( Still, it was a decent score and I was pleased with the run.
Laev also qualified in Novice Obedience! We'd done AKC obedience only once before, at our club specialty a year ago, when I knew Laev wasn't quite ready but wanted to support the club. Then she surprised me with her good heeling and fair other work, but she broke the stays to chase birds. /embarrassed sigh/
This was her second run, and while she didn't give me her best, I was pleased. I was proud of her because the stays had me worried; she was between a very friendly but mildly flirtacious intact male Rottweiler (big sexy boy!) and a JRT/Parson Russell, with whom she'd had words a few minutes before going into the ring (he was a very nice dog, but he happened to give her a terrier eye and she took offense to the staring). I was counting seconds during the stays, but she held it! and we had not been practicing stays much at all.
On Saturday, Laev was clearly exhausted. It was also colder outside than the day before, somewhere in the teens. Fortunately we were entered only in one class, Novice Obedience, but she was just having trouble. (Funny how Laev is -- I was talking to her about staying awake, and a bystander protested, "She doesn't look tired!" But she had four paws on the floor at once, which is a dead giveaway for Laev.) She was tired enough from the week that she didn't focus well, and I know she's capable of much better heeling than she displayed; she stayed next to me, but we weren't a dance team, just a couple out for a walk. :-) This time, during the stays, I just hoped she wouldn't fall asleep and lie down on the sit. ;-) Still, she qualified again, and those were her first two AKC Novice Obedience legs. :-D
