Rally!

Friday night Finn and I went to a trial at Oriole Dog Training Center in Baltimore. We have our Novice Rally Title, so we were going for Advanced Rally. A few new challenges (a jump!) and all off leash. Finn does well off leash, and we knew all the usual signs. My concern was the jump, something we had only gotten to practice twice (with lots of cheese as incentive).

Finn and I got there, and he hopped out of the car, tail wagging. Since we had taken a couple of classes here, he was not stressed about coming. But when we went in the room, a different room than our class, with lots of strange dogs, the tail went down and he started stress panting.

We sat down to wait, and he calmed down a bit. I was able to get him to focus a bit, and we practiced our course. Then it was our turn in the ring.

We started well, but it soon became evident that Finn wasn't focusing on what we were doing. I had to repeat commands, constantly regain his attention, and call him back to me.


He would do well, then it was like his mind would wander off in another direction. We wandered around the course, and while I was frustrated he wasn't keeping his mind on what we were doing, he did do everything I asked, sort of.


































































































He did the jump! (Yay!) Then we were just a sign or two away from the finish..


















It was here that Mr Finnegan saw the exit, and decided it was time to leave. He just casually strolled out of the ring. He wasn't trying to run away, and he may have thought we were done, since the last sign had us heading for the gate.

It's just as well, by then I was laughing so we weren't presenting a very good picture anyway. :-D

Thanks to Judie for taking the photos, and congratulations to Jodie and Corky, score of 95 and second leg!