PVSSC Rally Trial - Sunday - Riot RA!
You know it's been a wild ride when the judge hands you your leash at the end of the run and says "Yee-haw!"
Riot qualified today and came in 4th with a 93! A 13 point improvement over yesterday and all 7 points off were for heeling.
Riot warmed up really nicely today -- both outside and when I brought him in the building. His heeling was tighter, his focus was better, and he just overall seemed more eager to please.
I brought him over to the rally ring about two and half dogs before it was his turn and it was even tighter than it was yesterday. The best I could do warming up ringside was to work on "watch" and keep an eye out for wandering dogs invading his space all while blocking someone else's view.
Riot was very interested in the judge and I was half convinced he was going to go visit him when he came to take his leash from me.
Overall the first half of the course was really nice. His heeling wasn't as nice as I would have liked but it was much better than yesterday. The jump was so much better than yesterday, he actually returned to heel afterwards, didn't back jump, and didn't bark.
The second half of the course was a lot more open and all movement with no stopping exercies (other than the last) and two speed changes. This was going to be more of a challenge for us regardless and then the clapping started. In the obedience ring next to us (which we were facing at the time), they were awarding placements and clapping. This was a bit much for Riot to handle as he was convinced they had to be clapping for him and ran over to see what was going on. I told him to heel and he came right back to me. But from then on out it was a battle to keep him with me as things were just way too exciting.
We need to work on longer heeling patterns and more time between rewards when training. The 14 obstacles on course seems a bit hard on him and I think he would be better focused if he could be rewarded a few times throughout.
