Viewing Single Post From: Working Trials

Viewing Single Post From: Working Trials
RJL	Mar 29 2008, 12:44 AM
Chatterbox Posts: 1,382 Group: Full Members Member #179 Joined: January 25, 2006	Oh no..........I'm all alone in this thread :err: Last Sunday Dill and I arrived at a muddy field, down a muddy lane, which is apparently the correct way to arrive at a trial. Dill is not a dog who likes to be kept standing around; however, this is apparently something competitors in trials do a lot of. I managed to fill in the time explaining why he is so small and that although he had resorted to making a noise like a hen about to lay an egg (as he does when he is bored) he was not in pain (nor was he actually going to lay an egg!) The first activity we tried was tracking. As we were all complete beginners, it was all kept easy and fun. Dill soon got the hang of snuffling along, hoovering up sausages along the way, while I managed to point to the ground and say 'track'. It is important that the dogs are encouraged to track carefully and not miss any sausages because at competition level, they have to find articles dropped along the track as well as complete the trail. Next we moved to the agility section. The high jump was no problem because Dill has springs for paws. The long jump was a bit of a challenge because nothing we did convinced Dill that running along it was not the correct approach. The scale was daunting (to me) Little Dill is 9 and a half inches at the shoulder and the scale for his height is three feet or solid fence. Dill objected to my request to jump and tried to explain that he couldn't manage such a huge leap by leaping up and barking. In fact, he bounced a good four feet off the ground, in order to demonstrate that clearing 3 feet was just too difficult. Eventually, after a bit of strategic positioning by me and and instructor, he inadvertantly bounced right over the scale :yay: Then we moved to the article search, where Dill faked complete amnesia and looked at me in utter bafflement when I said 'hold' :huh:Although after some gentle persuasion (he remembered what :x: well HOLD meant) he did succeed. He did a superb recall, mostly because the instructor held him while I ran off waving yet more sausage and he came back to me like he was on elastic (there's a thought :ph43r: ) He also got the hang of the sendaway i.e. go to the foot of the magic sausage-tree and scoff :yes: Everyone was so welcoming and friendly and we have been practicing. Last night he did a 'seek' for a leather tassle I'd dropped while we were out walking with my friend and her collie and 2 patterdales. Poor Dill trotted over and dutifully began to search, but just as he got to the tassle, he was ambushed by a flying patterdale who grabbed it from him and ran off - managing to drop in en-route before coming back to a very shocked Dill and rolling on her back in front of him (probably saying cruel things like 'you might look a bit like a terrier - but you are a swotty little anally-retentive pastoral breed :hyper: ') So, that's our experience of working trials. Great fun - another excuse to play outside with your dog and get really messy :yay: and it's still legal :yippee:


Working Trials · Working dogs