First APDT Rally Trial

Morgan and I showed at our first APDT (Association of Pet Dog Trainers) Rally trials this past weekend in Durham, NC. It was really fun and I learned a lot about my dog, my nerves and my training. We had to go into Level 1A because it was our first time doing APDT Rally. The cool thing about it -well there were a lot of cool things about it but the one that attracted me the most was the fact that they allow food in the RING. You can feed your dog at every stationary exercise. I thought by bringing food into the ring, it would help get Morgan to focus more and not stress out in the ring.

It worked pretty well. When we entered the ring, she was not very enthusiastic and I tried to jolly her up and not drag her into the ring.
When she got into heel position, I gave her a piece of pork loin (something that I took home in a doggie bag after one of my many meals eating out with job applicants). That perked her up and her eyes were glued on me. We had several moving exercises that she did pretty well. She has a tendency to forge in competition so our left turns weren't that great and there were a lot of them (left 270, left 360, spiral left, etc.)

On the second stationary exercise there were 3 signs that were what they call, married. It was a halt sit, sit down sit, sit stand-they are married because the dog doesn't have to sit again for the second exercise if she is already sitting for the first exercise. However, you ARE allowed to give her a treat after the completion of each stationary exercise. What happened the first day, we did our halt sit-I gave her a cookie. The next sign was sit, down, sit. Because she was already sitting, I just asked her to go down and then get into a sit, another cookie. On the third sign, again, she was already sitting, so I just asked her to stand, and you guessed it, she got another cookie. You should have seen the smile on her face for getting 3 cookies in a row! She moved beautifully after that and didn't forge that much. We did have to repeat a couple of exercises because of the forging but made up for it because they have BONUS exercises after you complete the required exercises. Morgan nailed all the bonus exercises including one I didn't think she could do! ;) She got a 5th place on Saturday morning (you read it right 5th place, lol) with a score of 199. Saturday afternoon, she was way better but still only got a 200 but she got a third place. This morning she did her best work and got a 203, second place and her title.

In trial four, I learned something about my dog. She was extremely attentive before going into the ring and thrilled with the turkey that I had for her.
Just before we went into the ring, someone's dog started whaling and howling loudly. She immediately got a worried look on her face and I tried to jolly her up and she wasn't having it. I gave her a cookie at the start line and almost as soon as we started heeling, the dog started that loud whaling again. She looked in that direction again with a worried look so I had to redo the very first exercise. Unfortunately, I had to do three obstacles before giving her a cookie again and by then, I had mostly lost her. But we soldiered on. Lefts were abominable and we had to repeat the sit, down, twice. REALLY? I was working hard and I go into show mode so after the first one or two signs, I didn't hear the dog any more but I could tell by the way Morgan was reacting that she was hearing something and it wasn't me J. This tells me that I need to proof with that kind of distraction. I'm sure Merlin, Pen and Gally will be happy to do some screaming while Morgan and I train J It also tells me that even the best cookies don't work when she is really distracted. Finally it tells me that maybe four trials in two days is too much for the girl.

What I learned about myself that always surprises me is how competitive I am and that competitiveness give me nerves. I actually had nerves that first morning-not as bad as I do for AKC but I hadn't expected to be nervous at all. My being a little nervous was a good thing, though because I think it told Morgan that a) we were really at a dog show and b) we can work together even if Mommy is a little weird at a show. By the second trial, my nerves were gone and she did well. This morning I was more nervous than the 2nd trial but by then, Morgan had gotten used to my nerves, I think, and did very well. I was not nervous at all for the 4th trial (we already had the
title) and she performed the worst, so part of what I learned is that maybe I need to care a little bit to get a better performance out of Morgan.

I am encouraged and I am going to do a lot of off lead work with her from now on so that we can venture forth to the next level with the help of food.
The next level is fun, fun, fun-recalls, sending to the jump (coming soon to AKC Rally), fast from a sit, leave the dog and run have dog come front.
There is retrieving in level 3.

This group does four sets of 4 trials per year. Another group does trials in Myrtle Beach but I don't know how often. So even if we have to show in APDT only for a year, it will be worth it to get my girl happy in the ring. I hope our group wants to do some APDT trials too but I'm not sure we have a space big enough to do it.