A few months ago, Beckett and I tried out Rally. With a APDT Rally competition so geographically close.. I thought, well maybe we would try. I managed to get my Rally number before hand (I may have waited until the last minute) and entered Beckett and myself for two novice level something-or-others. The first went awesome, (see above ribbon). But on the second round the course had simply a million (I'm exaggerating, but not by much) sits and by the second to last sign Beckett had no interest in "sitting" anymore. Beckett like many, if not all greyhounds, just isn't built for a sit the way other dogs are. So not sitting was fine by me. We just walked out on the last sign, which sort of disqualified us. Still a ribbon! YAY!
I'm not sure if Rally is for me, it was a serious (but pleasant) atmosphere. I also got nervous, really nervous heart pounding take deep breathes nervous. I don't know why, I mean I don't really care, I know my dog is pretty awesome, I don't need a ribbon to let me know (not when I have my own blog to remind me). Still, I see the pull of the competition - seeing your dog and you getting better, having an outside validation of your work together. And of course who doesn't likes ribbons.
Before the competition my friend Crystal (the awesome) walked me through everything the rules, signs, tips,and common places you can go wrong. It isn't as though I didn't read the rules, I did, but there are a good amount of those rules and some of the signs seem a little complicated. Signs are lingo for signs. Since I'm primarily gloating here, you can check out the link if your looking for more info on the level one signs and rules.
The day of the competition the judge was quite patient, explaining any questions I had before things started and even moving a sign so that maybe a large dog like Beckett could fit through. The Judge lady seemed to be focused primarily on having a loose leash and having fun with your dog. By seems I mean that is pretty much what she said. I myself have no idea because lacking any highly competitive bone in my body, I actually didn't even bother to get my score sheet. So all I know is my total score, which was posted.
To the moment of competition itself. Here is the strange part. As you may recall I was pretty indifferent to whole the experience (see above deep breathing and heart pounding, not to mention excited and proud). However, Beckett loved it. Sure he got tired after the first course, but on the first course he pranced around that ring, he executed every command faster then ever before, he never strayed far from my hip, and was so happy. Weird. Maybe it is his competitive nature.
I'm still pretty proud of him.
