Agility - ups and downs

Dax and I went to an Agility Fun Match last night. HORRIBLE TRAFFIC! 2 hours to get there during rush hour (I know, what was I thinking!), only 45 minutes to get home. The things we do for/with/about dogs!
Mixed bag of results. Very, very happy she's tugging like a lunatic with our new toy (http://www.nosetouch.com/tug_it.htm), and our first run was pretty smooth and terrific. Second run - major, major A-frame issues. A really nice woman who runs Pugs came to help and share some sympathy - Pugs and Frenchies are not built to run A-Frames! Then, my fault totally, Dax got hung up a bit in the tire - nobody noticed it was set for 16 inches, instead of 12. I'll have to be way more careful about that. Fortunately, it didn't bother her. Really nice people at the facility, and a very nice facility: http://www.advancesinanimalbehavior.com/ . After everybody was done with their runs, they let me take Dax back out and do the A-Frame and tire again.
We know what we have to work on - let's hope we get it right by our next trial at the beginning of January.

Dress rehearsal - not so great

Saturday I took Dax to a "Fun Match" at For Your Canine, which is where our club is holding its Obedience Trial next Sunday. And I fervently hope that the old saw about "bad rehearsal=good performance" holds true.
A chunk of the problem may have been the temperature. French Bulldogs don't do very well in the heat and the weather on Saturday was in the upper 80s. But I really can't think it's a good excuse - since she went from her air-conditioned home to the air-conditioned car to the air-conditioned training facility. It was only about 78 or 79 inside - I know because we were sitting right by the thermostat!
I really don't know what to expect now - we'll just keep practising and be optimistic. I know she knows the exercises and the venue. No matter how the trial turns out, two things I know are true:

• We do this for fun, not ribbons
• No matter the result - I still get to take her home with me!

Silly wabbit - can't read the sign!

We've had an interesting week around here, dog-wise. Dax has become quite the "mighty hunter" - I've had to pick bunny fur out of her teeth once and nearly once again. Wouldn't you think the silly wabbit would figure out that ours is not the safest yard in the neighborhood to be munching grass? Then again - it may be the only one without chemicals, so bunny might be right after all!

Dax and I went to an Obedience fun match on Wednesday night. (Thank you for driving, Betsy!) and I was soooo happy - she did the Stand for Exam perfectly - first try! Her heeling was rather awful, but I can't blame her, much, since we've been concentrating on the other exercises lately.

I had a bit of a mess yesterday trying to get my repaired car back - the body shop called and said it was ready, so I turned in my rental. Turns out - not so much. They mixed me up with another customer who had a similar name and vehicle. There's a couple hours of my life I'll never get back.

Oddly, though, it didn't really bother me. I've been strangely serene about the whole smashed car thing. Didn't lose my temper once - not when my car got smashed, not when I had to wait 45 minutes to be picked up by the rental car place, not when the body shop wasted my afternoon yesterday. Maybe I'll wake up in fury now that it's over, but I doubt it. I guess I truly meant it when I told the police officer "it's just a car."

Performance Frenchie - not an oxymoron!

Dax and I (and Ceilidh and Fran) went to our first Agility Fun Match yesterday evening. There's probably some ordinance, somewhere, that makes it against the law to have as much fun as we did! Nice site, great people, well-behaved dogs, well-organized, a pleasure!
Of course, it wouldn't have been nearly as much fun if Dax hadn't been terrific! Everybody had two runs. On the first one I tried to follow the course, but that didn't work out quite as expected. When I faltered (my first time, too) Dax took off! She saw the jump-setters sitting in the corner and went dashing off to say "Hello!" I took two steps toward her and then heard a niggling little voice in the back of my head saying "Run away! Run away!" Which I did and Dax came dashing after me! The voice in the back of my head was Dee, my instructor. It turns out I heard it in stereo - she was outside the ring saying the same thing! It's a wonderful thing when you actually absorb, learn and apply! I think Dee was pretty pleased to witness her lessons learned.
On the second run I decided to "do my own thing" and make sure Dax was exposed to all the obstacles. She'd only seen the teeters at class, as well as the dog walk, A-frame, etc. So we tried them all. Dax didn't hesitate to take any of them. That girl has no fear! It was beautiful - especially since she stayed with me the whole way. I was so proud of her. And I'm tickled to finally feel like I belong - part of the All Fours Agility Team!

First Fun Match

I've hesitated to start matching Dax in Novice Obedience. She's been wonderful in class, but I had absolutely no confidence whatsoever that she would perform similarly in a different place.
My skepticism has good justification - I can't walk down the street with Dax at heel. She's a wild child everywhere but at home and in class, either agility or obedience.
At some point, however, you have to either fish or cut bait. So I went to a Fun Match on Saturday.
I was shocked. She was wonderful. Everyone around was absolutely charmed by my beautiful, bewildering Bully Girl. If it had been a Trial, we would have qualified. Her heeling was impeccable, her Recall a speedy thing of beauty.
Shame on me of little faith!