RVA: Merlin Freaks Out a Little

[labgirl]

We had our first Kennel Club show of 2016 on Saturday. Merlin is now Grade 2 and I have entered him into a Starters Qualifier in a few weeks time that can take you through to a KC Final. Its only open to Grade 1 and 2 dogs, so I am being careful not to win out of Grade 2. For that reason we did no agility classes this weekend

The venue was a new one to me and a 2 hour drive away, which is the furthest I have ever driven for agility. The arena was nice, but I was disappointed that there were no safe areas to exercise your dog off lead. The only area of grass was right next to a busy road with poor fencing, so I didn't dare let Sparrow off.

There was an outside and an indoor ring. The indoor area was very busy and noisy. I walked Merlin in first thing to take a look, and instantly his ears went down and he started to flatten. So we walked straight back out and I played with him outside. I knew then this was not going to be the easiest of venues for him to run in!

Merlin
Steeplechase Combined 1-7
Merlin's first run was a combined steeplechase. I love starting with a steeplechase as it gives the dog a chance to blast and get their head in gear. There were 110 dogs in our class! All grades from 1 to 7 were judged together. It was a fast course and I knew we would not win it, and probably not even get placed. We finished in the top third of the results, which I was super pleased with. It was a lovely clear from Merlin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYihlJASuUs

Jumping Graded 1-2
It was hours before our next run. This was a jumping class, graded which means there are two sets of results (and winners), one for the Grade 1 dogs and one for the Grade 2 dogs. Merlin already has a jumping win, 2 more and we will be Grade 3, so I need to be careful. Fortunately, we had a bit of bad luck that proved to be good luck, if you see what I mean There were huge windows on one side of the arena leading to the viewing area. As we ran the course Merlin spotted these windows and he freaked. For a moment it was like the old Merlin had returned. I remained calm, called him back and we carried on. It felt like minutes when he was freaking out, it was barely seconds. He recovered and took two jumps into the weaves, finishing the course beautifully and with lots of praise. Despite our faults we came 2nd, had we gone clear we would have won and then I would be panicking about being on the verge of going Grade 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enXqL3GHZS0

Sparrow
Allsorts Jumping
Sparrow was full of beans when we walked on the course, having had no off lead run. I wasn't sure how she would work for me as she was so pumped up, but the instant I asked her to go into her wait she switched on. I loved this run, I got to try out a blind cross. She went wrong at the tunnel, but that served us well too as it meant, instead of doing another cross at the tunnel, I had to rear cross her further on. Rear crosses are our weak point and I was so pleased with this one. It also served us well for our next class too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3sgGceT1oo

Allsorts Agility
It was now the end of the day and I wanted to finish on a high. Well, we did! Despite stopping for a sniff and arguing with me mid-course about which jump to do next (she does like to have her say!) we ran clear, including doing another rear cross! Much better this time too! I was elated to realise we came fourth and Sparrow had her KC name read out over the speakers during the presentations! I almost cried I was so delighted with her. It made that 2 hour drive all worthwhile!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMLDrNOlBfQ

 

[Calliesmom]

those were some good runs- I can understand Merlin having a small issue there...
I believe I would have gotten lost when you were doing that little circle of jumps- and I probably would have gotten dizzy too
whooo- that Sparrow is fast.....

 

[Lanie]

Egads! Sparrow. Fast, fast, fast and the way she turns! Incredible. Merlin looked great! I think I would need motion sickness pills on those jumps spinning around and around or I'd lose my lunch.

 

[labgirl]

Thank you! And yes, I was very dizzy after that sequence of jumps, I hate pivots like that, I walked it so many times to get it in my head I had to pause for a moment for the room to stop moving Even worse when you are running fast!

Sparrow is scary quick, bless her, which is why even when we make mistakes and lose time she gets placed if clear, lol!

 

[Silaria]

Those are some very nice runs from both dogs.

Sparrow is amazingly quick! WOW! I hope you are teaching her some distance work so you can avoid off courses as you get higher in levels.

 

[Jess041]

They looked great! Sparrow is very good about taking what's in front of her! The last video was funny because there was another Sparrow looking dog outside the ring and I was like, "wait, why is she there?" and then she came out the back corner. There must have been another cocker there!

We take a class with a couple show English Cockers and their noses get the best of them sometimes. I saw Sparrows go down like, once or twice in the second video. It's hard to fight instinct! She's much faster (and cuter) than the ones in my class.

 

[labgirl]

Thank you

Sparrow is amazingly quick! WOW! I hope you are teaching her some distance work so you can avoid off courses as you get higher in levels.

Definitely! No way am I going to be keeping up with her! She tends to lose her confidence at competitions and I have to run with her more than I ever do at training. But that will come with time

The last video was funny because there was another Sparrow looking dog outside the ring and I was like, "wait, why is she there?" and then she came out the back corner. There must have been another cocker there!

Yes, there are a lot of cockers around! That might have even been the Sprocker (cocker/springer) which was in the queue ahead of us. Its interesting how similar springer and cocker markings are in the liver and tan. They almost always have a liver patch around the tail. One of my trainers has a young springer who looks the spitting image of Sparrow, just a little bit bigger.

We take a class with a couple show English Cockers and their noses get the best of them sometimes. I saw Sparrows go down like, once or twice in the second video. It's hard to fight instinct! She's much faster (and cuter) than the ones in my class.

I am fortunate that her nose rarely goes down and when it does it tends to be a distraction behaviour. For instance, in the last video, she came out of the tunnel and was unsure where to go and that was when her head went down. In general, when working, she never sniffs. Show cockers are another story! They have less of the working drive and are much more prone to going off to follow their noses! I definitely will stick to working cockers