The end is in sight...
In case you’re sitting on the edge of your chair, wondering if Beasil passed her BH, I’ll give you a hint: that photo above is her trophy.
Yeah, we had some ‘concerns’ as we approached the date of the BH. The principle concern was Beasil’s heat cycle. She’s always been pretty regular and she was due to start sometime around the third week of November.
(Unlike most other competitive venues, the Schutzhund world allows bitches in heat to compete, though they wait until all of the others have finished.) She waited until about four days after the trial!
During the two weeks of practice before the trial, Beasil’s heeling and attention was beautiful. Even with the distraction of wind and weather she was focused. We knew the routines and executed them well.
On the day of the trial -- after she’d done the Long down first -- there was a different dog next to me. Her attention wasn’t as sharp, she forged. She even anticipated a command way ahead of time.
Don’t misunderstand, she did okay. But she seemed to be testing my preparation and focus. Perhaps I was too ‘in the zone*’ and not engaging her enough? Perhaps my ‘in the zone’ was perceived by her as stress?” ‘Overtraining’? Who knows?
Fortunately, the BH is not ‘scored’ like most competition -- you just have to get 70% of the 60 points available in Part A in order to continue to Part B.
We made it.
I won’t bore you with the description of all of Part B, just my favorite exercise: Running The Gauntlet.
The judge had about 12-15 spectators form two lines about 20 feet long, facing each other at a distance of about 5-6 feet, with the dog platzed at one end and the handler waiting at the other end, like this:
X X X X X X
0 <-- dog handler --> 0
X X X X X X
At the judge’s signal, the handler calls the dog. At the same time that the dog is responding, the two lines of people quickly step forward towards each other - making noise, clapping and crowding the dog.
The judge had explained the this is not an obedience exercise, but a temperament test of the dog’s reaction to being crowded.
All of the dogs passed this test, but it was interesting to see the variety of reactions to the crowd. Some put their ears back and sprinted towards their owner, some got a little confused but made it anyway.
When it was Beasil’s turn and I called her, the second person on her left (an 8 year old girl) screamed as Beasil passed. Naturally, Beasil slowed slightly and the walls closed in with clapping, calling people. She was just sure that her job was to find the people with the cookies! Her little head went back and forth, sniffing and searching for the treats as she continued forward to where I was standing.
Was she bothered by the crowd? Heck, no! She knows that Everybody Loves Beasil!
Again, thank your to OCSC, Training Director Mimi Wells and Judge Ernest Hintz for a great day!
And thanks, Beasil, for being such a fun little Bitch....
*David Deleissegues’ advice to handlers for the day of the trial is: “You be perfect.” In other words, all of your training and practice should have prepared your dog. On the day of the trial your focus should be on what you are supposed to do and your dog should respond. If you make a mistake, your dog will follow!
Beasil’s BH, Part 3
Saturday, November 15, 2008
