Today we went a bit out of our comfort zone. Tilda & I have been training and trialing in Barn Hunt in Howell and in Flushing at places where Tilda feels comfortable and that are fairly rural. Today we went to the Paw Palace in Fenton for a trial. This was an indoor facility surrounded by an asphalt parking lot and lots of cars. It was loud inside because of the cavernous building and the dogs barking. It was really not a great day for Tilda. She got spooked right away. I misbehaved a bit in letting her approach another dog and was thankful for a knowledgeable veteran competitor and friend explaining to me my faux pas. I had to crate her indoors and stay by her to keep her from freaking out and she just wasn’t focused. We entered Instinct and Novice and also Crazy Eights. I really screwed up in Crazy Eights. We just weren’t quite on our game. Here’s some videos. I always say, she’s a natural, but I need a lot more training!
We find our Instinct rat
Novice run #1 – I think we are running out of time and so call rat. She really wasn’t telling me that was a rat.
Novice run #2 – She got spooked by some loud sounds and just never recovered. You can see her using her ears and not her nose
Crazy Eights #1
This is crazy eights. There are 8 rats and you get points for each rat you find. You also get points deducted if you do not tunnel or climb. The tunnel is a bit harder than the one in Novice with a turn. My game plan going in was to just call rat if she gave me anything. But, I just blew it. We decided to stop participating in Crazy Eights until we get our basics down. This was just something to try to see if she would go rat crazy maybe.
