Sunday Salutations and First Rally Competition
First, Happy Mother’s Day to all the wonderful mothers out there!
So, we had a wonderful dog adventure this weekend. We competed in our (Crokell and my) first rally competition – the sequential obedience event. Tod has once again been confirmed as the perfect husband. (One of the ladies at the trial actually told him she needed a husband like him.) He was super sweet and supportive as usual. I am always glad when how wonderful he is gets noticed.
We got there really early, even though I was scheduled to be the last dog to run in the whole event. Early being 730AM because… well, parking… and I get crazy nervous. Crokell, however, was a pro. He just flopped over in the crate, never barked or boofed. He only drooled on people that came over to say “hi” to him. So, he was awesome.
Me on the other hand, I was a mess. I was vibrating, over talkative, and then randomly obsessive about trying to memorize the signs — which I ended up messing up. The funniest thing was the sign I missed was the one I kept saying to myself “remember to sit”. (More on that later.)
My wonderful instructor Sandy was there as well. Between her, Tod, and random helpful strangers (and not so strangers), they were able to keep me from pacing the halls like an expectant father.
We showed up about 4 hours before I competed, but at least we weren’t late, right?
After all that, I walked the course then got Crokell out of the crate to “warm up”. He of course became distracted. That might have been a blessing in disguise because I couldn’t focus on my own nerves. I was busy getting his attention.
When we were lining up for our turn, right next to us were two very playful boxers. Crokell woke up then and decided he wanted to pay attention… to them. But I did manage to get his attention back on me. I had him do more of the fun hand signals like roll over and belly, to get his stomach scratched, right before going into the ring. Tod thinks that helped a lot as it really relaxed me and sent the dog and I into the ring on a happy and relaxed note.
Then we got into the ring. The judge asked, “Are you ready?” I leaned over and gave Crokell a pep talk.
And then I don’t remember anything.
But hey, Tod got it on video. I don’t even remember if I said ready to the judge. But we were off, like a herd of very tired turtles. The run wasn’t that bad, but I feel like we could have done much better. Still, it is a win for a first run ever, since we got a qualifying score.
To get a title, you have to score more points during a run than a certain minimum. The first title takes three runs under two different judges. We have one run and one judge done! We have to get 2 more qualifying scores to get the AKC Rally Novice title.
I really enjoyed it, and everyone was so supportive. I completely messed up the one sign “Call Front, Finish Right, SIT”. I forgot to have Crokell sit next to me.
The girl I was competing with had the same issue. She was really sweet. I didn’t see her run, but she came over and played with Crokell when we were both finished. I wished I had petted her black dog as well. It was an awesome day for her, she placed first and got her Rally Novice title!
If you want to watch our run it is posted below.
Here are the signs from this course.
Start
Moving Side-Step – I guess it we did it. Not as pretty as I would have liked it.
Halt, Walk Around – I think this might have been our best sign, although Crokell was a little slow responding it wasn’t bad.
Right Turn – I went in the correct direction!
Sit, Down – Crokell was really slow on this one… Like really slow. Molasses in winter slow.
Left About Turn – This one is so much fun. We are better on it without a leash.
Left Turn – Again, I picked the correct direction.
Fast – I was so happy Crokell sped up with me! That is not always the case. Sometimes, he lets me get pretty far ahead of him. Tod
said the lady next to him was impressed. Big dog pace changes are tough.Normal
Right 270 — While I got it correct, I have so much trouble remember right and left! Woot!
Call Front, Finish Right, Sit – And this is where both me and the other trainer had a hiccup. I tried to re-do this one. Crokell’s front was terrible! He was looking at the judge and not at me! And then the finish… well I guess he thought he looked good in the mirror and the judge could use a friend. I am not sure what the deduction would have been at this point, but then I got him in place BUT I forgot to have him sit. So, 10 points off! It is hilarious this sign gave us so much trouble. We do this all the time at home and class and most of the time he does it pretty well. It was funny because the judge asked both of us why we missed the same sign. We kind of looked at each other and shrugged. C’est la vie!
About U-turn – I was laughing during this one because the last part was so bad.
Right Turn
Figure 8 – Here Crokell gets out of heel and the leash tightened, so another deduction.
Loop Left – Again, remembering which way to go is tough.
Serpentine Weave Once – Crokell lagged a little here as well. So, I might have gotten a deduction here.
Finish
I am sure I missed other deductions. And then I stopped and waited to be dismissed until I realized I guess I was just supposed to leave… Woo what a day. (At higher levels, you stop, re-leash your dog, and wait to be released.)
So that was our first official rally competition. We are planning to do a few more this summer.
Writing updates
Our first novel is officially with beta readers! I am not allowed to look at it or mess with it again. If there are items, Tod is going to curate them, so I don’t go on an editing loop. Yes, he is the perfect partner!
We also sent in the additional items needed for the Minstrels of the Galaxy Anthology, which is being edited by Sam and Shari Robb. Our story “Tablet in the Air” is going to be appearing in it. Tod and I had a lot of fun writing this world. The concept was inspired by Jethro Tull lyrics. We don’t have a firm date for when that is going to be released.
https://samrobbwrites.substack.com/p/cover-reveal
Lastly, we attended and wrote a pitch for said novel in a pitch writing class. We are sending it to the teacher, another author (D.J. Butler http://davidjohnbutler.com/ ) tonight. I feel like our pitch was already stronger because of conversations and advice I received from Jane Lindskold ( https://janelindskold.wordpress.com/ ) and others.
I really feel like the sci-fi/fantasy writing community and the dog world have something amazing in common, or at least the people I know in both are amazing. They help beginners.
Overall, it has been a very full weekend, now I am going to take a line from Crokell’s play book and flop for a little bit.
~Anna, Tod, and Crokell
