First earthdog practice of the season

On Saturday the GBAEC opened the training and trial site at the Gardner Fish and Game Club. I was planning to get there around 9, but slept in and got there around 10:15. By that time, all the tunnel digging was pretty much finished! I was surprised so many people showed up since it was cold and rainy. But they had finished the IQ, Junior and Senior tunnels by 10:30.

I had brought Shelby with me just so she wouldn't stay home alone, but when I realized that it would be a while until Senior, so I tried Shelby in IQ. She had shown a little interest, so I wasn't sure how she would react in the field. She was excited just seeing the other dogs going for the rats, and hearing all the praise. When it was our turn, I had them move the rats to the end of the first section of tunnel so she could see them. That went well-she was pawing at the cage, etc. So then we tried the whole tunnel. At first she didn't to make the turn, but I was mean and stood in the entrance so she couldn't get out. She turned back around and found the rats at the end and started scratching. And she actually whined and barked! I was so surprised. She didn't work for long, so I ran her a few times and tried to take her out while she was still excited. So that was a nice surprise and not something I expected to get from the day.

When it was Spot's turn at Senior, we tried the whole shabang, figuring he would do well since we had been practicing. Spot ran to the entrance and it was at an angle, so he kind of bounced out again and it seemed he wasn't sure if he had done the right thing, so I had to encourage him. In a trial, that would be a disqualification, since you can only give one command at release. But he went back in the entrance, then got stuck at the false den. He came back out the entrance and back to the false den again! He ran back in and finally made it to the rats just under time. He worked like a champ, just like always, and did a nice recall, coming all the way out to me. Other people were jealous! So it was actually a good day even though I didn't want to go in the morning. I'm kind of sad I won't be able to go to the trial on the 11th.