Sometimes in the Rally ring, you experience something special. A feeling that you are so in sync with your dog that the two of you are one.
Aidan and I have been training hard to achieve this but there have been stops and starts because of my eye issues.
So it’s been a prolonged process.
In my mind, Rally is a performance event – an obedience dance, and you as a handler work hard to be the best partner you can be for your dog. Conveying what you want your dog to do with your footwork and your verbal and body cues.
Aidan is a very different little dog than those I’ve trained before him. He’s a little spitfire and an enthusiastic worker, but quite the spook at the same time. I’m always on alert for anything that might set him off and once inside the Rally ring, you never know what might happen outside of it.
It’s been a long journey to gain his trust. He grew up with Buzz, my heart dog, and always played second fiddle. And you have to earn a dog’s trust, it’s not an exercise you can teach. You just have to show up and be there and let it develop at the dog’s pace.
In his very short show career, there have been instances where Aidan has spooked in the ring, but he is beginning to understand that it’s going to be OK. That I’ve got his back.
And Saturday, it all came together.
We showed in Flint and I’d moved him up a class from novice to Intermediate where the courses are longer and more skills are involved. Plus, I entered him in two shows. Something I don’t normally do.
But he was training so well, I decided it was time to just go for it and see if I could get the title. He needed two more qualifying scores since he’d earned one 97 qualifying score earlier this winter.
I was in the right head space and ready to rock it. Aidan must have felt it and he rose to the occasion.
Aidan heeled into the ring in the first show and when I looked down at him, he was attentively watching me. Not looking around for the bogey man outside the gates. We stepped off the line in unison, and it felt like I had a little red cloud floating next to me.
That’s a special feeling, where time only exists between you and your dog. All the noise outside the ring is muted and you are doing all the right things to guide your dog through the signs on the course.
It just feels magical and suddenly, you cross the finish line and think wow, that felt good.
For me, it’s what brings me back to the Rally ring time after time. I want to experience that feeling with my dog. Over and over. It’s what you spend hours training for and when it all comes together, there’s nothing quite like it.
For that run, all the elements had come together and it worked out exactly as I’d hoped.
We scored a 99 and won the class but for once (I’m a very competitive person), that lost point and that blue ribbon were secondary to our performance.
In my mind, it was perfect and that’s what counted most.
We showed in the second show and got a 98, tied for first, but ended up second with a slower time.
For a number of circumstances beyond our control, I entered the second show ring with a different mind set than the first show and the course was much tighter. My handling wasn’t quite as good and it caused a couple of little bobbles that cost us points.
We left the show with two very nice scores and Aidan’s second Rally title. But what’s even more exciting is we have finally become a team.
Mission accomplished.
He’s entered again at the end of the month for his first time in Advanced class and in this class there won’t be a leash involved. It will be a true test of our developing partnership.
And if that first class is any indication, I have every confidence that we’ve got this little buddy.
Let our newest adventures begin.
