Left for College Station Thursday morning before dawn. Frank loaned me his GPS, which saved my neck many times. Trying to read those tiny country road signs with the sun blazing into your eyes would have been an impossibility. Unfortunately, the GPS had the destination address mapped incorrectly and I drove up and down the road looking for the pavilion. Finally stopped and asked someone for help. Got to the show in plenty of time.
Set up my stuff and found Diana who was set up somewhere else, so I moved all my gear. As the day progressed, the barking dogs right behind us started to make me insane. I asked the people to do something and they told me nothing could be done. They had tried it all and that it is what it is. Brother. I moved my gear back to the original location, but you could still hear those dogs, who continued barking all day every day until we left. The interior of that place was the worst I'd ever experienced as far as noise goes. I'm sure all the dogs barking contributed to the completely and utterly lousy weekend we had.
Shane was a complete mess. He knocked bars all over the place, even knocked down the entire jump here and there. Missed all his contacts. Jumped off the teeter. And then, our table issue. At first he would jump on and off as he did last weekend. I finally got him to go down for a split second and something loud happened in the Master's ring and up he came. I was determined to make him work on it until the out of time buzzer sounded, but the judge said she wasn't using it, so I picked him up and carried him back to his crate. I repeated this for three days. Got a ton of advice about what to do and got more and more confused. I showed Diana in the hotel room how he downs immediately when commanded. He did it right outside the ring, but once we get in there, he freaks. I just can't figure it out.
Sur la Table. I think it's the judge and the barking dogs. What do you think?
So back to Thursday. After a stressful day of barking dogs and NQs, we head back to our hotel, which was pretty funky. Can I stay here 3 nights? Took Shane out for a relaxing walk and there appears to be a giant barking dog in every backyard facing the parking lot. One was even halfway out from under the fence barking at us ferociously. Great. The neighborhood behind us has no sidewalks. Nice dinner. Walked Shane elsewhere on the property. Had a little trouble getting to sleep. Not sure what time, but the smoke alarm went off and it was right outside our door. Went on and on. I called the front desk. No answer. Diana called 9-11. Firetrucks on the way. Why won't they turn off the alarm? Took Shane outside to get away from the noise. No one is outside. Lot of good that alarm is doing. After what seemed like an eternity, the alarm is shut off. Took Advil and tried to get back to sleep. What a day.
Friday was more of the same. Barking dogs. NQs. Day ended early so I looked for a park to take Shane to for a nice relaxing evening. Took a nap, cleaned up, and took Shane to PetSmart for a little shopping. We walked up and down the aisles. Met some dogs and nice people. Asked a clerk about parks. Bought a bag of treats and headed there. What a beautiful place. Wolf Pen Creek Park. We had a lovely relaxing walk. Shane spotted a very tame squirrel who didn't budge when Shane gave him a talking-to. On we go. Impressed the kids passing by when Shane caught the treat I tossed him. I didn't want to leave, but the sun was going down. Had a great dinner. Watched a great movie. Nice ending to a terrible day.
Saturday, first run was a mess. Decided to leave at the end of the day and not do Sunday. Went back to the hotel and checked out. More terrible runs. Judge tells us every time that we are supposed to be having fun. Then why am I sitting under this tree sobbing? I am not having any fun. Decided to try Steeplechase just to let Shane run his buns off. Jill walked the course with me and told me every turn to take. I tried to thank her, but I choked up. People can be so kind. The advice didn't help Shane's freakout and we knocked over a bunch of bars. I didn't care because I just wanted him to run. As we were leaving the ring, he lunged at a dog and I had to correct him. So much for the fun. I'm outa there. Skipped the last run of the day. We headed for home and it was a very good decision. I had a nice Saturday evening and relaxing Sunday.So what were the lessons of the weekend? Shane and I can't handle high noise situations? I put him in Advanced before he was ready? The judge's courses were too hard for us? The stupid electronic timer she's using for the table count is too loud and freaking out my dog? I'm a lousy handler? Shane is still too reactive to be in these situations? I don't know. I will take him to class tonight and he'll be great.
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