Boo hiss! No Q's in earthdog this weekend. That's alright. . .I really shouldn't expect ANYTHING at all since we don't really train for this. Became apparent to me that we actually need to do some before we try it again. I also came to the conclusion that I was very VERY lucky to get a senior leg a month ago. . .still not sure how that happened but it did. So to wrap it up in a nut shell, Rhys on Saturday, missed the entrance. He's not apt to use his nose in earthdog. . .I think he gets to revved up and just wants to get to the rats as quick as possible, not thinking hey maybe this rat scent will take me to them quicker. So he shot over to the judges to check them out and see if the rats were there. Then he meandered back and hit the false entrance, worked the rats fine, but at the recall, he just laid at the den and wouldn't come. Better on Sunday. I scratched the grass a little to get his nose down and he got a whiff. He took off, almost bypassed the entrance but then made it in. Worked fine again. Recall. . .same deal. This time, he laid just out of the peephole viewing area of the judge so the judge thought he was gone, but he wasn't popping up any place. So when time was up, we peeped in and yup, sure enough, just sitting there waiting for those ratties to come back.
Saturday for Riley wasn't very helpful. This judge didn't do hardly anything to get the dogs interested in working. Without reassurance, Riley doesn't work. So both junior and intro were a loss. Sunday was better. This judge really got down and was trying to get the dogs all jazzed up. Funny, since they are a husband-wife team of judges that they have such different styles but that's the way it goes. Anyways, she really got in to it in intro. Junior not as much but she did make an attempt.
The good thing out of the weekend, that after a LONG seminar, I passed my judges test so the first step in becoming an earthdog judge is now complete.