Since I was unable to get off of work to go to the VBCA's major public outreach-type trial, at the last minute I decided to go up to the State Fair and run the dogs in their fun trial. I'd never been to an arena trial and they were looking for entries, so why not?! It was super fun! Spain and Gabe got 2 runs in Open and Livy got 1 PN run and 2 Ranch runs. This was a judged arena trial, not a time/points one, so that added an interesting twist to the course. Spain ran very well for me, and I was very happy with Gabe even though our lines weren't great. There's not much room to make adjustments after a wrong (and big, fast) flank, but he made the obstacles and was trying very hard. He had a couple opportunities to lose his temper, and in the past he would've been quick to use his teeth, but he kept a cool head and I was very happy. Liv came out like she was shot from a cannon, but she got better with each run. Though she was fast, she listened great except for a couple wrong flanks and she was trying so hard to be my teammate. Being in an arena, it was hard to get a good flow and just let her settle in, but there were a couple moments where she was able to fall in behind and relax.
So the arena trial was very fun, and it was a good opportunity to work my dogs in a new place. I was really happy to see Livy improve with each run, and her last run was a smoker. Reinforced my belief that she just needs to burn off some excitement. I saw some areas that need improvement on all of my dogs, so it was nice to come away feeling like we did well, but also found some homework.
Livy was watching the sheep in the arena
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