Yeah, today was the day that we went down in flames. Through no fault of his own, Cash was so totally freaked out I pulled him from the rally ring. (Darn, and they had really pretty pastel New Title rosettes....)
I took Cash out to potty about 20 minutes before ringtime. We had already completed walk throughs and the Advanced B class had just started. While tooling around behind the Qwest Center looking for just the right spot to pee, a TRAIN came zipping down the tracks not 20 feet from where we were in the grass and BLEW THE WHISTLE!!! In the several times I've attended shows at the Qwest I've never seen a train on those tracks. Talk about freaked out, scared out of his mind! His tail clamped so tight between his butt cheeks, I thought he's turned into a really funny looking Aussie. I made light of the situation, didn't baby him, or "poor Cash" him and calmly walked him back inside.
After working with him with his favorite toy, which he had no interest in, I did get him to do a front for a treat, but he immediately whipped into a finish so his back wasn't to anyone. He seemed settled down enough to try the ring after awhile, so I kept working with him and treating him outside the ring. When it was our turn and we're at the Start sign, along comes a squeaky dolly topped with 6 crates full of Min Pins in full YAP. That was it. He left my side and headed for the exit. I turned to the judge and said, "Ya know, I just don't think today is his day. But thank you." The judge was very kind and after I told him what had happened outside, commended me for my decision to pull him and not let him think it was okay to be terrified in the ring.
There's always another show.
On another note, thank goodness for crate games.
I had a "D'oh" moment yesterday at the show that could have been a crisis situation. I had taken Cash out for a potty break and put him back in his crate to relax until closer to his class. Apparently I didn't get the crate door latched properly but didn't notice it and walked away. About 15 or 20 minutes later I glanced over at our crating area and saw his crate door ajar a couple of inches. My heart stopped. I raced to his crate and bent over to peer inside to be greeted by a poodle with a very serious expression on his face, sitting straight up, waiting patiently for his release word. I'm sure if he could talk I would have been chewed out, but that look said it all. Had he not learned (apparently quite well) to wait for a release word, I would have had a loose dog among the couple thousand in attendance. Whew!
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