This weekend we hosted a rally trial (heeling event) and Tonks had new accomplishments.
Level 1
We received two more passes to finish her first level title. This included one run with a score of 209/210. Here’s a video of the moment where she lost that point. Thanks to Raegan H for capturing this great error!
Level 2
Since the day was going so well, we decided to try Level 2. Off leash is a big jump and the judges were people she knows. I suspected she would run off for a quick visit and then return to me – but she surprised me and was very, very on task. Thanks to Abby S for the video.
Comparison
Watching the video, I am surprised to see how much Tonks looks like Blaze. For reference here’s a Blaze video (Thanks to Julia K for the video!).
Griffin is a well trained dog. Viktor is getting there. Both of them are very, very aware of their environment and other things going on. Blaze was usually not. He was so hopeful of rewards from me that he was not typically interested in the environment. Tonks apparently may be the same way.
It was interesting to see how “easy” that off leash experience felt. I didn’t have to work hard to keep her on task. We had errors due to her lack of experience/training and some communication problems of when to move and when to stay. But she was thinking about me and hopeful of what would happen next.
I’m now really tempted to enter her in an agility trial – but I recognize that will bring additional challenges (less familiar location, possibly no food/toy rewards in the ring, more people in the ring – and sitting!). I’m interested to see how things continue moving forward – was this success luck? Novelty? Or training and personality? We’ll find out!