Secret was a really good girl at the conformation show & weight pull this weekend. She had to spend a LOT of time in her crate, but she didn't seem to mind it and behaved herself exceptionally well.
I think going to this show was a very good experience for her, as ALL of my dogs have become great big giant brats at the last few agility trials. I have not been able to spend much time near the crates at the last few trials, so all three of them had gotten into the awful habit of barking madly at anything that passed them. The environment at the conformation show was very cramped and the dogs had no choice but to get used to people & dogs passing very closely to their kennels. Also, the nature of the show tended to keep me in closer proximity to them, which always helps.
Secret did well mingling amongst everyone, although there tends to be very little dog/dog interaction at conformation shows. She got to meet the Border Collie doing weight pull, but really had no interest in her. As usual, Secret became much more confident when I had her go through her round of parlor tricks. The tail always comes out then!
The highlight of the weekend was that, "Mission: Get Secret to play with toys in a new environment," was a smashing success! On Saturday she chased her squeaky Kong ball for some time in the morning and then happily played tuggy on her Ringzee. On Sunday she was not so into playing fetch thanks to the massive amounts of "dog scent" that had accumulated in that area, but she went bonkers over the large tug stick with a tennis ball on the end. I think it's a huge step forward for her to be playing in such a distracting environment!
Secret did great at accepting that this was "Kaiser's weekend." The little squirt took Best of Breed in all four shows this weekend, earned a Group 1 and Group 2 on Saturday, got two Total Dog awards, earned his United Weight Pull (UWP) title on Saturday and then pulled 489 lbs on Sunday! Whew! What a weekend!!
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