Terribly sorry, Secret...

Curious, did anyone notice Ms. Chicken Legs in the trial video I posted? Nobody said anything to me about it at the trial, so maybe nobody noticed. Or maybe they are just too polite to comment on the horrible thing I did to my dog on Friday.

For as short as her overall coat is, Secret has always gotten crazy long skirt hairs on her bum. It's like she has Poodle genes back there and the hair just keeps growing and growing and growing. Periodically I've been known to trim these hairs back for sanitary purposes, as they tend to occasionally catch poo or pee.

I may have went a *little* overboard with my trim job Friday afternoon. I blame my crappy scissors, as they were doing a really bad job of "taking a little off the ends" and the only thing that really worked was for me to hold the hair tight and cut behind where I was holding.

The result was very uneven, so I kept taking off more to try to even it up a bit. You know how that goes. It was horrible!!!! So I took off more. lol I eventually forced myself to give it up, but then when I was shaving feet a bit later I used the clippers to try to even it up a little, thereby removing even more hair.

Oh well, the good news is that Secret grows hair at a very fast rate, at least where her fringe is concerned. I expect it won't even be noticeable by the time we go to our next trial in a couple of weeks -- By the way, entries were sent and I have already received confirmation for our USDAA trial at On The Run! I entered Secret & Kaiser in all of the P1 classes plus Performance Speed Jumping. One of these days I suppose we'll have to try our hand at Grand Prix, but I figure there is no use in blowing that cash until I know they can handle the courses!

In my rushed post about the trial results, I totally forgot to share -- Secret PLAYED at the trial on Friday night! I brought her Udder Tug along to see if I could get her to engage in a trial environment. I was semi-successful in getting her to play with me near our crate, but there was just way too much activity nearby that was stressing her out. She would halfheartedly pounce at the toy and mouth it, but never really latched on to tug.

I took her to the back of the room away from the main action and she actively tugged with me! She wasn't stressing, she wasn't worried about the other dogs -- she just played! It's a huge step for her and it's something I need to continue to work on in trial settings. Our play session was between Weavers & Tunnelers and she went into Tunnelers with a great attitude & speed. So maybe playing at trials more will continue to bring that out in her.