Two out of Three ... so far

Aslan with his favorite toy won at the November Rally Trial.

In 2018, Aslan competed at the AKC Rally National Championship, which was held in Ohio.  Originally scheduled for another location and moved to Ohio due to a conflict, I figured this was a once-in-a-lifetime event for us. [See May 26, "Time for Good News and Fun" for results.]

On July 16, I learned that the RNC was again scheduled for Ohio in 2020.  At first I was excited!  I thought that we could get out and compete in Excellent and Advanced and meet the eligibility requirements for the RAE class.  But then I was very disappointed to learn that the RAE class had been eliminated -- replaced with Master and Championship classes.  We had only dabbled in training the Master exercises, and Aslan was nowhere near ready to compete at that level!

Initially I was upset with myself for missing the location announcement that had been made back in March or April.  And honestly, I was a little upset with the AKC for eliminating "my" class, because now there was nothing for a dog with "just" an RAE.

The Master Class at the RNC requires the RM title and three scores of 93 or higher earned during the qualifying period; the Championship Class requires an RAE and three scores of 93 or higher in Advanced, and in Excellent, and in Master.  The qualifying period ends on November 30.

We had done a Rally Master run-thru a week before, and it was ugly. My plan was to start taking a Rally class at the dog club in August and hopefully be ready to compete late fall at the very earliest or next winter. However, the qualifying period would be over by then.  If I wanted Aslan to be eligible for the RNC, we had to significantly move up that timeline.  

I decided, "Oh, why not!" and set these three goals:  

1. Eligibility for the RNC Championship Class by November 30 -- three scores of 93 or higher in Advanced, Excellent, and Master;
2. Rally Master title, which requires 10 qualifying scores (70 or more points); 
3. Rally Champion title.  To achieve a RACH, a dog must: earn 20 Triple Qs; qualify in Rally Master (RM), Rally Excellent (RE), and Rally Advanced (RA), all at the same trial; and earn 300 points, at least 150 of which must come from the RM class. Points are earned based on scores of 91-100.  This one will take a while!

Knowing that it was going to be a training and trialing blitz, I began to mentally prepare myself for the challenge.

Justice died the next day.

There must have been a reason that the Rally challenge came up when it did.  I needed anything and everything to divert my focus from recent losses and stresses -- especially this loss.

I made a list of area trials and figured that I had enough chances without driving too terribly far.  I studied the signs, practiced with Aslan, and enrolled him in class.  Classes started less than a week before our first trial in mid-August.  

The trial morning began with our first ever attempt in RM, and I was nervous!  The send-to-cone exercise was on the course, and he has significantly struggled with that one, which made me even more nervous.  Aslan, I think in an effort to relieve my anxiety by making me laugh, was a bit of a wild boy. In spite of some what-the-heck-was-that? moments, he did some nice work, too, and ended up with a respectable 85.

Considering it had been only a month earlier that I made the decision to start trialing, and we weren't seriously training at that point, I was thrilled to have Qd with a score that was smack-dab in the middle between NQ and maximum possible.

At September's trials, he did a decent job, but I noticed that he was a little "off" his norm.  I noticed it in classes as well.  Then, following trials at the beginning of October, where he was clearly (to me) not himself, I decided to make a vet appointment for him.

Of course he was acting completely fine by the time he saw the vet.  His bloodwork came back great, and the vet was not concerned by other test findings.  I strongly suspect that there was something going on with him earlier and wish I had thought to take him to the vet sooner.  However, there were no physical signs that indicated "Vet, Now!"  The vet was supportive of listening to those instincts, and it was a relief to have found nothing wrong.   

At the mid-October trial, it was obvious that whatever problem there might have been had passed, and I had my dog back!  Aslan was having fun -- a little too much fun, as he cost us quite a few points over the weekend.  Despite being ecstatic about his back-to-normal attitude, I was aggravated at our inability to obtain the last good Master score we needed to be eligible for the RNC.  I did not post on Facebook about that weekend's trials because I was annoyed with my dog and very angry at myself for being annoyed with him.  Additionally, another competitor did a good job of messing with my head, which only made my emotional state worse than it already was.  

Discouraged about everything, when asked by a trainer/fellow club member about our weekend, I said, "We're running out of time to get that last good score, and it looks like we don't deserve to go to the RNC."  She wisely reminded me that we have been working at this level for only a short time and that Aslan is doing great!

That was my V-8 moment (for those who remember those commercials <lol>). Duh! I was expecting a lot from Aslan, and I needed to appreciate him waaaaay more for what he had accomplished so far! 

Based on some Facebook posts I had seen, I began to think we might be eligible for the Excellent class at the RNC and planned to contact AKC to ask.  I resigned myself to the fact that we weren’t going to make it to the Championship class, and that was okay.  Based on our scores we didn’t deserve to, and that was okay, too. *  If we could at least compete in the RE class, that would be enough.

With that in mind, I went into the next trial weekend with the goal of simply having a good time and the hope of finishing his RM & getting a few more Triple Qs in the process. Saturday morning, I was happy, he was happy, and we were going to have fun no matter what! While his exuberance cost us a few points for sloppiness <lol>, we came out of the first trial with a 94. That gave us the last score we needed to be eligible for the RNC – I was over the moon! And the afternoon trial was even better with a 97! That finished his RM, and we also picked up two more TQs, making a wonderful day even better. 

Sunday’s trial was not as good, but we were both tired from the long weekend (this was the farthest-from-home trial we had entered), and the dreaded send-to-cone sign was on that course, or else he would have scored in the 90s again.  He’s getting much better at it, but we need a lot more practice to become proficient at that exercise.

We finished the weekend with:

• Three Triple Qs and more RACH points, including some from the Master class. 
• Aslan's Rally Master title! 
• The last RM score he needed to be eligible for the 2020 RNC! 
• A perfect score in Excellent for a 4th place (there were four 100s, and Aslan had the slowest time of the four).
• A 2nd place in Excellent (there were two 98s, and again, Aslan had the slowest time of the two). 
• A 4th place in Advanced (there were three 98s; one took 3rd place, Aslan took 4th, and the other one did not receive a placement).

Pretty sweet for going in with the goal of only qualifying!

Teams who received placements won a toy. Aslan rarely plays with toys, so I picked one that I thought the dogs at home would like. When I showed it to Aslan for his approval, he took it out of my hand and squeaked it. Then he proudly and happily carried it all the way back to his crate and took it inside. LOL! 😍

At one point, I looked inside his crate and saw him asleep with his head resting on his toy that was tucked between his paws. 💖 Later, I had to take it away from him because he was squeaking it, and I didn't want to disturb the dogs still competing. I put it in his crate in the car and left it there Saturday night. He squeaked it several times on the trip home Sunday.

Sunday night before bed, I pulled out the toys that Aslan won for placements. Normally, he couldn't give two hoots about toys, but he did NOT want to share these with the other dogs <LOL>. Before too long, he went back to his favorite and hopped up on the bed to play and cuddle with it. He was playing with it the next morning, too. My sweet, funny boy.

Since we started this RM/RACH/RNC journey, we have had some ups and downs, but that November weekend was the most fun we have had thus far.  Aslan struggled with focus/distractions, but he sure had a good time! He had a little TOO much fun in some classes, but I'd rather have a happy dog lose some points than a perfect, perfectly miserable dog (at least, I think so 😉).  A fun, (mostly) successful weekend with my canine partner and pal. Who could ask for more? 💗💗

Results from the three goals I set in mid-July:

1. Eligibility for the RNC by November 30 -- ACHIEVED!
2. Rally Master title -- ACHIEVED (10 for 10)! 
3. Rally Champion title -- In process (more than half of our Triple Qs and total points achieved).

We are entered in one more trial this year, and then will take a short break from competition while we train more.  Next year will bring more Rally Trials and possibly Agility and Obedience Trials as well.  Looking forward to it all with my happy lad!

Cherish your dogs,

MDW

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* A post-script...  While looking up info on the AKC Rally National Facebook page, I came across some comments in which people were saying that the Championship Class requirement was too low.  If folks qualified with scores of "only" 93, there was no way they could win, and those folks could take away spots from more qualified teams.

Originally I was embarrassed, because we really struggled to get our Master scores.  

Then I began to doubt myself, thinking that maybe I shouldn't enter because we don't deserve to go.  

But then I got mad!  Aslan and I worked hard in a very short time span, and he received scores of 94, 96, 97, and 98 to earn his eligibility!  

The RNC is seven months from today.  We have a long time to train, practice, and improve.  When the entries open, I will proudly send ours in and hope that we are selected, because Aslan DOES deserve to compete!

Aslan with his new Rally Master title ribbon.