Starting any new sport can be daunting. Dog sports, especially, have the reputation of being uninviting to newcomers. This is why Peg and Pele's journey is so wonderful.
Peg brought Pele to me for some minor but annoying habits back in late 2021. We worked on those, as well as foundation obedience (coming when called, loose leash walking, etc...). We also tried herding with Pele (this is a whole 'nother story!), dock diving, and foundation training for the sport of rally obedience.
Pele got her first title in dock diving in 2022, and her first Novice rally title in 2022 at Tucson's fall dog show cluster.
At that point, Peg was addicted! In 2023, Peg rocketed up from Novice, through Intermediate, Advanced, and Excellent. All in one year! With her first ever sport dog.
Along the journey, Peg has met wonderful people, and has really dialled in to what makes Pele tick. Their relationship has grown stronger, with a better understanding of how to work together. Pele's style: a bit dramatic, silly, messy, and easily bored, ran up against Peg's training style; detail oriented, clean, and focused. Peg learned how to change her style to meet Pele's needs, so that Pele could be her best.
And is Pele ever the best! To qualify for Rally Nationals a team must score three 93% or above in a single year at a given level. Peg and Pele qulaified for Nationals at the highest level they attained in 2023 - Excellent.
Rally Nationals, like any nationals, is full of very experienced handlers. No matter how well trained a dog is, experienced handlers will almost alway come out on top. They've been there before, they read their dogs better, they have a warm-up honed over the years to ensure that their dog is at their peak performance when they enter the ring. Their experience ensures that they are very unlikley to make an error.
I coached Peg to run Pele's best runs. Make sure Pele was up and having fun. Our ramp up to the trial was all about keeping Pele focused. I told Peg, I'd rather see Pele make an error out of excitement, than disengage and get flat. I told her, if Pele is happy, no matter what happens, you'll be happy as well. We upped our play game, raised our reward frequency, and added silliness to training to keep Pele up and engaged.
Peg and Pele represented Tucson well. And thankfully, almost all of the errors came from the human end of the leash (it's so much easier to fix ourselves!) Pele, showed up and happy. She was a joy to watch! The scoring reflected Pele's beautiful performance, but unfortunately also reflected, the human element of nerves plus new to the sport.
Peg and Pele did a lovely job for their first trip to Nationals, scoring an NQ, 86, and 93 on extremely difficult courses in front of judges with very sharp pencils (in other words, these judges were looking to take points off).
What an incredible journey in just over a year of training! We are thrilled to death with Peg's poise and good humor, and Pele's lovely performance. Congratulations!
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