Dog Shows: Buckhorn Kennel Club, 2022

Now that we're past Wilma's season, I was hoping that we could get serious about Dog Showing again... 

My schedule kept us from formal practice prior to show-weekend.  So I got there early on Saturday and got in a few practice rounds with some friends... Wilma seemed to think it was a fun game to not let anyone go over her.  :-/   I had all but resigned to not going in the ring.  However, on the encouragement of the Ring Steward, I decided to give it a go at the last minute.... She let the judge go over her, but balked at the very last step of the bite inspection... so we were excused.

If you're keeping track, that is 3 excusals in a row.   *sigh*

Thankfully, excusals are not disqualifications.  But still... frustrating,  :-/

I often say that each dog teaches us something new.   For Wilma, it seems to be helping her realize that she does not have to keep me safe while at a Dog Show and that it is my job to keep her safe.  This seems to be more important for the Indoor, and therefore more congested, shows.

As much as she enjoys seeing her human and canine friends, she is always watching everything, and very aware of where I am located.  After all... I am her flock, she is a Livestock Guardian Dog, and Livestock Guardian Dogs are pre-disposed to being wary of strangers.

So I decided to take the opportunity to have her "relax" in her crate for a while before going home on Saturday.

Fortunately, our grooming space was in the ring area, so there was a lot of activity, aka distractions. 

So she did not relax, but she did quietly watch the action until we went home.

On Sunday morning, a friend offered to help with her focus/attention using few different bait options..  This proved to be the key.

We learned that she likes Squeaky Toys and Freeze-Dried Turkey Hearts.

With this new information, we focused on focus and regaining attention with the Squeaky and new treats and continued to "relax" in her crate until our ring time.

There were no other Tibetan Mastiffs entered this weekend so no points were awarded.  However, Wilma let the judge go over her!  So these ribbons from Sunday mean everything to me.

These mean that she stood still and let the judge go over her, without balking.

The Red-ish and Purple+Gold ones also mean that she had the opportunity for Group Experience.

She performed extremely well for the judge in the Owner-Handled Working Group ring.

Then, later in the regular Working Group ring, the Group Judge was the Breed Judge who had excused us the day before.  Wilma let her perform the entire examination!

The other exceptional thing this weekend is that Wilma moved beyond "relaxing" in her kennel, to actually relaxing, and then took a nap.

We have a few weeks until the next show, so I plan to take her to Rally classes.  Where we will learn and practice other techniques for gaining and holding attention. 

Then I plan to take her to some novel locations that are busy and/or congested so we can practice in an approximate show environment.

It seems we had a couple of breakthroughs last weekend.  I am so proud of her!