Baby Steps?

I dragged Mimi to yet another agility trial this past Saturday. It was a USDAA trial in a nice horse barn arena in Belton. Because it was a flyball weekend, I also had Harry with me, and because he'd been in the kennel over the holidays and needed some special time with me, I also took Jack.

Because I didn't want to stress her out too much (nor waste even more money), I only entered Mimi in Standard and Jumpers, even though USDAA has fun games likes Gamblers and Snooker.

I was joining a friend at the trial, and when I got there and got set up, she suggested I give Mimi some Rescue Remedy.

Now, as a scientist, I think homeopathy is a load of crap, pseudo-science in its grandest form.

But I'm a desperate woman. Principles be damned! So I grabbed Mimi and squirted half a dropper into her mouth.

About 30 minutes later, I got a handful of jumps and two tunnels out of Mimi in Jumpers. As she went into the second tunnel, I could tell she was beginning to wig out so I waited at the end and collected her in my arms and ran out of the ring with her. Big party at the crate, vienna sausages, of course. It wasn't a bad attempt at all. She even had a start line stay.

I spent the next couple of hours intermittently clicking and treating scary sounds. I also took all three dogs for nice long walks in a big field next to the arena.

Later that morning, Mimi got another shot of Rescue Remedy.

I purchased some tendon chews for the boys, figuring she would be too stressed to enjoy one. She looked at them, looked at me all "and where's MINE?" so I had to go back and get her one too.

A bit later, I was amazed to see her stretched out on her belly in her crate, hind legs out behind her (I use BIG crates for my dogs), front paws calmly crossed, greatly enjoying her chewie.

Then came our second run, Standard. It was chute into the weaves, then a jump, turn to the left, spiral of jumps to the Aframe, then to the table, which was obstacle 10.

Mimi was okay until we got to the gate area. She began to violently shake and tremble and get that starey look in her eyes. I picked up half a rod of string cheese that had been sitting in a corner all morning, forgotten by the owner (picking up someone else's treats isn't the nicest thing one can do but it happens), and jammed it into her face. I kneeled on the ground and stroked her and let her nibble at the cheese. I say nibble but she was so frightened that she was biting my hand really hard. Still, she kept eating the cheese.

At last it was our turn and we could go in the ring. I carried her in, removed her leash, set her on the ground about 18" from the chute, held her chest, made her look at me, then told her "chute!" and off she went. She shot out of the chute and was into the weaves before she knew it, and SHE DID ALL TWELVE POLES!!! The jump in the corner was scary so we ran past that, did almost all of the curving line of jumps, and approached the Aframe. Nope, judge was too close, too scary, she ran past that, but I did get her on the table where she stood trembling. I slowly bent over her, began whispering what a good girl she was, and gently collected her and ran out of the ring.

My friend was waiting at the exit with a bucket of treats. She started picking out pieces of Bil Jack one by one, and I said, good grief, just give it all to her. All of it?, she said. Yes! So she put the container on the ground and Mimi snarfed up almost every crumb.

It was a baby step, yet such a huge difference overall in her demeanor and performance. I could have sworn Mimi was almost having fun for a second or two in that Standard run. My instructor, who was also at the trial, noticed that too.

What was different? I'm sticking to the plan of C/T scary noises. The arena was nice and open and airy. I had two other dogs with her, dogs that she's not particularly worried about competing with or against but who do provide companionship and a sense of "pack." They were all crated with their backs to a wall. And of course there's that damned Rescue Remedy.

Who knows? Maybe we can work past this after all.