A Little Bit of This....

This is going to be one of those this and that posts. Just randomness because I'm feeling lazy and feeling like rambling.:o) Aren't you lucky!

I am happy to announce that Bess has finally, officially gone into season and now I can actually start planning things accordingly! You have no idea how happy this makes me. I can finally start filling in my wonderful spreadsheets with trial dates and who I will enter when. I can start planning for matches officially! I can start planning and organising the next six months! Hmmmm....I'm really starting to sound a wee bit neurotic. Just a wee bit. Well, if you're surprised by this, may I direct you to any of my previous posts? Any of the ones professing my love for Excel or the ones where I'm dressing up my dogs. Neurotic is just normal in this household.:)

I am most happy because her going into season falls ROUGHLY into my plans that I had for the spring. Granted, I've had to switch a few things around from what I had originally planned, and it did make me twitchy since I prefer that things follow my preordered schedule. Apparently Bess' reproductive tract hasn't gotten the message yet that it needs to do it's "thing" exactly according to the schedule I have plotted out. However, adjustments have been made.

And now both dogs are officially entered in their very first Rally trials! I preferred to do my first trial with Bess since I know that I will be more nervous for our very first class and her temperament is such that I can focus on the trial and not necessarily have to focus on managing her. However, I think that things have worked out for the best. I have Heffner entered in Rally on April 2nd and 3rd in Albany and there's absolutely no going back since the entries have closed and he's not a bitch so I can't back out by saying he went into season.;) Albany is actually really a better venue for him. The space is bigger and I already know that I won't feel as confined. While I'm going to set up the big soft crate, I'm not yet sure if I'll actually use it. Possibly on the 2nd, which is a Fri. Which is another reason why this trial is better for him. We get to start on a non-conformation day. I get to work out my ring nerves when I don't also have to worry about getting Bess into the conformation ring and splitting my attention between the two. Yes, this is something that I said I didn't want to do, but for this type of a setting it was kind of unavoidable. I will have to split my attention between the two dogs on Saturday, which should be an interesting juggling act, but I already know that I'll be more relaxed after having gone through a round on Friday. And the conformation ring doesn't make me nervous. Annoyed at times, but not nervous.;) There's also the upside that Heffner doesn't feed off my nervousness the way that Bess does. He generally is unphased by it. However, he can become more protective of mommy during that time. But I already know how to manage that. Bess can sometimes take my nervousness as her having done something wrong. Better that we not go down that road.

Bess' first Rally trial will be a few days more than the three weeks that she'll be in season. Thankfully she doesn't bleed longer than three weeks (and her uterus better NOT change its mind on that one!) and is actually really lightly in season towards the end. By the time the trial comes around she will be totally out. This trial is up in Centralia, WA and is the same days as the conformation show, which she is also entered in. I will be juggling the two different ring times. The difference now is that I'm giving Rally preference to conformation. If the two ring times conflict, then Rally wins out and I eat the conformation entry fees. And yes, this is going to force some hard decisions this summer when I want to do more trialing in agility as well as obedience. Thankfully for the show that Heffner is entered in, Bess' breeder will be there and I'm sure that I can hit her up to take her into the ring should we have a conflict. The Centralia show will be more fitting for Bess because the building it's in is a tighter space. There's not much crating space at all. Nor is there a lot of space to allow you to get to and from the rings. I was able to watch my friend Marian compete in Rally with her dane Gretchen last year, so I have an idea of what I'm getting into with this one. It should be interesting all the same.

I'm also happy to say that Heffner's automatic sits are coming along nicely! I now no longer practice them during our morning obedience walks because I only want to ask for them when I know that I will get them. The whole setting your dog up for success thing. And so far, things are golden! I'm really pleased. Bess is going to have a more difficult time of things now that she has to wear her big girl panties while she's loose in the house. I also haven't quite figured out how in the heck we're going to work in the Ball Studio. I don't want her bleeding all over everything, but I'm also going to have to pick something that she can move well in. It'll be interesting.

Oh yeah, and tomorrow night will be Heffner's first time at our obedience practice. That should be very interesting. I'm going to bring some very high value treats in addition to his favorite toy. I don't want any outbursts and I want to make sure that I have the well behaved boy that I've been getting.