Dally Keeps Me Grounded: Border Terrier Trial at Queen City

Ohhh Dally. God loves a Corgi, doesn't he? They make sure to keep you honest and grounded.

First let me preface this by saying I was a little worried about how she would handle our first trial back from Nationals. After her spook-out moment in Hybrid, I had people warn me that this might be something that affects her at future trials now, so I was concerned about what kind of dog I'd have for this trial. Luckily, I knew she loves running at Queen City, so I had hoped whatever afflicted her in Pennsylvania stayed in Pennsylvania. I just wanted us to run and have fun.

On Saturday our Jumpers run was awesome! She hasn't run that fast in a long time, and she streaked to first place with a 34 second run, over a Papillon! That's a pretty big deal for us any more. She ran so fast, my friends didn't get a chance to video us! But it was a fun run! Before our Standard run, though, she came out of her crate a little stiff. Thankfully she was wearing her Back on Track blanket and just getting her out for a walk to stretch her stumps did the trick to loosen her up just in time. She wasn't as fast as I would have liked her to be, but she was consistent in her speed, at least. I did have to remind her she needed to stop on the table. (Side note: Nationals doesn't use a table, so sometimes it's hard for dogs to remember to stop on the table for their first trial back.) 

Feeling like I had the "old Dally" back that was happy to run, I set my sights on trying to finish our PACH2 in the next couple of trials. We went into the weekend needing 5 QQs, plus about 100+ points. After our QQ on Saturday, I felt confident...maybe too confident.

Her Jumpers run was great...consistent speed, and a happy dog. I was able to get in all my blind crosses with great timing, and she kept her forward motion because I was never in her way.



But then came her Standard run. Everything was just fine, until we got to the weaves. I walked this different ways and decided I wanted to try pushing her to the correct side of the pinwheel. I felt this was more encouraging to her than a front cross, and I assumed she'd follow my lead. Well...she decided that Peter Liu mislabeled the course and she changed it. I had everything going correctly--my body, feet, shoulders, voice was telling her one way, and even with me calling her loudly, she chose the other way. She even sped up for the off-course! When I asked friends what I did wrong, Melanie said "You did nothing wrong...she's a Corgi and she's ornery and she didn't want to listen to you. I've never seen a dog speed up for an off-course even after being called off!" While we didn't get the whole course, you see the naughty Corgi part. After that mistake, I decided we were running all-out for the rest of the course.




Corgis definitely have minds of their own! Just when I'm starting to feel confident, Dally knows how to bring me back to the ground. Gotta love her for that!!

Corgi Versus the Harness, Round Two

So it's been a little over a week since I started walking Dally in her harness, and we've had progress!!

I listened to what Taryn and Rebecca suggested and when the husband and I took the girls hiking Friday, we had Dally wear her harness. We had to keep the pups on a leash for the first part of the trail, but Dally trotted along just fine with the harness on--she was so excited just to be out some place new (well, it wasn't brand new to us, it'd just been a while since we had been there). Once we took the leashes off, both girls ran around just fine--Dally didn't once hesitate with the harness on.

(As you can see from our Instagram video:)

 Since then we've been going on walks daily with the harness. I have learned that Dally is a creature of habit and feels "naked" if she's not wearing her collar and, thus, will not walk far from the house without it on. So, when we go for walks, her collar is on and so is her harness, but the leash is attached to the harness. There's only bee a few times that she's really acted like she would not walk with the harness on and I've narrowed it down to a few things: it might be "too tight" for her (must not mess up her "plush" coat, as Merinda calls it), it might have moved forward so the girth strap is under her arm pits, and/or I pulled her forward with it.

Don't they look cute in their matching harnesses?

And, boy, let me tell you...she does not appreciate you pulling her forward with the harness on. She will give you a look only an irritated Corgi can give you, like "Excuse me? Who's walking here??"

I stated that I would win this battle, and I think I actually have--and much faster than I thought I would. However, I don't believe we're 100% cured. After all, it's a Corgi's prerogative to keep their humans on their toes.