[AngelBunny]

On Sat, Oct. 20 Moxie and I entered the 18th DMDCA draft test. Hosted by the Bernese Mountain Dog Club of Nashoba Valley, the event was held at the Canine Sports Center, Goshen, CT.

What a nice place! The day was gorgeous, too. Little bit on the warm side by the middle of the afternoon, but a lovely day to be outside. We had pouring rain the night before that ended in the wee hours of Saturday, leaving Saturday to dawn cloudy and cool. The sun started coming out around 8am, making for a sunny rest of the day (with the exception of a rain shower during the last group's freight haul).

This was the first draft trial I'd seen and our first trial as a participant.

I was highly disappointed by Mox and my failure to earn her novice drafting title. The fault lay with both of us.

You get marked Pass or Fail on nine categories including Other (aggression, fear, uncontrolled behavior, fouling ring or freight haul, food/toys carried/offered during test, dog leaves ring). If you fail on any one of the categories, you fail the test.

The categories are divided in Basic Control, Harness & Hitch, Practical Draft Work, 3 Minute Group Stay, and Distance Freight Haul, with Other the last category.

She shown on basic control and recall which is simple, basic obed--heeling, slow, fast, right turn, halt, recall, and group stay.

Moxie failed the harness part of harness & hitch. She saw something on the outside of the ring (a rope strung bet posts) near the check in table (I don't know what) and was on her way to examine it when I pulled back on her leash, checking her. (You can't do this--restraining your dog via leash isn't permitted. It would've been perfectly fine for me to verbally tell her to Leave It! but it wasn't fine to restrain her by her leash.)

F on the harness portion of harness & hitch.

The wheel of her cart bumped the wall of what's called "the narrows" in this trial's case, two, 5" long sections of picket fence set 32" apart. (That really was my fault--I had her stopped in the middle of the narrows and took a step too close to one piece of fence as I stepped out of the narrows, so she followed me. The cart bumped the fence. I should have stepped out directly straight, not off to one side slightly.

This was a particularly frustrating failure--since we've been practicing on marrows set 30-31" apart that were 10', 12' and 15' long and she navigated these perfectly more often than not.)

F on maneuvering.

She also marked on the freight haul. It wasn't a pee--she marked. Sniffed; stopped abruptly; squirted out a few drops, with one of her hind legs hiked high; then, job done, immediately started off again.

F on freight haul.

While we passed on the other categories, team Moxie couldn't have been a pretty sight in the ring.

She was all over the place, sniffing, going here and there to examine one interesting smell after another. She paid little attention to me which meant we were zigging and sagging around the ring, redoing things.

The ideal is to follow a neat pattern, halting, starting, backing, weaving around items, circling to the left, circling to the right. Not us--Mox was all over with me following her, since you can't pull your dog with your leash and Mox didn't care to listen to my voice commands until she saw fit.

I enter shows with the expectation of doing well. I don't want to waste my time or the judge's time. When I got to the trial, looked at and walked the course, I didn't see any reason why Mox wouldn't do well--we've worked on and practiced what I saw.

Alas! it was not to be.

So, the trial for us was a learning experience, not a titling one.

Drafting people are very very friendly. Everybody said hello to me when I got there. The judges are very nice and kind--they really want you to pass. (One of the judges just about jumped up and down when a dog did something well and was as crushed as the crowd when a dog didn't--and she did this the entire day.) They tell you what they want you to do at every station, even though you've already walked the course. Judges and spectators clapped and cheered for every dog and handler leaving the ring.

You get a copy of the judges' score sheet.

The biggest thing I learned is that I must practice drafting Mox were there are other dogs. I would have thought being around dogs and working was old hat for her, but that clearly wasn't the case.

The other important thing I learned is to pretend the leash isn't there--do everything verbally.

After the trial a group of us talked to the judges. One of them told us that in her 15 years of judging trials, about 37% of dogs earn their novice titles at any given show. (At our trial, about 31% of the open and novice dogs titled.)

As an example of how nice drafting judges are, in the comments section one judge noted, [Moxie] is a girl with a mind of her own! She knows it all--keep working for next opportunity!