Hare'n'Hounds Christmas 2012

It has taken me a few days to think on how Dylan and I did this past weekend. I even told people that I didn’t want to discuss it; I needed time to consider. I still need some time to think about his stress levels and whether agility competitions are any good for him. I need to figure out how much this is about me.

Our runs were terrible. Dyl flat out refused the dogwalk in his second run. He was measuring jumps, overly cautious, unsure, and generally painful to run with. He was clearly stressed and unhappy, and that makes me stressed and unhappy.

Time helps. I watched back the videos a few times, and there were more positives than I thought. On some sections Dylan was running smoothly and happily, always when I’m handling from behind or alongside, when I get in front he begins to measure. His Aframes were nice in every run. His G5-7 Jumping was a genuinely good run, I just messed up the end.

Although I’m not yet sure what conclusions I’ll reach on Dyl’s competitive future, I can safely say I will not be doing any more of the Hare’n’Hounds indoor shows at Richmond. I love these shows but there are too many dogs and too many people in too small a space, the venue is dark and the rings are small. This venue is where we are consistently fighting against the shadows, and I don’t feel I can keep asking Dylan to do that anymore.

I can also definitely say we won’t be chasing qualifiers; I had considered going for some of the small finals like the Dog Vegas G6 Final, or the Chase the Ace Team, but I don’t think it’s fair for me to put that pressure on Dylan. We are entered at Wyre and Dylan has always enjoyed Myerscough, so we will go and see what happens and maybe it will help form my decision.