Back home with our first Senior Ribbon
So I was calmer than I thought I would be. That was good.
But Rocket Dog was not. She was bug-nuts but held it together, enough.
She didn't squeak. She just crept abominably. Not our standards. Not even close. So there is something that just explodes in her head when there is a HT situation. I have used the analogy of a Crack or Meth addict, but I think it's more powerful than that. She just HAS to have that bird NOW or she will DIE.
I spoke with the judges afterwards. The judge said she LOVES Rocket Dog. "You have a great dog there!" But I think her dogs are also meth/duck heads. She said but for a small hunt on her flier, she would have scored a perfect 10 for each mark. (The flier was an 8). Her blinds were fabulous. I kept her tight. We challenged the blind. She answered each whistle, took every cast. The crowd applauded us. I think her blinds brought up her trainability scores and obscured what her line manners deserved. I would have graded her down a lot more.
So we will keep at it. At home and in training. We'll train our butts off... try to get some more live fliers. But seriously, I think the only thing that will get through to her is to be taken to a hunt test, told to sit... watch her birds go up... and (assuming she creeps) have the collar slipped over her neck saying SIT! I told you SIT! and thank the judges and then drive the both of us home. I will just have to bite the bullet. For sure, if I go to any more HT's and let her do what she did over and over... the pattern will be set and there will never be a Master ribbon.