As you have probably noticed, much of what I have written here over the past couple of years concerns Solei and Elton. Ria gets the odd mention, but is largely left out of things....this is because she is. I know I have made a few references to her behaviour in the past, but to put it mildly when I brought her home I never dreamt what lay ahead and had I known I'd probably have taken her straight back! In many ways she has been a nightmare, and for a long time I blamed myself. Over the years I have reached acceptance, and the fact that it is not something I have or haven't done. She is who she is and I love her, but she is not a dog I can fully trust in any situation, and in some situations not at all. Her biggest issue is other dogs - she is super dog reactive. She is quite a stressy dog anyway and it all stems from fear. It's all noise and bravado, but that doesn't make it any easier! I have put so much work in over the last couple of years and she is much improved, but she'll never be a model citizen. Now we have got as far as we have I can look back and be grateful for the experience she has given me, for the avenues we have been down that would have otherwise gone unexplored. For the knowledge I have gained, the understanding and the appreciation of just what it is like to have a dog like her.

I can show her, but only really at championship shows as any others are too many dogs in too small a space, and as the whole thing is somewhat stressful I don't do it often. I can't do obedience with her because to put her in stays with numerous other dogs would be too stressful for her and unfair. I stopped agility classes 18 months ago because she just wasn't coping - she was doing a lot of stress sniffing and running off and we were achieving nothing, didn't seem to be able to work through it however much I went backwards.

So there is the background!

When she turned 3 at the end of January I made the decision to give her one last chance at agility. I decided to sign up for Saturday morning classes starting at the end of April - this is with the same club she was training at before, but their Wednesday evening venue is an indoor equestrian centre and although large, I don't think it was helping. Their Saturday venue is outdoors, so more room and a different feel. I also decided to start her right back at the beginning again, joining a new foundation group. This fitted quite well as usually Saturdays are a total no go because of shows, but I am at that in between stage at the moment so I could do more Saturdays than not - and because we are both more experienced than "true" foundation dogs missing the odd week wasn't a problem. Make or break. If we were getting nowhere after a couple of months I wouldn't try again.

Her first few weeks were turbulent! I remember having a conversation with her trainers a month after she'd started and I really think she thought Ria was a lost cause. At the time, I had my doubts myself!

Just three short weeks after that I found myself at a UKA show with a spare run and no dog to use it. A friend was there, the entire show had finished bar Casual Steeplechase, all the other rings were packed up and basically everyone had gone home. There were only a couple of dogs still there, a good distance from the ring. Somehow, after a discussion between my friend and I, Ria was down to run! I figured even if all I did was take her in the ring, lead out, go back, reward and clip her lead on that would still be something. I had her off lead outside the ring and she felt good, so I decided to try a couple of obstacles (jumps were at small (she's medium) and I was running NFC with a toy!). Wow. She was amazing! Focused, fast, I didn't lose her once and there were some fantastic bits. I broke everything right down, she was only doing 2-4 obstacles at a time, and it didn't feel anything like a show but it was a moment I thought I'd never see!

The following week at the FAB show I was very tempted to try running her again (rings are fenced) but ultimately wasn't brave enough! Classes continued positively on the whole, and when the next FAB show came around towards the end of July I decided I was just going to bite the bullet and go for it! I entered her for Newbie Steeplechase and Newbie Jumping, both to be run NFC with a toy.

Her first run was the jumping and on the whole it wasn't a great run - essentially because I was feeling very apprehensive and massively over handled her to "help", which kept pushing her round jumps and confusing her! That said, although she did lose connection with me a couple of times she never went running right off, and there were some lovely bits - her weaves were great.

Having survived that experience I was feeling more relaxed for the steeplechase. The route I had planned began with a straight line of four jumps, left turn to a jump and then a straight tunnel. As she'd gone round some of the jumps in the jumping (it had the same start of 4 jumps) I wanted to make sure she was successful, so although I thought she would pick up the left turn ok I decided to reward the line of straight jumps, and then reset in front of the next jump to make sure - and the part of the course after the tunnel required me to be down there to handle it. It didn't work out quite the way I had planned, but what happened was even more impressive...she was AMAZING.

So I set her up, led out and released - she jumped all four of the jumps, I rewarded - great! Then I reset her in a wait in front of the jump in front of the straight tunnel.

This is really rough and I might have missed a jump out but this was my planned course from that point. My plan was to lead out to the end of the tunnel before I released her because of handling the circle....only she decided she was so desperate to get in the tunnel she'd go round rather than over the jump. So after she'd done that twice I figured I'd just running start it because obviously time was limited....so that meant she came blasting out of the tunnel when I was still at the beginning. At which point I wished someone was videoing!

As I was right back there, I figured I'd try some verbals along with arms....she came out of the straight tunnel, I yelled left, she picked up the two jumps into the curved tunnel and then picked up the turn and correct jump after the tunnel before I was even at the end of the first tunnel. After which I'd just about caught her up to send her round to the other jump and into the curved tunnel, and then chucked her toy out so she'd drive on to the finish instead of taking the same jump again cos at that point I realised I shouldn't have stayed so far up!

So that was what, a 10 obstacle sequence, half of which was handled at a distance....and she flew, it felt absolutely amazing. The most incredible feeling in the world. And one I never thought I'd ever experience with her.

Things have been fairly quiet since as she's been in season, but she was out just in time for our agility club's annual fun day on Monday. I ran her in tunnelers and the steeplechase, and again it was breaking things down with a toy on me but I still can't believe I ran her in a venue she only goes to once a year, with dogs (some of whom she'd never met) fairly close by and she stayed with me. Even when the course meant she was running towards them! She was completely focused, showed no inclination to run off and it was just amazing, I couldn't believe how different she was to the dog I had there 12 months ago. Her tunnelers was lovely - she was completely focused and there was a particularly satisfying bit involving a stunning rear cross! Her steeplechase was rubbish, but that was purely because she jumped on medium and she shouldn't have done - bar a bit of 1 jump stuff with my stick in the ground jump in the garden she hadn't done any agility for over 3 weeks, and I'd forgotten from the FAB show she struggles with medium jumps in front of tunnels anyway because the tunnel is higher value and she just hasn't had the experience to work on it. So there was a lot of running round things but even then the only time her attention really wandered was when we went right close to where they were sitting with the timer and she ran over to say hello, but came pretty much straight back when I called her. I'd have loved to have seen her run it on small, think that could have been quite exciting - but never mind.

So yes, it's been four short months since her "last chance" back at agility and she has already achieved more than I ever dreamt of. I said I'd be happy if she could just get to the stage of running a course in class - now I can already certainly see a day that is a reality, and I can even see her competing. I'm not sure if I would ever run her in an unfenced ring, but even if she can only do FAB shows and some independents that is so much more than I ever thought she would :-)

Onwards and upwards, hopefully the future is bright!