Last Friday, Mom and my sisters headed out on a 1200 mile, 3 day, dog sports road trip. The first destination was De Land, IL for a nose work trial. Bailie was entered in another NW3 trial. The drive to De Land took about eight hours including a few short stops for fun, food, and going potty. Originally, they had planned to stop at Montrose Dog Beach because they loved it so much last year, but with Madison in heat, and Bailie not able to run wild, they had to cancel that part of the plans.
If you have never been to De Land, IL, you have not missed much! Other than fields of corn, and a few roads, there is nothing there, and it is as flat as a pancake. The De Land-Weldon High School where the trial was held is one of the smallest schools in Illinois.
Along the way, in Janesville, WI, Bailie stopped to visit the famous Bessie the cow. She was hoping to milk the old girl, but evidently they stopped by at the wrong time of day for that.
After a good night’s rest, Bailie was super motivated to do some nose work…or not… Never forget, Bailie is our lazy family member. She enjoys taking life on easy street, and only does what she feels like doing.
The weather on Saturday was in the upper eighties, with high humidity. On the night before they left on their dog sports road trip, Mom decided it was finally time to spend the green papers, and purchase a decent fan for the car. Of course, everyone was sold out because of the hot summer. Fortunately, Mom was able to give the sales guy a sob story about how hot it would be in a parking lot, the entire day with dogs, causing him to finally give in, and sell her the display model for 10% off. My sisters were super thankful to have that fan with the heat and humidity.
This is a view of tent city, otherwise known as the competitor parking lot. Everyone has cars covered in aluminet shades, fans, pop up tents, anything to try and stay cool. Mom never thought she would be investing in all this stuff for the car, but for the past two years, she has come to realize how important it is.
Unfortunately, once again, Bailie did not apply herself at the nose work trial. Mom had a gut feeling from the first search that Bailie had not shown her all the hides. She did, however, find all the interior hides. There were three classrooms to be searched. In this first room there was one hide in the podium on the left of the photo. Each interior search was 2 1/2 minutes.
The second room had two hides. One was on the book cart in the back of the photo, the other was also on a podium in the front of the room which is not pictured in this photo.
In the third room there was one hide. Bailie was dying to get into the room. She came off the start line and went straight to the hide which was on the AV cart below the screen on the right of the photo. After getting a yes, she walked back to the door. For some reason, this particular hide was super appealing to her. Mom made Bailie keep searching, but she was correct in finding just one.
No NW3 Title once again, but Bailie did earn her NW3-I (Nose Work 3 – Interior) Title. Mom is getting frustrated, but she has to remember we are hounds, and independent thinkers. We are not Border Collies, Labs, or Shepherds, who are super driven, and out to please. Heavens, it took Bailie six tries to get her NW2 Title, so it should not be surprising if it takes even more tries to earn an NW3 Title. Bailie has another shot at the title in a few weeks locally at the ice arena. Who knows which Bailie will show up, but we all try to stay optimistic.
Come by again tomorrow for part two of the dog sports road trip…on to Sheboygan, WI.
Sweet Bailie will get there when she darn well feels like it!
That is exactly the problem! We don’t know when she will feel like it.
congrats to the interior title… not all days are our days and we know you will win all the title at your next event. do you have a rule after how much time you will have a break or do you stop when you see they have a need?
Mom needs breaks all the time to go potty, sometimes we dogs don’t even get out. Mom has trouble sitting still for long periods of time.
Mom is lazy like Bailie! Drives my sister and me crazy. Good work on getting the fan! have a great day, your doodle friend Dash
My mom can’t sit still, and never is lazy which makes us a bit nuts sometimes! Have a fun day.
It’s on Bailie’s terms. I love a dog with a mind of her own! 🙂
We are all pretty independent, but Madison and I know when we need to work, and we work. Bailie would probably be on unemployment or welfare if she was a human. She has no urgency to work most of the time. We love her anyway.
I can see how frustrating that must be. Maybe Bailie is better off being the cheerleader, or support staff. Lol
She is super smart and good at nose work, but she is lazy and doesn’t always feel like it. They will keep trying.
She got something though! Bailie is just going to do things her own way. Yup, it’s that hound dog independence!!
She is by far good enough to get the title, she just chooses not to work. It is frustrating, but Mom knows the problem and will keep working with her.
It’s difficult to see our babies not do what we know they are capable of doing. Bailie will get her titles and I know you’ll make sure she has fun while she does it. Y’all are a great team. ♥
She has so much potential, but chooses not to use it a lot of the time. One day the stars will align.
I have a couple grandchildren that I can say the exact same thing about!
Bailie looks pretty happy with her NW3-I, maybe she just likes going on road trips and that’s why it’s taking her so long!
xoxo,
Rosy, Jakey & Arty
She doesn’t see the importance of working hard but Mom is determined and one day they will succeed.
Even when you have a super driven dog, they don’t always show up! Barley loves agility, but when we go to class in the summer, she is the pokiest little puppy (even though the building is nice and cool). Sometimes at trials, Rye gets spooked by something (usually a bug flying around) and doesn’t know how to get back on track. It sounds like Bailie still did some good work even if she didn’t get her title! (And I’m glad you got that fan! We’re done with hot days here for the most part, but we’re going to be investing in that one for the spring before we go to trials without a/c again!)
Bailie is always a big ?, but we know that. Still it is frustrating when you know a dog’s potential. Get that fan in the off season. Mom tried a few times to get one in the summer and they were always sold out. It is super nice. We got an extra battery too. On low, one lasts all day, but on high, it runs out.
they have good dog shows in Deland, i know several people that show min. schnauzers that go here from nc and fl. i like the comment abt spend the green papers. she should have taken the girls in the store, have them panting, sweating, to see if the guy would give her a better deal than 10% . i am sure they could have done a wonderful acting job. i have one of the mid size fans that i carry in my car, just in case, for emergencies. they are nice. but i carry extra batteries. Bailie may one day surprise you. try, try again is the old saying.
The fan is the inexpensive part…batteries are expensive! We will keep trying. One day Bailie will be in the right mood.
I love my Ryobi fan they are hard to find here too!
We are super thankful Mom talked the guy into letting us have the display one. It is really nice.