Trial Day Routine Part 3- after the run

After my adorable Hound sails over the last jump and heads to her leash (howling all the way if the Hound in question is Chili), we hook up and head back to the mat to celebrate the run. This is a “do not pass go, do not collect $200” situation. I am well aware that the hounds are in it for he cookies and not just the fun of running, so I need to keep the behavior chain of run agility- leash up- go to mat- eat cookies as intact as possible to maintain value for the game.

After the reward and a quick drink for me, we can take a minute to get our scribe sheet, check course time, etc.  That is, unless I need to run someone else right away. In a perfect world when I have plenty of time, I would take my dog for a walk to cool down and have another chance to potty before settling her in her crate, with a Back on Track coat if it’s cool out. Sometimes this turns into a group walk if the trial is small and I don’t have 10-15 dogs between runs. Having multiple dogs isn’t an excuse to skip warm up and cool down, but sometimes it requires a little flexibility. 

When we are done running for the day, we head back to the RV.  Since all of our dogs travel with us, the ones who didn’t run need a potty break by now. After everyone has had time out in the x-pens, we’ll head inside to relax a while. The dogs take turns being out of their crates and I might do short training sessions with the dogs who didn’t get to play earlier. 

At around 6 pm, or earlier if it’s going to get dark, we feed everyone and set up breakfast for the next day. Everyone is leash walked in groups of 3, usually for a longer walk than in the morning. We’ll head back in to have dinner ourselves and continue to rotate dogs through out of the crate time. Around 8:30, the dogs get one more turn in the x-pens and are settled in with bedtime biscuits and Back on Track coats for the dogs running the next day. Chili and Salsa sleep loose in he RV because they are the least likely to raid the food pantry while we are sleeping at night. (Maya and Juno are the most likely, in case you are wondering). We usually settle in for the night by 10, so we are ready to start over the next morning.