03 Srp Archer’s IGP 2 Series, Part 4: Protection and Aftermath

Last week, Archer described the tracking and obedience parts of our IGP 2 trial; and today, he is anxious to get to his favourite discipline: protection. We left off when Archer finally got his ball after his nice performance in obedience.

Bite the bad guy!

Dad, I assure you, no introductions are necessary. I am sure everyone is aware I am awesome and that you seriously slacked off in the ball department that day. Anyway, back to the story.

After some tug of war with the ball, I got to carry it back to my car, and I got some back scratches from Dad, which is awesome. What more can a dog ask for? My mouth was full of my beloved ball, and Daddy’s scratches were in exactly the right places.

Then, there was some more waiting, but I am not deaf. I could tell other dogs were getting it on with a bad guy, and that could only mean it would be my turn very soon to show that son of a bitch who is boss! Let me at him!!

Finally, Dad came, and he told me to not even try to step out of line, and I knew that meant we were going to let the bad guy have it Malinois-style! I see no point at all in running around those funny yellow things when the bad guy is out and about. However, Dad seems to care about it, so I always zoom at light speed to get it over with—and there he was, in the last yellow thing, sure enough!

So, I started barking at him, challenging him to try to move, just a little bit—give me a reason! Dad took his sweet time coming over, so I had to take a break for a second to catch a breather, but then, I barked at the bad guy even more.

Dad called me over to himself which annoyed me a bit; I wanted to bite the bad guy so bad. Fortunately, the baddie made a mistake and tried to run away. That was my cue, and finally, finally, I had him.

Dad was awesome as usual; he always knows best when to fight, when to take a break, and what to do. We overpower the bad guy every time! We are such a good team!

Only when we were walking behind the bad guy did I think that I should be a bit closer to watch over him if he tried some funny business, but Dad eventually caught up with me, and everything was good.

I even got to run over half of the field and give it to him good! He was barely able to stay standing after I barreled into his arm. That will teach him to shout at me! Needless to say, I was having a blast.

In the end, I didn’t get to rip the guy’s arm off like I usually do, which made me really angry, and I didn’t want to leave the field. Dad had to drag me away, grass flying. Then, I had to wait again while the bad guy just casually walked away to drink some water. Dad shook hands again—What’s with this, really? Can’t they just smell their butts and be done with it like any normal dog?—and we left the field, much to my dismay.

Scratches and other good stuff

I wanted to be really angry at Dad, but he got all emotional, gave me so many scratches, and called me his awesome, perfect boy. Well, how can you be angry at someone when he does that? I tried, but then he hit exaxctly the right spot above my tail, and suddenly, I forgot what I was mad about.

So I forgave him.

Arch did a great job in protection, no problem with blinds. There was a small pause during the barking in the blind, and we messed up the back transport, as I expected. I really have to work on it and figure it out for our IGP 3.

Archer did all his outs nicely and really outperformed himself. The points from the judge were a disappointment, again, but who cares? I know we did some good work there, and I was very proud of my crazy, beloved, psychotic Arch.

I thought that was it. Usually, after I beat up the bad guy, we go home; but this time, we went to have our photo taken. That may sound all noble and everything, but it’s just a fancy way of saying I had to wait and not move some more. Why do hoomans always have all that ‘not moving’ stuff? It’s crazy.

Fortunately, right after that, we went for a long walk and a swim! Oh goodie, I love swimming! I got to chase my yellow frisbee, and all the hardships were forgotten. It’s good to be the best, most badass, and most adorable Malinois in the neighborhood.

Back to Dad

Thank you, Archer, for this very unbiased and objective look at our trial. It was a pleasure having you actively participate on the blog. We’ll see if we do this again.

On a more serious note, please note the important takeaways from our trial and learn from them:

• Notice how much thought and effort I put into the preparation phase.
• Take some inspiration from how I tweaked the way I structured our last training sessions for maximum performance on trial day.
• Accept that everything will never be perfect, and be ready to deal with mistakes at the trial.
• Take notes of your dog’s performance at the trial and later use those to improve your training in preparation for your next trial.
• The most important lesson, direct from Archer himself: just enjoy the crap out of it. It’s just a trial; it’s not life or death. Enjoy it, celebrate afterwards, and love your dog for what he has done for you. You can be sure he left everything on the trial field.

Arch was awesome at the trial. I couldn’t be more proud. He has his issues, but we will work on those and come back even better for the IGP 3. I hope you enjoyed this report and maybe learned something from it.

Archer says hello and reminds you to be mindful, just like a dog is most of the time. He also insisted on me telling you to go give your dog some scratches—especially at that special spot, you know, right above the tail. So, please go do that, or he will go on and on about it.