Ack. It was disastrous. I take that back - it wasn't disastrous, just potentially so. And stressful. I'm mainly posting just 'cause I need to vent, but if anybody has helpful suggestions, please let me know! I just need to accept the fact that Inara is hitting her horrid adolescence, and in the long run I would regret killing her...I think...
So she'd been doing really well in her flyball classes, performing phenomenal recalls over all four jumps and hitting the box beautifully. The instructor is totally in love with her and keeps raving about how great she is. Today though she was a holy terror. I think it's a combo of her age (she'll be one year old on 10/22) and the recent move. But she just wouldn't/couldn't focus on anything today. She was barking nonstop at the other dogs, acted like she'd never seen the flyball box before, and worst of all, put a tiny Jack Russell Terrier's head in her mouth.
We were doing restrained recalls over the jumps, and she came flying over all four, grabbed her treat, and then before I could get the leash went zipping over to this little dog and put her head in her mouth. I knew she was playing, but she's too big to play like that. I went racing over and yanked her about 15 feet away, front feet off the ground, dangling from her martingale (thank God Hoyden's collars are strong!). The other dog was just fine, and the owner was sooooo understanding and said she's actually glad Inara did that because maybe her dog will stop antagonizing big dogs. Susanna, the instructor, came over to me where I was working on getting Inara's attention back on me by doing sits and downs. I was so frazzled - I just started blurting out how sorry I was, that I swear she wasn't attacking the other dog, etc. Susanna was so calm - she just said, "Liz, I know she was playing. Trust me, if she hadn't been, Bella would have been dead before any of us knew what was happening. Just relax, it's okay." God, I was just so frazzled and embarrassed. I almost left class early. But I didn't, and Inara went over the jumps a few more times, actually doing the best she's ever done. Normally she just
lygags over them, but she FLEW over them today. Susanna and a couple other people commented how fast Inara was flying over them. After class I once again apologized to Bella's owner, who still was totally unconcerned. And I apologized to Susanna, telling her how Inara's just been a terror lately. Susanna said it will pass, and told me Inara has so much potential as a flyball dog. So that was nice to hear.
So I was just super-stressed and needed to vent. I'm just horrified at Inara's behavior. Again, I know she's entering a horrible age, and she's stressed from the move. *sigh* I just really need to get her focusing on me. Thanks for listening!