CPE Outdoor Trial vs Indoor Experience?

[girlbuffalo1]

Well Wrigley's first CPE trial is coming up the first Saturday in April. One thing I hadn't noticed until I already sent in my money is that it is outdoors!?! My first concern was weather--as weather can be anything in early spring in IL. My second though--and now the one I can't stop thinking about--is his training has 98% all been indoors until the trial. I am now worried about what I should be preparing for--do most dogs make the switch ok? Is there anything besides trying to set up my own outdoor course that will help? I have a VERY small backyard which makes this difficult!

Any advice is welcome!

 

[adojrts]

Hi;
What I would suggest you do is arrive as early as possible and just walk around. Allow your dog to sniff and check things out to his hearts content everywhere the dogs are allowed. Especially around the outside of the rings (but be careful that he does not mark on or close to the ring on anything).
If you have time between now and the trial, you could ask if renting the ring for an hour is possible (if they are close enough to you). We have done this with novice dogs and handlers when possible for their first trial with excellent results.

Good luck
Lynn

 

[MafiaPrincess]

I had that. We'd trained all winter in a horse arena. 1st trial we went to was outside. Our first few runs were write offs, but we got better as it went on. No Qs that weekend, but we gained much needed experience.