Southwest Region IPO Trial

IPO= Schutzhund.  Due to political reasons, Germany no longer calls protection sport Schutzhund and since it originated in Germany, our United States club followed their lead and calls it IPO now as well.  What does IPO stand for?  Good question.  I had to look it up:  Internationale Prüfungs-Ordnung.  Then I used Google Translate to see what that means.  It says:  International auditing rules.  Ummm....?  or International Exam Rules, which makes a tiny bit more sense but what type of exam?

That is actually a topic for a different post.  This post is about the fact that I entered Dottie in the Southwest Region trial.  We are listed here  (click).  It is in 2 weeks and we are trialing for our IPO 2.  We can't expect to win the trial.  Right now we are being a bit sloppy in obedience and protection.  But I hope to put in a good effort with my tiny little female.  Most of the other dogs entered, if not all, are males.  That is because males have the testosterone needed to be aggressive and brave.  Dottie just has heart.  And lots of it.

We will be on a strange field, with a helper she has never worked with before, under more difficult grading conditions.  (In this sport, at Regional and National level competitions, they score you differently than at local trials.)

Next weekend, we are heading down to practice on the obedience field.  The Southwest region is very large, but we are lucky that the trial is about 1.5 hrs away.  Last year it was in AZ.  One other lady from my club entered, so we are offering each other lots of support.  For both of us this is our first Regional level competition and our second competition ever.  Lots to be nervous about, but we are tying to keep it under control.