Virtue in a trial environment at the Bell County Expo

Ask Your Question: This is our 4th visit to an agility trial at the Bell County Expo. We entered with our normal routine and walked to an empty area to play. I noticed someone else was entering so we played our way to a wall and out of the way. The person passed with their dog as we continued to play. When I stopped play and Virtue went in a down (by choice), he then noticed them, looked and reoriented to me which I reinforced. We maintained that position for some time as the trial events went on around us (for time purposes, I edited out part of this when not much was occurring). People walked by and Virtue looked at them but fairly quickly refocused on me for reinforcement. We played again for a bit and Virtue’s play was normal. After this play, Virtue again chose to go in a down an I reinforced his reorientation to me.

I felt that Virtue was fairly relaxed. He played and took food as he normally does. He noticed things in his surroundings but they did not overwhelm him. He holds his tail high, wags some and reoriented back to me fairly quickly.

What worked - known cues, play, cheese, verbal connection

What didn’t work - I felt most things worked.

Adjustments for next time - I feel that in this video there wasn’t much to adjust. Working our way towards a busier part of this environment would be my next step.

Do you think Virtue appeared very stressed in this video?
https://youtu.be/dUaGLr6z6XU

Answer:
Excellent work. I love how he is able to look at distractions and then chooses to refocus on you.
I agree on your next step. Increase your level of distraction.