THE PRESSURE IS ON!

The Schutzhund trials are October 14. If Sophie doesn't pass the BH (obedience), it will be my fault. I know the pattern (routine), Sophie knows the pattern. I just haven't got the paces correctly. We have been training for this for just about a year and a half now. For some reason I tend to panic, I am not the kind of person who does well with tests.

The other day I was practicing with her on the back of our property, I gave her the wrong command for the recall. You are supposed to say, Here, instead I said Heel. Sophie start running towards me realized I gave here the wrong command, stopped dead in her tracks and went into the Down position.  All I could think at that moment was "Great, I'm going to screw up my dog!"

Let me explain this whole BH pattern, I've put the commands/actions she should be doing in italics.


Start of Routine:

Dog is Sitting  at your side.
Give the Heel command, a minimum of 50 paces, do an about turn, 
Heel 10 minimum to 15 maximum normal paces, 
Heel 10 min to 15 max fast paces, 
Heel 10 min to 15 max slow paces 
Heel 10 min to 15 max normal paces, 
Turn right Heel 15 minimum paces 
Turn right again Heel 15 minimum paces 
About turn 7 paces Halt, your dog should automatically Sit, wait three seconds,   
Heel 15 paces left turn 
Heel 15 paces, then Heel through a group of people then Halt your dog should be sitting between you and one of the people. Below is a diagram of the pattern.
 Once all of the above exercises are done, you go back to the top of the field for the Walking Sit, Walking Down and Recall

Walking Sit:

With your dog sitting at your side, give the Heel command. 
While walking give the command Sit, this should be between 10 to 15 paces continue walking (pray that your dog sat, you aren't supposed to look) walk 30 paces away, turn and face your dog. You then have to wait for the judge to give you the signal to return to your dog. Once you get the signal, you have exactly 30 paces to return to your dog.

Walking Down with Recall:

Once you return to your dog after the walking sit, you give the Heel command. Heel 10 to 15 paces give the Down command, continue walking  at least 30 paces, turn face your dog, wait for judges signal, call your dog with the command Here. Your dog must then come to you rapidly, sit close and straight in front of you. Wait about 3 seconds, give the command Heel, your dog must  rapidly go to the basic position. Which is sit at your left side.

There is room for errors, points will be taken off depending on the error. Also if your dog does not do a command for instance Sit, you are allowed to give the command three times (with point reductions). After giving the command the third time, if the dog doesn't do the command, the exercise is terminated and no points are given.

Now that it is down to the"wire", I'm trying to get the exact paces and give the commands at the same time. It's not Sophie, it's me. I am going to have to practice her routine with out her in order to get all the steps correctly.  I AM STRESSED! Wish me luck!