The fun run went very well. We played with treats and her toy and got some good practice at everything. The stays had some good distraction of the heater in the corner of the ring, almost right above Gidget, making some noises. Thankfully she wasn't near the heater during the trial, though she nicely showed that she could handle it!
For the actual trial Gidget did very nicely both days. She didn't lose any points on her stands for exams (I really expect no less from her at this point but always love seeing how well she handles this exercise). She lost half a point one day and I lost us one point on Sun. in our recalls because of the finish. Sat. I guess she just wasn't as straight as I thought. Sun. I moved my foot in a way that looked like I was helping Gidget sit straight.
When I do fronts with both dogs I stand with my heels together and my toes facing out. My goal being that my dogs can get closer without standing on my toes. The judge said it looked like I was making a little chute for Gidget to help get a straight front. I've been doing this for quite a while, she still usually sits quite crooked on fronts. The judge didn't seem to say that standing like this was a problem (though I'm not entirely sure). The problem came at the finish when I unconsciously straightened my left foot. Oops! Something else to work on.
Heeling: We lost most of our points in our heeling as usual. 10 points total on Sat. and 12 on Sun. Gidget was pretty laggy both days. She stuck with me better on Sat. but had more brief moments of brilliance on Sun. You know those moments when your dog is smiling up at you and prancing, she did that a couple times Sun. and not at all (that I remember) on Sat. However, between those moments on Sun. Gidget got very distracted. Mostly by a barking dog. She completely stopped walking twice to look for the source of the noise, but did catch up to me. She may have missed a halt on Sun. too.
The stays went perfectly. She did some sniffing and even looked a little concerned about something outside the ring Sun. I don't really mind what she does while in position as long as she stays. Her sniffing rarely leads to moving. I was worried she'd move when she looked concerned, but she didn't. She spent the majority of the time looking at me and exchanging blinks. Good girl!
Final results: 2nd place Qs both days. 189.5 on Sat. and 187 on Sun. That brought us up to 3 Qs and Gidget's CD! Two different novice obedience titles in one month. Go Gidget!
I'm not entirely sure where Gidget's obedience career is going to go from here. We'll keep going to classes and see if we can actually get the whole dumbbell thing down, definitely our biggest challenge going forward. In the meantime I think I'll keep entering Gidget in CDSP trials and see if we can't make our way towards her novice championship title. That will give us a chance to work on our heeling in trials while we get ready for open.
Just agility for the next month. TDAA and jumping back into AKC for Gidget and a chance for Gracie to get her AX! Happy training!
Big congrats!!!! Obedience is not easy!
ReplyDeleteMy vote is that you definitely start training ALL open and utility exercises right now since that's where the fun is :) But place a high priority on ring entrances work with increasing proofs and new locations since I think all dogs need that confidence building.