.Out of 100 possible points, Dazzle got 99! He also got first place out of 6 dogs! The green ribbon above signifies that the run qualified and of course the blue is for 1st place! I am SO thrilled! Unfortunately, the ribbons given at this show are no where nearly as nice as the ones at smaller shows, but I did also win $10 for the first place :-)
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Especially because we got there too early (I was expecting traffic and parking to take a lot longer than it did given the fact it was a weekday and the show is huge!) And because the ring was running over an hour late. So we went and did some shopping in the other building to kill some time and keep him busy. I was glad I had brought in his crate though. By the time we were finally getting to the course walk-through, he was in it taking a nap. I was also glad I had attached it to a crate dolly so I could wheel it from the van because we had to park in "East Bajeezuz"!
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I pulled him out of the crate and warmed him up probably one run too early, but it was hard to judge because they had a lot of "move-ups" of the conformation people and even ran some of the Novice B's before finishing the A's. But obviously it all worked out and he performed GREAT! Once again I had him thinking I had his ball in my right hand, so you'll see him crouch in anticipation of having the ball thrown when I do the sit at the back of the ring :-) His sits were straight, so no risk of needing to "fix" them and getting points off :-) And we practiced a lot of downs during the week, so that was fixed too. I could NOT be any happier with his performance! It's clear from his wagging tail and grin that he's enjoying it and THAT is the primary objective!
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We will go back again tomorrow (and Sunday) to compete, but first I have a training club meeting tonight where, as long as no one objects, I'll become a full member of the club and get a key to the building. Then I can start working on freestyle and formal obedience to try to help him have as much fun with that as he's having with Rally. If he gets his Rally Novice title this weekend, there's not much else I can pursue with him because all the higher levels have jumps. Since I can't and won't jump him till he's over 1 yr old, we'll work on the freestyle for fun. Who knows, maybe I'll actually get a routine together and submit it by video for a title in freestyle. :-) We will also be working on behaviors for the C-Wags trial in April, but not much new to learn for that.
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Here's the video straight from the camera:
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