Dazzle and his winningsA very good weekend! Todays first show resulted in a score of 100! That's the third qualifying run in level one, so we earned a URO-1 title today too! It also earned us a 4th place ribbon because there were 4 other scores of 100 (tie broken by the amount of time it took to run the course.) I was only 1 second faster than the person who got 5th place. When I saw that 5th score of 100 go up on the board, I figured it had knocked us out of the ribbons, but I was surprized when she called our number for 4th place. No matter where we placed, I was VERY pleased with his performance!
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VIDEO: Our perfect score run in UKC Rally
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KRIAnx7ny8
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For the fourth show of the weekend, I moved him up to level 2, which is off-leash. Since we do all our training off-leash, I didn't expect any problem. However, when we started out, it wasn't pretty. He was sniffing and wandering and NOT really heeling. About sign 3, I tried moving my left hand up as if I had a leash in it. He looked up, saw that and swung right into heel position. The rest of our run was beautiful! So I guess I have a heel cue I didn't know about :-) I don't practice with my hand like that, but I guess it's what he needed.
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The 4th show was held in a part of the building where the obedience shows had been. So it was in a completely new ring/area from his three level 1 runs. Don't know if that made any difference in his attention level at the start or not. I'm just glad he realized I intended for him to be working and not out for a stroll! He was startled by the flash or beep from my camera at the start too and whipped his head around toward it (& away from me). Not sure why, maybe because the room was so quiet? So the person I asked to take photos of us didn't take any more. So no action photos from this weekend and just the one video. There was no pro photographer either. :-(
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At sign 3, I did lose points when I walked past the sign, but then immediately realized it and went back for a "do-over". So it didn't disqualify us, but it did knock off max points. His inattention at the start lost the rest of the points. We finished with a score of 91 and a first place blue ribbon. We got a 1st place only because we were the only dog in group A :-) Which means Dazzle and I have not earned a title in any other venue higher than entry level and we don't have any standard obedience titles in AKC or UKC and I'm not an obedience instructor. Everyone else that was entered in level 2 or moved up to level 2 was in group B. So they HAD earned those titles or were instructors, which is who I was competing with for all the level 1 runs. So while I don't think his level 2 run warranted a blue ribbon, I feel it represents the 3 excellent level 1 runs he had
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So now we can concentrate fully on practice for next months Freestyle competition.
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