December 05, 2009

Show Results for Saturday

.
Well our very first UKC Obedience show (actually 2 shows today) included a placement ribbon and an NQ.  The first round wasn't pretty, but out of 200 points and a required 170, we squeaked by with a 173.  Only one other dog qualified in Novice A, so we ended up with a 2nd place ribbon :-) This was the first Q out of 3 that we need to get the title. Most of the points off were for extra cues I gave him along with some poor heeling (lagging, forging, wide as he looked around the ring and watched the dog in the other ring).
.
The second run was downright ugly (my fault of course)!  I had gotten Dazzle out way to early to warm up because I didn't know that this time they would put the Novice B and C dogs through first.  So I tried putting him back in the crate while I sat and waited for our turn.  When it was our turn, the judge took some time recording the previous dog's scores, so again we had to wait.  Dazzle does best with very little warm-up, so the waiting really drives him nuts. By the time we got in the ring, Dazzle was completely frustrated.
.
During the first part- heel on leash, he grabbed the leash and started playing tug (stress/frustration relief).  I managed to get the leash back and get him under control to finish the pattern, but because I had to stop to do that it was considered not following the judges commands and NQ'd us.  He did let us continue (he could have excused us for that), and the figure 8 & off-leash heeling was much better. However, just as I cued the recall over the jump, a person in the next ring gave a loud, excited command to her dog that got Dazzle's attention.  I had to cue the recall again, which he did beautifully, but that would also be an NQ for failure to respond the first time.  His stand for exam was good, we've been working on that.
.
When we came back in the ring for the honor (down stay while another dog works), after yet another delay while the judge wrote up our critique, Dazzle barked in frustration at me several times and I had to cue the down twice because he was eyeing the leash again, but he did a really nice stay and even relaxed and rested his head on the floor.  When we went in for the group sits, I didn't hold out much hope that he would maintain the sit.  I had to cue it several times after I removed the leash right away.  About 30 seconds into the 1 minute sit, he slid into the down, which also would have been an NQ. 
.
Lesson learned- Run him after the ball for awhile to get out some of his pent up energy (which I did try, just not for long enough because I was very cold) and DON'T get him out of the crate till right before our run!
.
We have 2 more shots at it tomorrow.  I'm going to try leaving him in the van with a blanket over his crate (he likes the cold, but hopefully he won't get TOO cold) and I'll take the chuck-it and hat and gloves so we can do more exercising and I'll wait to get him out for our time in the ring.  Hopefully that will do the trick and we can get 2 more Q's tomorrow for the title :-)  That's the plan anyway :-)
.
I'm still very happy with how he did.  I have to keep reminding myself that he's only a puppy (16 months) and obedience is HARD and very different from Rally, freestyle and other venues we have done. I'm sure that with maturity and more training, he will be getting high scores.
.