Sunday, March 28, 2010

new titles, crash and burn :)

i never posted about training this week. agility was good and berlin held her contacts for a dogwalk that was incorporated into a course consistently, which was nice!!! maybe she will compete again :) lydia wants to run her in a USDAA trial in may, i think ill enter her. i cant run her that day because i have a date with my mom in NYC ... but lydia can! (berlin is currently doing the "i have no legs" curl on the couch, with her front legs underneath her - its adorable!)

did open with berlin and utility with rah wed night because thurs we skipped class to show!

so this week is a big show weekend here in NJ for the obedience folks - three day cluster of obedience and rally (4 for some breeds) in edison, NJ - a HUGE trial that is VERY noisy and loud at one of the largest venues here, and then a double trial today hosted by an obedience trial.

i entered rah at the specialty obedience on thursday - obedience was limited to nonsporting, but rally was opened to all breeds. i went with a friend who has shibas and she made her debut in novice A with her dog. rah finished up his RE by winning the excellent B class with a 99 and it was great - he didn't care about the noise and worked like a dream - just bumped me on a pivot for one point off. i was very proud of him!

i had him entered the next day in open B under a judge i LOVE... and i promptly NQ him on the first exercise (the broad jump) by giving a verbal and a signal! im not sure what i was thinking, he worked well for the rest of the class save for his fronts but those were also my fault - his heeling was VERY well controlled (the judge even commented so to me as we were setting up for the next exercise after heeling!) and she was joking with me for the entire class -which is why i love showing to nancy!

i seriously had a brain fart - not sure why i did what i did. he did much better with the fig 8 before the heeling in this show and his heeling was VERY controlled (for him) in the ring. i trained through half the exercises and i did screw him up on just about every front, so that was all me and i admit it - he didn't know what was going on there, and i cant get on him for that. i also set him up at the wrong distance for the high jump and he barely took a full stride before he took off and it was a VERY scary jump for me. and since i was so close he almost hit me on the front. i think i rocked a bit on the front on the DOR.



so rah is in the market for a new handler. time to prep for our utility debut in a month... no video of the rally run, but here's the fateful open run





if you turn the sound up all the way you can hear how noisy the venue was - rah was a very good boy!!!! BAD HANDLER.

but still, rah finished his RE with style!

now to figure out when we will be doing stem cells so that i can enter rah in utility :)

5 comments:

Kathie R said...

Nice job. Beautiful heeling - especially loved the figure 8. I'm happy to see Rah out there trialing and working so well.

Amy / Layla the Malamute said...

Do you mean Nancy Withers? I LOVE her. She judged our national, I can't wait to show under her.

I usually do the Edison shows for conformation, but someone lost her coat a month early so we skipped it this year.

M.T. said...

Congrats!!!! Question: What happened with the fronts? I couldnt' tell from the video but myabe i'm just slow lol

MurphyDog said...

Rah, you are an inspiration!

come check out my bloggie...I got sumthin for you.

wags, wiggles & slobbers
Murphydog

doberkim said...

thanks everyone for the comments :)
yes, nancy withers - i love showing to her. she's one of my favorites!!!!

murphydog, thanks for the award!!! ill have to find time to reciprocate it all tomorrow hopefully!!

as to what happened to the fronts - a combo of things. as an aside, we spent the past three days prior to this working on backing up both in front and then next to me in preparation for rally, so may have affected things because i had him backing up on a verbal only - he ran into me, stood in front and i would tell him to back up, reward it, and rinse lather repeat :)

the first front (BJ) im not even looking at him - i started laughing and we both gasped and i made a face and look up at nancy - so rah is like "whoa, not right!" ... on the DOR i followed him in too closely and he wasn't sure i wanted him in all the way - i believe i also rocked the tiniest bit so i wasnt presenting the proper front position for him.

on the ROH, i was set up at the entire wrong spot - too close to the jump so when he landed he was almost on top of me - that always results in a bad front because he cant collect himself to sit. he cant collect himself period.

the flat is all him though, that is his old futzing around at the front and playing - when hes too up and high, engrossed in the retrieve and not thinking, he does the stutter sit.

not too concerned about it, havent actually worked any fronts since the show :) we'll work some at class tomorrow, but they will be back. me screwing up the first jump messed me up to some degree and that put me off for the rest of the class on his hardest part, the fronts - so i accept that they are mostly my own fault. he knows his job and he does his best to do it.