training this week and a show from yesterday - our open B (re)debut

so i have had this page open for days meaning to update it, but i just have been falling asleep at the computer or just havent gotten around to it!!

we're going to go chronologically skipping the little training sessions.
agility we started with some skill sets and working those before we worked courses. worked some teeter work and hitting her 2o2o, she's completely unconcerned about the noise and movement and she will hop onto the teeter midway or anywhere and do it, which is good. worked weaves too, and she was nice, but offsides weren't really happening so i stopped and instead shaped entrances from all over.

then we did courses from this past weekend, i think they were more excellent courses that forced us to do some 180s and pinwheels and berlin was on FIRE - did some double fronts, one had a nice night serpentine and another a little threadle. she was awesome and im so happy with how she handled it.

worked rah in open and utility since he was going to be showing this weekend - cant remember anything major in open just worked on speed of his drop and straight fronts, and his broad. in utility i took the opportunity to work on what we had been doing in the private last weekend and it was definitely helping - his signals and moving stand were much tighter than they had been - still need work but better.

go outs and DJ were funny there was a stuff animal at the go out spot and rah was convinced it was his toy so he tried so hard to get it, i couldnt turn him off it the first time! (on a side note, theres an interested discussion on the clicker obedience list about shaping go outs and such i want to chime in on, this reminds me) but we worked through it and he did lovely turn and sits. we jumped over the 4 foot wide bar jump and he had no issues with it - i wonder if the dog has ever considered collecting himself for a jump though?

on articles, he worked the pile with a bag of cookies in the pile, his article bag, and kathy (his biggest distractor!) swinging a toy right in his pile and he still did a great job - so i was pleased with that!

we didnt do gloves this time.

thursday unfortunately for berlin rah did her class as well - not just because he was showing on saturday but also because he was holtered, so i wanted him to be working for some of his time with the holter. the funny part was being holtered and in his vest made him much more aware of his body and how he was going to be controlling himself! if only i could show him in the vest!

so the trial - we got to the show - it was like a monsoon sat am and the drive there was treacherous - i got to the show site and its mud, theres almost no parking left (as in, 4 spots left), and i have to unload in the rain. i have the option of unloading at the door and having no parking in this lot (but i can park across the street!) or i can park here and then unload by hand... i chose to at least have parking within site of the building...

it was a very bizarre building - it was actually a sports dome on turf, and it was one of the plastic blow up buildings complete with airlocks. rah didnt even care, he was a little perturbed by the airlock at first since it makes your ears pop and he definitely thought the air was stale (it was) but it was fine once he got in there!

i barely warmed rah up - i actually just worked him a minute or so to see if he would slip on the turf, but then he spent a good 20 minutes hanging out in sue ann's lap while she pet him. all of a sudden my class was starting - i had to go check in, and figure out what the heeling pattern was. wait, i didnt even see what order we were in - back to the check in table :)

order 4 - good order. rah was the 5th dog in - and he was showing to a man. the entire reason i entered this show was to see how rah would do to a male judge since he sometimes (ok most of the time) gets freaked out by them in the ring as he does with any judge that puts too much pressure on him - but he can work through a woman. though he did work through craig last time (who ironically was judging the other ring yesterday!)

anyway, we briefly do an actual warm up of heeling one dog away and then its our turn - as we are waiting to go in the judge is commenting what a big blue lovely natural eared boy he is (don has dobes of his own!)... we have to get all the way across the ring for the first exercise, the DOR - rah looks at the judge once during the set up but then all eyes back on me and he's ready and amped. the entire way im walking across the ering im wondering if i should give him a verbal or a signal drop - but i decided to use a signal because the acoustics of the ring were a little funky and i was having trouble hearing the judge, so i didnt want to risk having rah not hear me (though im quite a bit louder than the average bear).

anyway, the judge signals and rah flies at me - i drop him and he nails it - comes in slightly off by a TEENY hair, nice finish. judge laughs and tells me that i should have warned him that the dog was so fast so he could have dropped him sooner.

next was the heel free - rah was SO controlled, this was probably some of the best heeling he's done in a long time in the ring. i sadly didnt bring the best footwork, but rah covered for me and i had it by the second leg of the pattern - but he nailed every halt (even our nemesis, the forward - halt - forward!!!!!) and he did NOT pop up on the slow and did not surge forward on the fast. fig8 was his normal lovely.

ROH was next - i got a little bit of foot movement on the wait when he drops his head to see the throw, but no fidgeting there - i threw it, nice short direct throw about 12 feet past the jump. he goes out, FLIES over the jump, gets the db, flies over and comes in and sits fast. very slightly off, but hes there and he didnt hesitate for the front, gives me the db immediately and has a second where he thinks about jumping back up for it but then he finishes like a good boy.

tries to go after his db when i give it to the judge but sits when i tell him a second time -

broad jump - set him up, realize that we were set up a little far to the side but left him there since he has a habit of cutting, figured too far to the left wouldnt hurt that much :) and i was right - i sent him and he did a BEAUTIFUL jump, cut just his normal amount, turned beautifully and controlled and nailed his front - well, on the second attempt :) he was slightly off when he sat so he moved his butt laterally to fix the front just a nip, but it was probably the best BJ he's done in the ring EVER. finish was perfect.

get his DB back and head on over to the ROF - set him up, he moves his front right foot on the wait again as he drops his head but nothing else, no false starts (like our last open outing!) and i throw it - ended up about 24 feet, slightly to the left. rah flies out, but he decided to turn to the left instead of his normal right and he MISSED the db on his first pickup when he slid the teeniest amount - he ended up with the bell in his mouth and he took a split second to actual pick it up correctly. (rather than throwing it in the air to fix it like he's done TWICE before in the ring!)... that made him more frantic through and he came in chomping away at the db, didn't fidget that badly at the front but he was a little crooked (NOT TOO BAD) and then didn't want to give me the db back! but he was close and not too bad and i heard the judge snort a bit... i get it and finish him and the judge comes and tells me about his dobe that loves the db, asking how old rah is, etc.

stays weren't bad - one of the baby dogs from the OTCH handlers broke, but rah held them - so that was our first official Q from the b classes, running with the big dogs and the big girls!!!!!

we ended up with a 193.5 -
we lost 3.5 on our heeling - don the judge i hear isn't a huge fan of heads up pushy heeling, but that's what rah is :) all the points were for crowding, which is funny since this was rah's best controlled heeling.

0.5 on the front on the DOR
1 on the ROF - half for the sloppy pick up, half for the crooked front
0.5 on the broad jump for the slightly crooked front
1 on the ROH - half each for the front and finish.

so, the heeling is just rah, and the sloppy pick up was a fluke. but its the front and finishes that are killing us.

but all in all, im VERY proud of how rah did - he held his own with the big boys in the B class, got a very respectable score, and he did it with a male judge in the ring!!!!!!!