First CD leg!

[Rits]

Ripley earned her first Q towards her CD yesterday with a 189! We lost almost all of our points when, for the first time ever, she decided in her excitement of celebrating with me for a great stand stay, to make a zoomie dash out of the ring for all of 2 hot seconds. She spun around and ran back to me on the dime of me saying, "Ripley, come!" Thankfully, her smart moment was in-between exercises so we continued on and Q'd. She got docked her other points whining in the down stay which was the largest group she's ever been in. I'm lucky if I have even one other person to practice with. It was hard for her to not express her feelings about it.

Our second trial felt even better, if that is possible!! However, bad BAD girl now has learned a new naughty habit... this time during her long recall. One of her strongest skills shes had from early on in life. She sprinted at my legs to front, and at the last second...saw the open gate in front of her and took her opportunity. She recalled again. Stupid.happy.dog. We finished our sit/stay/leash retrieval, ending our run. We were so close. Brat. Looking back I probably should have done a fix n go but I wasn't thinking about it and wanted to see our run through to completion.

I'm still pleased as punch. We live quite a ways away from anything, so training to trial has been quite the challenge for us but we've been hard at work. Quite a number of people stopped us to say there was so much good in our runs, that she's a really nice dog. Her connection with me was absolutely wonderful. There was not one picture of her where she wasn't looking up at me. I could tell that she truly enjoyed her time out there with me and had fun! Damn, I love this dog and all that she gives. I am excited to work on our new challenges and get back out there.

We did a C shaped heel pattern and back to the middle of it after the end of the C shape. Pretty long!


Halt!


She was so good with her auto sits! If you remember for her BN, she decided to not sit or sit slowly so we went back and rebuilt value for sit while she was in drive.


Figure 8s were sharp n clean and she sat!


You can't see them but there are like 8 dogs about 6 ft behind her.


We've never practiced more than one or two dogs. She started whining after she looked at them, then looked at me... I'm pretty sure it was lack of experience being in this position so I'll have to work on someone staying behind her next time I get the chance. She did not care about the dogs beside her.


Heel on Leash - Fast! Her favorite part of heeling


Heel Free / Offleash



Fast! Offleash


Figure 8 (for her BN she would lag behind when on the outside of the turn)


Stand stay exam


2nd Recall - First one was super and she was looking like she was going to have another great one with her lightning speed to front.


"This is gonna be the best front ever Mom!"


It was at this moment, she changed her mind... she slammed on the brakes like she does to front but then another foot or two closer she did a sharp right turn and took a detour.

 

[obbanner]

Congratulations! That's funny her running out of the ring. That used to be an NQ!

I find I get better results if I don't look my dog in the eye during certain exercises, such as RECALL. I look over their heads so I see what they're doing, but don't make them think because I'm staring them in the eye. The fronts are closer because they don't sit back further to look up in my eyes, for instance.

Congrats again and have fun!

 

[Ravenbird]

I find I get better results if I don't look my dog in the eye during certain exercises, such as RECALL. I look over their heads so I see what they're doing, but don't make them think because I'm staring them in the eye. The fronts are closer because they don't sit back further to look up in my eyes, for instance.

Yes, but with me it's the stay when I won't look at her: If I make eye contact while she's in a sit or down stay she (use to) want to get up. Eye contact was like an invitation! So those two exercises I look just over her ears. But for recall I'd try to keep the eye contact until sit-front. Her bad is getting in a hurry to finish before I ask for that, so I reward big for the recall front, but not so much for the finish... LOL we all have to do things so differently!

@Rits, I just LOVE Rips focus! I still don't have that, doubt I ever will. She does remind me of Ashas dose of independence, wanting to do things her own way - especially when it involves going fast - even when you know she knows better. That CD is right around the corner for you, I'll betcha. Awesome work!

 

[Rits]

That used to be an NQ!

I believe it was because it was between exercises and that she ran 2 ft past the gate and immediately turned around as soon as I told her to come so it was deemed "under control". The second time she NQ'd because she did it during an exercise and did not finish her recall. But yeah, that was a new one for us and not something I ever expected with her. I was so happy with everything else,I'll take the happy dog having fun!

I find I get better results if I don't look my dog in the eye during certain exercises, such as RECALL. I look over their heads so I see what they're doing, but don't make them think because I'm staring them in the eye. The fronts are closer because they don't sit back further to look up in my eyes, for instance.

That's interesting! I can understand the reason for it. I do that for the sit and down stays like @Ravenbird For the recall, I look at her and smile for her coming in towards my front to let her know she is pleasing me, then about half way to me I look down to where she should be and she will fall into place to lock eyes with me. If I don't look, she thinks something is wrong. Ripley is a MAJOR face reader and looks at my face constantly to see my emotions. She does this when I'm upset too and tasks for me untrained...

@Rits, I just LOVE Rips focus! I still don't have that, doubt I ever will. She does remind me of Ashas dose of independence, wanting to do things her own way - especially when it involves going fast - even when you know she knows better. That CD is right around the corner for you, I'll betcha. Awesome work!

Thank you so much for your kind words and encouragement! It means so much to me. The focus is always a work in progress! Been mixing it up with rewarding eye contact outside the ring, to working on ring entrances and playing once in for good eye contact, to dropping a piece of food out of the armpit intermittently (surprise reward!), to randomizing rewards after a random number of sequences. Slowly building up a desire to hopefully want to and enjoy the work. Hardest and longest thing I've ever worked on and will probably forever work on with her.

Trying to figure out how long I wait to get her out before her turn was something new too. Too soon and shes on ready to work but only for about 10-15 min then she gets bored and the whining comes in (she hates waiting ringside in conformation too). Too late and not enough time to acclimate. I got her out the second time one dog before us and thats when her heeling and attention was near perfect (minus trying to visit the bait box by dad at the very end )

Dogs... gotta love em! Like I said, I'm eager to fix some things and be ready to head back out there at the next show. She's my one and only A dog so I'm staying positive with our journey

 

[JanS]

Congratulations!

 

[Kswoodssue]

I think it is awesome, and she is just beautiful! She just wants to add a bit of flourish to the exercise!

 

[Doberman Gang]

Congratulations, yea I hate the new sit/down stay exercise on leash and sometimes the dogs being back to back. It was better off leash from across the ring. After all it is an obedience competition, it’s not supposed to be easy. All the sports seem to keep making things easier.
Good luck keep having fun, it is very hard to train for trial day and all the distractions.

 

[LifeofRubie]

Well done (even with a bit of a naughty dog )!!! They've always gotta find a way to keep it interesting.

 

[Rits]

After all it is an obedience competition, it’s not supposed to be easy. All the sports seem to keep making things easier.

I think safety is a concern for group exercises off leash/out of sight. I used to compete in 4H over 20 years ago (they used same exercises as AKC) and I remember the sit stay was 3 minutes, out of sight, and down stay was 5 minutes, out of sight. I honestly couldn't imagine that happening now with kids, especially since a lot of kids can and do borrow dogs that aren't their own.

I feel too many people rush to trial their dogs. Then the other dogs pay for it in the group exercise so honestly, I'm a bit glad it is on leash now for that reason. Sure if your dog is ready at a younger age... trial them but more often than not, they are not ready, their dogs are just babies when they are under 2-3 years old being asked too much too soon with trial pressure added. If the dog was going to break the stay in front of you off leash it's going to on leash too.

 

[Rits]

even with a bit of a naughty dog )!!! They've always gotta find a way to keep it interesting.

Right? The second time she actually made it to my husband who had the cooler full of hotdogs for AFTER her good run. It all happened so fast too. I called her and she immediately spun back around and ran to me still in the ring with the biggest sh*t eating grin on her face. I told her how good of a girl she was, she fell back into heel position (like leaving the ring was a part of her routine ) and we finished our run.

I couldn't be mad at her... and my husband asked if I wanted him to be out of the room next time. I told him nope...she's just showing the tiny holes in our training! She's so used to getting jack potted right outside the ring that I think she felt it was time to be rewarded and took it upon herself to go do that

Soon as we left the trial I already started crafting up some ideas to work on the pieces I want to see improved. I plan to put the bait box somewhere in the ring, do some short sequences, then go to the bait box that is in the ring and jackpot her there in the ring. Keep moving the bait box around so she doesn't expect it to always come from outside.