Obedience and Rally Results

I was thrilled that Wyatt and Patriot came in first and fourth respectively under Celeste Meade in Rally Excellent B on Friday.  Wyatt also earned another RAE-2 leg.  I think he has 5 now.  They both did great.  I loved seeing 2 whippets place in such a large class. 

Patriot had his first try at Open A obedience and I was very encouraged.  He did well in heeling except for sniffing the judge and stopping in the figure 8, which was unusual.  I should have given him an extra "come" command much earlier.  He had a good drop on recall, which has been Wyatt's issue.  I gave  a short and wide throw on the retrieve over high jump and he needed a second command to go out and then stopped at the jump.  He also walked over the broad jump; I am not sure why.  He never does that at home.  Maybe I need to start him farther way?  He was rock solid for sits and downs, which is also Wyatt's issue.  Wyatt has one of his best Open A outings of late.  I did get one automatic sit.  He followed me on the recall (strange since he usually freezes).  He did drop though.  His retrieves and jumps were really nice, as usual.  He went down on the sit and came up on the down!  It is clear that when I am far away, he is stressed and makes mistakes. I would have to trial and proof him much more if I ever wanted to pass Open A and the NATCH/MEDAL is my number one goal right now. 

Whippet Sydney and his handler Lesley got their first Open A leg Saturday, which I was thrilled to be able to witness. 

Obedience and Rally

I entered one day of the Thanksgiving Cluster at the Big E.  I have Patriot in Rally Exc B. He needs one more leg for his RE.  I have Wyatt in Rally Adv B and Rally Exc B.  He has 3 or 4 RAE-2 legs.  I also entered Patriot in Open A for the first time.  He may not be ready.  His heeling has been great but he is a little hesitant to go out for recalls at a trial, he has been cutting the broad jump at home, and can go down on the long sit if I am out of sight.  Wyatt is entered in Novice B and Open A.  I may scratch one of those depending on what is first and how things are going in Rally with him.  I work with both dogs almost every night in obedience but have not been going to class or proofing.  Should be interesting!

Tunnelers Video

I have been talking about "that feeling" you get when you are working well with your dog.  This is an example for me and Wyatt from Sunday.  It is so fun when everything clicks.  Yes, I can can brag about the yards per second, placement, fast time in the class, Q, but it's really about "that feeling."  We had it quite few times this weekend and I am still feeling it.