Lance's First Open Obedience Trial

fickla

Experienced Member
I thought I would share how Lance's first time in the Open ring went this past weekend. I posted an entry on my blog (click here) but I wanted to give a quick run down here.

We NQed both days so on paper the weekend was a failure. But in my eyes Lance did amazing and we met our goals.

Some issues popped up that have never happened before (of course!), Lance stood up as as I left him for the drop on recall one day(just points off since he didn't move), and skipped the front on that exercise another day. Lance also needed a second cue to be sent on the retrieve on flat (1st day, NQ) and the second day he was also very distracted on this excercise but I was wiser and paused a bit before sending him. And of course what NQed us both days were the stays. Ironically this was the one thing I was the least worried about since Lance has perfect stays! But day 1 Lance stood up on the 5mn out of sight down stay, and then laid back down. Day 2 Lance laid down on the sit (with 20 seconds to go), and again stood up and layed back down the down stay.

Major accomplishements was the extremely attentive, confident heeling. Lance also had a great retrieve over the high jump both days, and even after having to go around a pole (my bad throw!) came back over the jump on the way back. The judge was extremely impressed that Lance took the jump from the bad angle he was at. Also his broad jump was great and Lance did not walk over the boards or cut the corner (at least not bad enough to loose points).

So I know what we need to work on. The problem is trying to replicate these issues in class. Distractions don't bother Lance, it's the stress of the show environment and the stress of mommy. I have a feeling the only way I replicate it is to go to different run throughs in new places, which of course I can't do that often because of my work schedule! We have 2.5 weeks to our next show. Oh, and we got our 2nd Q in Rally Excllent and placed 1st with a 99 :)

Here's the videos of Day 1:
[MEDIA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x15jns7tgwc[/MEDIA]

And Day 2:
[MEDIA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oi6cErdJxTg[/MEDIA]
 

l_l_a

New Member
great video!! Lance looks very sharp in all his exercises. I especially liked your heeling and the retrieve. I also thought it was so cute when after the retrieve he was happily following the steward and would have followed her out of the ring if you hadn't called him back! :)

well I only did some fun matches for Novice a couple years ago (then my work schedule changed and I couldn't make it to our trainer's AKC obedience class, and no other trainers in our area were offering classes for this using positive training). I remember the group stays were a challenge for my dog, he would hold his stay but be crying and whining the whole time and freaking out the other dogs around him, and make them break their stays!

good luck on the next trials!
 

snooks

Experienced Member
Great focus and I love Lance's little roll-over I did good when he's done a great job. Very impressive work. :dogbiggrin: And Lance is a cutie.
 
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