Nice obed / rally weekend :)

**windycanyon** · 04-18-2011, 12:59 AM

This weekend I had Kiku (turned 2 yo on Tues-- bottom left dog in sig pic) and Tango (1 yo end of March-- top of pyramid in sig pic) entered in the Moses Lake trials. It was Kiku's debut in Open Obed, and Tango's debut in Nov Rally. I couldn't have been much happier overall!

Tango took a 3rd and 4th in Nov B w/ 94 and 91 scores in Rally for her first 2 Q's. Stupid handler (that'd be me) cost her 3 pts yesterday which would have been a 1st place! She was a little spacier today, so I had to work harder for that 91 but we did it...

Kiku took a 3rd and 4th in Adv B Rally w/ scores of 93 and 94 for her titling Q's. I believe I conservativedly repeated stations both days that likely cost me 2-3 pts a piece. LOL.... good thing the dogs don't keep track but I do admit to doing Rally for the training first and foremost so I didn't want them to get away w/ sloppiness!

What pleased me most was that Kiku did wonderful in her Open debut. Heeling was beautiful both days. We lost just 3.5 pts on heeling / fig 8 yesterday. Just some bumps here and there. Some anticipation issues w/ finishes, but she did fail the Drop on Recall, something she's been steady w/ but taking ~2 steps prior to dropping, so not totally unexpected. Would have been in the mid-high 180's had she dropped.

Today she dropped, but did some auto finishes on the retrieves that cost us several points--- but she Q'd w/ a 181, got a 3rd place and high scoring Lab in Trial (and cute lab puppy puppet toy)! Yea!!!!!!

Now we know what we have to work harder on in the coming weeks and will likely wait til early June to trial again, but it's nice to have Q#1 under our belts! I am shooting to have Tango ready for Nov obed ring in early June too, but we'll see.... she's still pretty young but she gave me some hope yesterday that she is maturing a little.

Both enjoyed the venue alot and can't say there was much stress showing if any! Anne

**debjen** · 04-18-2011, 01:13 AM

Congrats Anne very nice weekend

**Milesmom** · 04-18-2011, 05:00 AM

Wow! Congrats on a great weekend!

**MicksMom** · 04-18-2011, 08:09 AM

Great job! Congratulations!

**deidra** · 04-18-2011, 08:13 AM

Congrats!

**applessshch** · 04-18-2011, 03:26 PM

Congratulations, those are great scores. Yes, anticipation can be quite the pesky thing once the dog says "oh, I know what's next" without any clues. I tell mine "Don't be so helpful next time!" laughing because, of course, they don't understand.

**windycanyon** · 04-19-2011, 09:42 AM

Originally Posted by applessshch

Congratulations, those are great scores. Yes, anticipation can be quite the pesky thing once the dog says "oh, I know what's next" without any clues. I tell mine "Don't be so helpful next time!" laughing because, of course, they don't understand.

Thanks-- I always seem to have the anticipation issue w/ my youngsters.

I'll just quit doing finishes for a while in training, and it seems to help a bit. Kiku will actually go on the judges verbal (if they use verbals), lol. Always a work in progress! Kiku will be generation 5 CDX for me on that "branch" of the family tree.

**2yellowlabs** · 04-20-2011, 10:24 AM

Nice weekend and sounds like you enjoyed it as much as your pups. That's half the battle. Impressive that your one year old is doing so well - I don't think I could have shown mine at that young age with such good results.

**windycanyon** · 04-20-2011, 10:59 AM

Originally Posted by 2yellowlabs

Nice weekend and sounds like you enjoyed it as much as your pups. That's half the battle. Impressive that your one year old is doing so well - I don't think I could have shown mine at that young age with such good results.

I'm trying to have my youngsters ready for Rally by ~1 yo now so we can go right into Nov Obed w/in a few months. I think it helps them thru their adolescent phases, seems to strengthen that bond w/ me a lot. This particular show had a nice set up for Rally so there wasn't alot of traffic for dogs to have to deal with outside the rings, etc. It was just a more laid back feeling. The obed bldg isn't as nice-- small, crowded and stuffy-- so I was VERY happy that Kiku wasn't fazed in the least! I think it helped that I was running from Rally to it, so we weren't stuck in there for very long before going in for our runs in Open. I think it was a better crowd of handlers this year too. Last year there were some cranky people w/ cranky dogs. Glad they stayed home this year!!!