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12 May 2007

Back in the Ring

Brac and I took part in our first obedience competition of the year. Yes, I know, it's May already and we've only just started, but those of you who read my blog regularly will know why. Anyway, Brac had clearly missed competing because he was beside himself when we got there. We were drawn first on for one of the classes (we entered two) so we waited at the side of the ring while the judge and steward walked the course. As soon as Brac saw this he started whining because he wanted to be in the ring with them. when it was his turn he almost dragged me in there. So much for obedience. Despite this I thought he worked a good round although he was a little forward of me and he anticipated on one of the exercises, the recall. He did it beautifully but he didn't wait to be asked. Naturally he was marked down for this and his forward working but the judge said she loved his enthusiasm and wished more dogs were that keen.
For the second class he was a little more settled although I didn't think he worked as well in the heelwork. Even so we came joint 2nd with two other handlers so had a run-off for 2nd 3rd & 4th place. In the end we came 3rd out of about 40 dogs in the class so not a bad result and at least we got to go home with a rosette.
He is now crashed out in the hall probably dreaming about all the friends he met.

8 comments:

A Margarita said...

Good job! 3rd out of 40 is pretty darn good and coming off an injury, that's spectacular. He'll be a shoo-in for 1st next time ;)

Sally T said...

Thanks. I think my training this week needs to concentrate on getting his head in gear. He has the attention span of a gnat when he gets all fizzy with excitement. Next show is next Sunday.

Dianne said...

I feel lucky if I can get my dog to come when I call her. If she does, it's only because she wanted to!

Sally T said...

The trick is to use bribery. Give them a tit bit of food when they do what you want (It can come out of their daily food allowance). They get so used to this they eventually respond even when you don't have food. At least that's the idea. It works for kids too :-)

Dianne said...

I believe I have the only fat Italian Greyhound in America! She would do anything for cheese but she's on a diet so no go.

Their personality is a lot like a cat. I guess I'll just let her be as is because she's nearly impossible to train. Thanks for the tip tho!

Sally T said...

The food I feed Brac in training comes out of his daily rations. I give him half his food at breakfast and I use the other half for training. There is usually quite a bit left so he gets that for tea. It's easy for me as I use dried food. It gets more tricky to work out if you feed meat.

Dianne said...

Okay...your dog has tea time? Is that correct? I'm laughing here!

Sally T said...

It's what I sometimes call his dinner :-) It makes it easier for training if I split his feeding into two rather than just once a day.
Breakfast and dinner consists of the same stuff though. He gets it 24/7 but he doesn't seem to mind.