Jon and Beanie and Ronin and Callie

I should have put an emphasis on the "ha ha" about Ronin's mastery of Stays yesterday. Today he passed Utility B, doing better than yesterday, but with short (but longer than yesterday) "go outs".  In Open B, he did all the exercises really well; we had a 195 going into the Stays. He did the Drop-on-recall, which he missed yesterday. But he went DOWN on the SIT-STAY. Argh!

All the practice yesterday after the trial did correct or improve the problem areas he had yesterday. But like the game "Whak-A-Mole" another problem popped up: the infamous Sit-Stays.  We did practice that, and he seemed to understand--never a problem in practice. But in the Ring...

Anyway, we had a great time.  He really enjoyed being there at the trials, and had a lot of fun in the ring.

Tomorrow there is another Obedience Trial, and we shall try again.  Put it all together, Ronin!

Half way through two days of obedience trials at Evergreen Colorado Kennel Club dog show in Greeley, Colorado.  First day was weird, I think Ronin needed his coffee LOL. First exercise in both Utility and Open classes he just sat/stood there staring.

First exercise in Utility B was Scent Discrimination. He turned and went out to the pile of articles really nicely. Then he walked over them and stood, staring off into the distance, not even sniffing for the proper article. I had to give a second command and that flunked the day. He got both articles (no problem) once he woke up. His go-outs for the Directed Jumping were precisely as they were the last few times--short and no sit. He took the wrong jump.

First exercise in Open B was a simple Retrieval On The Flat (fetch a dumbbell). I *think* I clearly, loudly, succinctly said "Ronin, Take It!" but he just sat there staring at the dumbbell.  Again I had to give a second command and he did the exercise.  Then *again* he went down on the Out Of Site Sit Stay.  This is after working on it all week.

These "errors off the starting block" got me rattled, but by then we'd flunked so everything after that was "for practice" anyway.

I need to have him *awake* when we start. Maybe I need to bring a squirrel along for him to see just before we go in the ring.

Ronin Looked almost good otherwise. Judges complimented us on his heeling patterns. We took time afterward to meet friends at a park and do some run-through sessions.  We'll try again tomorrow.

P.S. Three of Dr. Gail Clark's students (and their owners) were invited to the (Eukanuba) National Obedience Invitational this year (including Ronin), so she must be doing something right! Today we learned that Gail and her Portuguese Water Dog Ship were also invited.