Jon and Beanie and Ronin and Callie

On August 19 Ronin took First Place in Utility B at the Belgian Tervuren Specialty All-breed Obedience Trial in Greeley, Colorado.  This earned him 4 OTCH Points (Obedience Trial Champion Points).  He went down on the Sit-Stay so we didn't qualify in Open B that day.

Today (September 12) Ronin took Fourth Place in Utility B at the Evergreen Kennel Club Obedience Trials in Greeley. This was particularly satisfying because he's been having problems with the "go-outs" for the Directed Jumping. We practiced a lot yesterday with really long go-outs to a toy with a treat on it.  Two practices, one early in the afternoon and one just before sundown seemed to help.  We did many go-outs, with and without jumps, at various distances from 25 feet to 75 feet in various orientations (directions).  Today he had fairly good go-outs, but he was slow and he was the one who chose the distance. I had to quickly give a "Sit" command before he turned and sat.  We still need to work on that. We concentrated on distance, and I have been giving him treats at the farthest extent of the go-out.  So now I need to keep him heading out to that distance but call him to Sit before he turns.  And if he turns, I need to let him know that he needs to keep going until I say Sit.  Today we got by with points off and I was happy enough that we qualified. 

Again today Ronin went down on the Sit-Stay.  It is really hard to fix this; he is so consistently good in practices and our informal fun matches.  Since we can't correct the dogs or even let them know they've done wrong, it is quite difficult to fix this once the dog gets it in his head that it is OK to go down on Sit-Stay in the ring during competition.  There is a training session on Tuesday nights in Longmont at the Boulder County Fairgrounds where a ring is set up and we're allowed to purchase time for a drop-in.  I'm going there in hopes that the ring situation in the same building as the trials are held (big Exhibit Hall with tall ceilings, ring gates, and such) will induce him to break a Sit-Stay so I can let him know that is a no-no.

In any case, next weekend is the Flatirons Kennel Club Obedience Trial there at the Exhibit Hall at Boulder County Fairgrounds, so I hope we can get some more go-outs and Sit-Stays.

This assumes that there aren't refugees from the Four-Mile Canyon Wildfire staying at the Exhibit Hall--there were some the first few days.  Today the fire looked as if it had picked up and was burning again, although it has been reported to be under control.  On the drive back to Fort Collins from Greeley, a large area of the foothills near Boulder was sending up a lot of smoke.

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OK, this is a new wildfire, the Reservoir Road Wildfire, west of Loveland. This fire is about 1000 acres and has consumed at least 2 homes.  Evacuees are in Loveland.  So far this wildfire is completely not contained.  And another grassland wildfire was reported near Arvada in grassland.  I'm canceling my plan to take the dogs on a mountain hike--it is simply too dry.

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It was a very weird day at the obedience trial. A friend's dog was in 2 dogs before us in Utility B stopped with diarrhea right in front of the jump.  That took some cleaning. While Ronin and I were doing the Signal Exercise a dog in the next ring went rather berserk and started aggressively growling.  I was busy, so I didn't see what was going on but when we finished the handler, judge and a ring steward all had the dog pinned to the mat.  We were given a few minutes break between exercises as they removed the dog from the building. After we were done, the next dog went in and one of the ring stewards started into the ring too early and tried to back out quickly, tripped on Onofrio's lousy mat, fell and knocked herself unconscious. Paramedics were there quickly and they kept her down until a fire engine and ambulance came to take her to hospital. That took another 20 to 30 minutes.  Then another dog was excused for aggression. What a day for the poor judges.

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!

Ronin took Second Place in Utility B both days, gaining Three (3) more OTCH (Obedience Trial CHampion) points! He was so good!  But it was a long day both days.  The first day in Open B he didn't Drop On Recall and went down on Sit-Stay. The second day he went down on Sit-Stay. Arghh! Back to the practice routines: sit-stays on the bed, couch, late in the day, long time out of site, and so on.

We had a good time.  The facilities, judges, host club, and competitors were the best.  We had B Matches (practice matches) Friday and Saturday night that were really helpful.

Ronin won two new squeaky toys, and this was the most important thing for him all weekend.

OK, Ronin, you little doggie! Ronin passed Utility B fine--not brilliantly, but good enough. I was having a hard time working smoothly. I wasn't awake enough (no coffee) and I'm suffering from dry eye.  Nevertheless Ronin was one of five dogs that qualified in a field of twelve.  Then he went through Open B like he should--he's got all that down pretty well. Then. He. Went. Down. On. A. Sit. Stay. AGAIN.  This time he was down before I had left the ring with the other exhibitors. ARG. 

We've really been working on the sit-stays, too.

He did this after a great practice in the park Thursday.  In the park there were two little kids watching us practice.  When I had Ronin on a sit-stay, I was 15 meters away behind a car.  The two kids wandered over and sat beside him and started petting him.  He sat during the entire experience although he would rather have wiggled free, shook his tail, and kissed the kids.  He was so good, he sat during the entire time until I returned and released him.

So today we got together again with some friends at a park and ran through all the exercises for Open and Utility.  And he did many long sit-stays. He did them alone. He did them with other dogs. He did them with people and dogs walking around him. He did them with other dogs doing down stays.  No Problem.

Tomorrow, we'll try again.

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.

Saturday. OK, Ronin, you dork! ;^) He started to come back instead of sitting on "go-out" to first jump so I had to give a second "sit" command and that was a Non-Qualify for Utility (a.k.a. humility, a.k.a. futility). He was wonderful in Open but he was popping up and down at his own whim during both the sit-stay and the down-stay, so he NQ'd Open also. We fixed the "drop on recall" so I was grateful for his efforts today.

After flunking I was practicing sit-stays and down-stays with Ronin in an enclosed cabana (belonging to the Obedience Chairperson) beside the 4H building. I put him on a sit-stay and then volunteered to help pack up some other folks who were leaving to return to Utah. As I carried some equipment to their van, I saw Ronin had broken the stay and was investigating an empty dog crate. When I returned from the van, Ronin had popped back out of the crate and had returned to the sit-stay position and was innocently gazing about as if he hadn't moved! It cracked me up. I was later able to "catch" him moving out of position and surprised him with a "Hey, you-are-on-a-sit-stay!" (Ronin had an "Ooops" look, so I know it got to him). We did that some more with both sits and downs. Finally he was able to hold the stays for well beyond the required time.

Ronin got to watch a very cute Miniature Bull Terrier puppy (such as this) during his stays so it wasn't too awful for him.

Ronin also got to watch one of his breeder-brothers in the Conformation Ring. Except Ronin got bored and laid out on the floor with his butt to the ring. His breeder-brother did take a couple of good looks at Ronin as he went by--I hope this didn't detract too much. He was looking good, Andrea!

The American Belgian Tervuren Club had a Specialty Show today and with it held an all-breed Obedience Trial. AKC Judge Mrs. Linda Scanlon had 56 entries to judge--she was the only judge for all the regular classes. We didn't start until 12:00 (noon) so she was still going when we left after 6:00 p.m. The venue was at the Island Grove Regional Park in Greeley, Colorado. Obedience was in the 4H building, as usual. Most of the time there was only one ring going, so there were no distractions, no dogs in other rings, no barking, no loud noises, really a quiet situation. Probably too quiet for most dogs--when there was something happening it drew the dogs attention away from the task at hand.

Ronin is after another UDX leg, which means he must qualify in both Utility B and Open B at the same trial. Utility B went fairly well for us (we qualified). Ronin's "go around" finishes were non-existent, he went part way around and stopped, staring off into the distance as if the rest of the world held too much of interest to come around and sit at heel. The "swing" finishes were OK. He did everything fairly well except his "go-outs" for the directed jumping. He went out straight, but slowed and was about to stop prior to my command. He didn't go out far enough, so he lost 6 points on each go-out. Plus 2 points off on each finish. gah! But he came in Fourth Place out of 14 entries (2 were absent so only 12 competed).

In Open B he should have done really well. He is solid there (right). He did NOT drop on recall--I had to give a second command so that gave us an NQ (Non-Qualify) for that and thus for Open B. Then he perked up and did very nicely, losing only 5 points for the other exercises. Until out-of-sight stays. He did the down stay first, no problem. Then on the sit stay he went down at 1:57. Some other dogs went down before, but a friend said Ronin didn't pay attention to them, he just went down on his own. GAH!

He's done go-outs, drop-on-recalls, out-of-sight stays solidly for weeks, with and without distraction. Some days, that's just the way it goes.

The fun part was there was a Belgian Terverun and handler who place high in both Utility B and Open B, finished her (the dog's) UDX Title, got First Place in Open B, and got High Combined Score! And this was at the Belgian Terverun Specialty! There weren't any catalogs available so I don't know who it was. I'll come back and edit this entry later when the results show up on the AKC website.

Lots of familiar dogs and handlers. Some new people also. In all it was a very nice day. I'm looking forward to tomorrow when we will be in the Irish Setter Club's Specialty and all-breed Obedience Trial.

Foiled again. Hey, there were BIRDS in the horse arena!! The wonderful smelling and cool packed earth made everything smooth and fast. But Ronin pretty much ignored the birds and did quite well. Well, except for the short second go-out in Directed Jumping... and the subsequent NQ for not going over the high jump. Many dogs missed it today, dunno why. Even an OTCH UDX2 dog missed it.

In Open B, Ronin did a respectable 190 of 200 (beaten out by two 199s, two 197s, and other higher scores), but I was pleased. He very much enjoyed the day and went at everything with enthusiasm and a happy attitude. We had a good time.

Ronin spent some time meeting other dogs and many people. Several people had their human-pups along and Ronin thinks they are the greatest. Ronin is an asset to Doggies Everywhere and tries to put the best paw forward as an ambassador from the AKC to the world.

Back again tomorrow for another try at a UDX leg.