Obedience Fun Match

The was an obedience fun match tonight at the same place where our rally trial on Friday will be.

My general feeling with the night is disappointment. I think it was because of the way the judge was critiquing. Now don't get me wrong - I am there to learn and soak up information, and I really truly appreciate those people and especially the judges who volunteer their time to run these fun matches. But I think her criticism could have been delivered a little more constructively at times - I mean, this is supposed to be helpful AND fun. She made me feel like I was training my dog all wrong.

Sits/downs - The judge went longer than the 1 minute/3 minute. She did 1.5 mins/3.5 mins. Red was competely fine, no problems. Except when I went back to him after the down and was going around him, the judge said he very slightly picked up his right elbow. I didn't see it, but I will be watching that from now on.

On-leash Heel - Just ok. Not horrible but not wonderful. His attention could have been a bit better. The judge said our slow was not slow enough. In an effort to walk in a straighter line, I tried to keep my head up as much as possible and aim for a spot to walk at, so I think I did better with that.

Figure 8 - Not bad. I thought we did ok, though he bumped into me a few times. For some reason during the middle of the exercise, the judge told me I could correct him during fun matches. I didn't respond considering I didn't know what she was referring to correcting.

Stand for Exam - I didn't notice this until the judge pointed it out, but I said "stay" as I was taking my hand off his shoulders to position him. I need to make sure my hands are completely off him before I give the command. Also (and I also didn't see this at the time), the judge said when I returned to him and walked around behind him, he lifted his right front paw slightly. I saw it in the video when I watched it back. Will have to keep an eye for this. Michelle also said afterwards that the SFE seemed rushed. She said don't be afraid to really take my time and position him before leaving, because he seemed like he was in an awkward position and that may have been why he shifted a paw.

Between the STE and and the heel off leash, Red completely tarted out and tried to leave the ring, and then wouldn't get re-focused. Gave him a very firm correction with the choke and he snapped back into reality at that point.

Heel on Leash - After his correction, he sat in heel position waiting to go forward. I waited, and the judge just stood there and looked at me. Then moved her mouth - it was noisy in there and not being able to hear real well, I thought she said forward. I started forward and she snapped "I didn't say forward." Jesus Christ, lady - get your shit together and lets GO. She said forward and this heeling wasn't too bad. He stayed with me in better heel position, but his focus was not there. There were a couple crooked sits at the halts as well.

Recall - Michelle told me that I could tell the judge that I'm not going all the way down since we have been working on straight fronts and Red has been doing better with shorter distances. I told the judge this and she proceeded in a dissertation about why I shouldn't do that, and I am training it all wrong. I am very annoyed with her at this point. I know she's trying to help, but please let me do this run that I paid for, in my own way, and you can critique it afterwards. In the end, I did it anyway. I went about halfway. I called, "Red, front!" and he came in pretty straight. Apparantly I thought it should be straighter so I backed up a step to lure him into it straighter, then he went around to finish himself for some reason. So that was my fault, I should've just taken the front he gave me. I have been saying "front" instead of come, because he seems to understand where front position is, and has been coming in straighter for me. The judge proceeded to tell me I shouldn't say front and I should use a different word.

I was very disappointed with the judge's behavior during my run. I wish she'd just let me run it how we trained for it, and then critiqued what we would have lost points on afterwards, and then give pointers on how to correct those areas. I don't need her to tell me I'm using the wrong words or training my dog wrong. By the end of our run, I thought we did horribly because of the judge's constant sniping - though Michelle said it wasn't as bad as I thought. I think it was because I was being beaten down by the judge the whole time which made it seem bad.

Anyway, that was that. I was thinking about running again, but it would've been too late and I didn't want to miss Michelle's run with Maisy because I wanted to video it for her.

So our next big day is Friday! Hopefully g et our first Advanced Rally leg! I hope Red doesn't tart out in the ring like he did during the fun match, but I think he should be ok.

My epiphany for the night: I have been MAJORLY slacking in Red's training and need to buckle down again. I lost a lot of working practice during the winter because our house is too small to really work or heel in, and it had been too cold to do anything outside. And I can only take him to stores or often to practice. Now that its warmer out, I will resume our more rigorous training on a daily basis.

GOALS:

1. Focused heeling. I need constant eye contact. Michelle suggested changing his training now so the word "heel" means in heel position WITH eye contact. Start fading out "watch" for this reason. I think the lack of eye contact is the root of most of our problems in the ring, and by fixing this, other things will work itself out.

2. Straight fronts for recall. This is a continued work in progress.

3. Enthusiam to WANT to work. I am hoping this will come along with getting into a more structured training schedule again.

4. Distraction training. Michelle thinks that even training at Bass Pro is not enough distraction for him. We need to go somewhere with a lot of noise and action. There are a couple outdoor malls in the area that allow dogs, so I am thinking of going somewhere like that to do some work.