2nd Obedience Trial this Weekend - Novice A

Another beautiful day! What a gorgeous Labor Day weekend!

Our second obedience trial of the weekend was today - same time, same place. I wasn't as nervous for today as I was yesterday. I mean, it can't be any worse, right??

Michelle called me before we left the house and told me that when she went into the ring with Delilah (she was showing for Dawn) for rally today, who the judge that NQ'd me from yesterday was judging, the judge told them to be really careful about giving your dog treats before coming into the ring because she had to NQ a girl yesterday for it and she felt really bad, but didn't have a choice.

Then when I got there today and walked into the building to set up my stuff, that judge walked straight up to me and asked very sympathetically asked how I was doing after yesterday. I said I was fine, and she was very sincere when she said that she was so sorry about yesterday and she was thinking about me last night and felt really terrible, but there are just some rules you can't get around. I told her I completely understood and it just wasn't meant to be - its not her fault - it was just one of those freak things. She said she's only had that happen twice (counting me and Red) in her whole judging career. (yay me, lol)! She was really nice and complimented me again on how great of a job we did and what a great dog Red is. Then we chatted about the weather a little - she flew in from Minnesota to judge this weekend - and that was that.

I'm really glad I got to talk to her - she is genuinely a nice lady and really didn't have a choice. I feel bad for feeling upset about the whole thing. And Michelle pointed out that at least it happened for our 1st leg rather than our 3rd! That would've REALLY sucked if I thought we were going to finish our title, then that happened. So if it had to happen, it happened at the right time, I guess.

After I got everything all set up, I had at least 3 other people approach me and commented about how it was so horrible yesterday and wished me luck today. Even one of the stewards came up to me and said the judge felt really bad about it, and even scored us and we got a 190. And she said she was afraid I would be so disheartened that I would give up and not come today. But of course that wouldn't happen! Anyway, it's nice to know the score after the fact, even though we NQ'd.

Anyway, it's over and done and now I know how it feels to NQ. Onward!

So I brought Red in and got him situated in the crate and watched them finish up the Open classes. All the same faces from yesterday. As I was sitting there chatting with Michelle and Dawn, I was thinking that it was really nice that so many people were rooting for Red and I, and I felt like we HAD to qualify this time or I wouldn't be the only disappointed one!

After Novice B, the judge brought the 3 Novice A people in for their "walkthrough" which is more of a briefly than an actual walkthrough. The heeling pattern was the same as yesterday - so that was good.

Red and I were the last team to go again, so when the team in front of us (Dawn and Atticus) started, I got Red out and started feeding hotdog bits for focus. As they were finishing their recall, I fed Red the last treat. Just to be sure he had swallowed it and wasn't going to cough it up again, I walked him in a couple circles and beat on his chest a little, LOL. Then I was satisfied. I had horrible deja vu as we walked to the starting point. "oh god PLEASE don't choke!!" But he didn't and he sat very nicely in heel position.

Off we went for the on-leash heel and wouldn't you know that he completely blew the first halt/sit. WTF??? Don't do this to me, dog! But he was fine after that. I didn't look at him at all during the heeling. I just kept my faith that he was with me - and apparently he was. He had a really slooow sit on the last halt but finally did do it before the jude ended the exercise.

I set ourselves up at the wrong set of marks on the floor for the figure 8, and didn't realize it til I looked up and the posts were off to my right. Whoops! The figure 8 was ok - a little more bumping than yesterday, but still acceptale, and his sits at the halts were nice.

The stand for exam was fine. I thought his left rear foot was out kinda far, and for a split second I thought about fixing it, but I know from experience that if I tried to move it manually, it would throw him off and he would be more likely to break the stay. So I left it alone and it proved to be the right decision because he was great.

The off-leash heeling was even better than the on-leash. I still didn't look at him at all and just trusted (and hoped!) that he was staying with me. Nice sits at the halts too.

Last but not least, the dreaded recall. Please just give me a halfway-decent front! And he did! It wasn't as straight as yesterday, but definitely better than he had been giving me in training. Since his right finish after the recall yesterday sucked (was crooked and behind me), I finished him left this time and it was very nice.

Yay! We did it! Off to give him his jackpot! Not much to time though, because they were setting up for sits/downs now. Since the Novice A & B classes were smaller, they combined them for sits/downs like yesterday. I normally cross my arms and slightly cross my ankles for the sits/downs as sort of a non-verbal cue that I will not be calling him out of stay, but I don't think I will be crossing my ankles anymore because I was so nervous that I almost fall over, LOL. Plus Michelle said to just stand normal with my arms crossed in case the judge gets funny about the way you stand. So anyway, he was great for both the sit and the down, and that was it!

We got a 192.5 total score out of 200, and got 1st place in our class - which, granted, only had 3 people in it, but we qualified and that's all that matters!! First leg down, and 2 more to go! =)

Here's the video, complete with abbreviated sits/downs and ribbons: