Friday was the beginning of the AKC Apple Blossom Cluster. It was our first time in Rally Advanced (A). The course was relatively simple, but Kenya and I had never done a jump on a course before, only practiced it by itself a few times. That, and it was a solid wall type jump, not a bar. No biggie for me, but you just never know what will scare a dog in the ring. Well, we breezed through the course and placed first!!
Then in the evening we went over to a different town for training with our new Schutzhund club. It's at Kenya's breeder's facility and she had a dog that needed to do bite work to prepare for her breed survey. Our training director is a police dog trainer so he worked Julie's dog, then us newbies got to wear the sleeve. He said he would use his dog b/c he trusted that she would bite lower on the sleeve. So my first time wearing a sleeve doing ANY form of bite work and where does the dog bite? My elbow and upper arm! Oops! So I have some bruises there and the initial bite in the unprotected area of the sleeve was a bit of a shock but it was still fun. I did a second turn and she did a bark and hold type exercise. It wasn't as scary as I thought it would be, maybe b/c I trusted this dog and the trainer, but it was kind of hard to know how to stand, when to turn, etc and the trainer was yelling instructions but the dog was barking so I didn't really hear.
Saturday we went back to the dog show and got another decent course except a 180 degree pivot left, which is hard for me to do without a dog at my side, lol! We did OK again, but were the last to go so the judge called the qualifiers back in and I was still waiting for a score. She said I qualified so we quick scooted in the ring. Then she called the winning dog and my friend said "that's your number!" so we won again! That win was on time b/c we tied with someone else.
This morning was our last day, lots of pressure b/c of the winning streak and wanting the title. The course was very hard. There was a panel jump and that thing with treats and toys on the floor. In Excellent A, only ONE dog even qualified! Kenya's breeder was there to cheer us on and take pictures. Despite both of us being dead tired, Kenya was quite lively in the ring, hehe, and got ahead of me a few times but I always say I'd much rather loose points for her being too excited than having a dog that's totally checked out (as many were since it was the third day of showing). We did Q and got second place.
One thing I'm really happy about is not the wins and title, but on Friday night I was mentioning to our SchH club trainer that Kenya and I are doing the ATTS TT in July and I was concerned b/c the tester is a police dog trainer and Kenya is more of a shy, submissive dog. Our trainer said he knew this guy and seemed to think well of him and he also said that if Kenya behaves and reacts as she has during our club training, he is confident she will easily pass. Phew, that's a big weight off my shoulders! I've been worried about the TT b/c it's not something we can "train" for.
So now Kenya is U-CH Alta Tollhaus Krieger Lamb Chop RA CGC
LOL, it's funny reading this b/c I've had Kenya less than a year and started rally in the fall of 2007 and had NO idea what it was! Luanne from this board actually got me to try the intro class. I thought it sounded pretty dumb, but figured I needed all the training experience I could get, Kenya being my first dog.
The new title is RA which stands for Rally Advanced. The first level is Novice where the dog is on a leash. Advanced is the second level and the dog is off leash, plus there are some more difficult exercises used (jumping, left pivots, fronts and finishes with no stepping/shuffling of feet allowed, food and toys on the floor...). The third level is Excellent, also off leash and even harder exercises like the dog heeling backwards, moving stand-stay, etc. To get a title, you need to get a qualifying score three times. There's 100 points total and you need 70 to qualify. You can also disqualify if you do certain things, regardless of score (for example, a dog running out of the ring, skipping/missing an exercise....today a handler was NQed b/c she verbally corrected the dog and it cowered for half a second).
The green ribbons are ones you get if you receive a qualifying score, so you get one even if you didn't place 1-4th. The other colors are placements. The big ribbon we got when we received the Novice title. Today they didn't have any title ribbons, boo.
Re: 3 RA legs, new title, placements, and bite wor
Congrats to Lies and Kenya. With Kenya's previous show experiences and Lies' excellent handling, it was a match made in Heaven! They really are neat to watch.
How are your Friday night injuries doing? Starting to change all kinds of interesting colors yet?
Re: 3 RA legs, new title, placements, and bite wor
Thanks Lu now where's your brag thread? Gracie looked really good today!
My leg looks like leopard print except it's purple/black on flesh color, lol. I think my arm is as bad as it will get (not too bad) but the bruises on my leg are still rising. It might turn out like when I was bit/shook at the shelter and I had a subcutaneous rainbow!
Re: 3 RA legs, new title, placements, and bite wor
Ha ha, very funny. You don't get a brag thread for an NQ! There were 9 of us I think and she NQ'd 4. The winner in Novice A had an 85?
Yeah, those leg bruises seem to hang on for a bit. I've had Hunter jump and hold on a few times and gave me bruises that I still have small remants of...it was quite awhile ago!
What a great weekend and good job done by the both of you! So many ribbons with wonderful photos. I love this statement:
Quote: I'd much rather loose points for her being too excited than having a dog that's totally checked out (as many were since it was the third day of showing).
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