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Holy crap this was a big "dog" weekend for me!
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
Pics:
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Video of me getting bit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JANzEXImbB0
Next weekend is our herding instinct test, then the weekend after that is Therapy Dog International test....
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
Pics:
Video of me getting bit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JANzEXImbB0
Next weekend is our herding instinct test, then the weekend after that is Therapy Dog International test....
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