Quote:
Originally Posted by doberkim  congrats on the first leg! yay, and a placement! no pics of him and his ribbons??? |
Need to iron them first, I was all over the place at the trial.
Quote:
Originally Posted by doberkim what a great venue - was there a breed show associated with it? the rings are nice and big, the venue is VERY quiet, there's virtually NO traffic - you couldn't ask for a better debut location for a novice dog/handler!!! and its indoors - was it air conditioned? if so, id keep that on my locations of places to show in the future - thats a great set up, was crating nice? |
It was a fantastic venue, Queeny Park in St. Louis. Lots of outside room to walk dogs and the trial was held in an ice rink. It was actually freezing in there! Dogs were in heaven, but I forgot my jacket. <g> Crating was a bit tough because it was just along the edges of the walls. You could sit with your dog though, and there was room for everyone. Just lots of foot traffic right next to crates.
Quote:
Originally Posted by doberkim you probably lost a few points for tight leashes, nothing major on the actual rally course - but maybe a crooked sit and OOP - but your leash was really short and he got a few TL's repeatedly around the course, so i bet that is what did you in. i'd definitely give him a much looser lead in the future and you will probably have a much higher score!
prenovice, let me know if you want some tips later on - right now focus on the fun rally performance |
I absolutely want tips, if for nothing else than to have them. Heck, feel free to post them here, no feelings hurt from me!
Quote:
Originally Posted by doberkim one thing i will comment on is something near and dear to my heart - for the safety of everyone, please NEVER let your dog make eye contact with another dog during the sits and downs and maintain it - he really got the rottie going and thats how the entire line can break and lead to a dog fight - they were just playing in this instance but its a major safety issue (and once a dog is attacked during the stays, its a VERY hard issue to work through - ive been working stay issues for over a year and its the most frustrating thing and its whats been holding us back from competing).its nice when everyone is on leash, but eye contact and staring down a dog like they did in the down, is just asking for trouble. |
You are SO right. You can kinda see me wiggling the lead as soon as he started staring in an effort to break the stare. I didn't know what to do at that point. I kept looking over at the judge to see if he would excuse me, but I guess he thought it was nice proofing for everyone else? I wasn't sure if I should call him, or go get him, or leave, or what. You can see that when they continue staring when he is with me, that I put a hand in front of his face to prevent it. I understand that it should never ever have happened, and I have given W a basic idea that if he feels the lead wiggle he is to refocus, but he was just bored as heck. I love my dog.
If that had happened in class, you can bet that I would go reset him. I just wasn't sure what the ring etiquette for that was. Thank you for bringing that to everyone's attention though, it is very very important!