A Dork and A Star

This morning we drove out to Cowley where SAWDA was hosting an Obedience and Rally fun match. I went out for the Obedience portion because I wanted to try Bosley in Open. We have never done a complete run through of Open so I really wanted to see where he is at. I almost left Maggie at home, but then I decided to bring her - I figured she could try novice - I would just need to keep it fun for her and take her out of the ring if she started to stress and shut down.

Bosley is a Dork. That is a Dork with a capital "D". We really need to work on distractions and we need to get out and train in new places. I don't know if it is stress that causes his gawky-ness or if we just need to do more proofing (or a combination). I can't wait until the weather gets better and we can train at the park. Anyway, Bosley was so busy looking at things and not focusing on me that I was a bit frustrated. His heeling was laggy, especially on the outside turn of the figure 8. When heeling, I like my dogs to be looking up at me and when they just plod along beside me, I get a bit stressed. It took Bosley about half the heeling pattern before he actually looked at me. On a positive note, his retrieving was good - we have done little retrieving in new places, so I was pleased. He NQd the broad jump - he ran up to it and stopped like he didn't know what to do next. I took him back and ran with him once and then reset him and he did it fine. The out of sights stays were perfect - this is the first time we have practiced out of sights in a new place so I was pleased. So I was a bit frustrated - I know Bosley has the skills and working ability to do well in Open, but his easily distracted boy brain seems to cause us some problems.

Maggie was a Star today. That is a Star with a capital "S"! She was up, up, up for her whole novice routine. Her heeling was perfect - happy, totally focused, tail wagging, tight turns - perfect! (The heeling pattern was long too - and with 4 halts.) She did an auto finish on the recall, but everything else was bang on. She finished with a score of 196 and second place. Yay for Maggie! No signs of stress in the ring and when we were leaving to go home, she tried to run back to the ring area (hopefully that is a good sign).

(Thanks to Maureen for the great pictures!)

There is another fun match next weekend - so we will go try this all over again. If I can keep Maggie happy in the ring, I will be happy. If I can get Bosley to focus a bit more, I will be happy. Isn't dog training fun!?!