Disclaimer

This is a personal weblog based on my life with Bernese Mountain Dogs. The opinions expressed here represent my own and and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of any clubs, organizations or committees that I may be associated with. Please feel free to comment on any post, but profane, abusive or rude comments will not be tolerated - please be polite, even if you disagree.
All photos and posts in this blog are the property of the blog author and may not be used without direct consent.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Weekend Details

I couldn't have been more pleased with how Bosley worked during the entire draft test on Friday.  His off-leash heeling was very good - especially considering we were outside.  He got a couple nice comments from the judges on his heeling as well as his "halts" and his back-up from the basic cart control section of the test.  
For the freight haul, the judges have the option of judging each dog individually or doing a group freight haul.  Due to the large number of entries, they opted for the group haul.  This means that 3 dogs go at a time and each take a turn at being the dog in the front, in the middle and in the back.  You are not allowed to pass the dog in front of you, which means you must adjust your pace to the lead team. I was a bit worried about this, as the first section was all downhill and Bosley loves to try to run down the hills and we were in the middle position to start.  I made sure I left a lot of room between us and the lead dog and made Bosley go SLOW down the hill.  He listened very well and we had no problems.  The dog behind us however would not slow down and the handler had to grab him to keep him from running into us (an automatic fail).  At first I felt bad that they failed because we were going so slow, but draft work is really all about control and control is essentially what determines a pass or fail.
There was one section of the test that got many dogs, especially the non-traditional drafting breeds entered (a Standard Poodle, a Portuguese Water Dog and a Rough Collie).  The dogs had to pull their loaded cart (40 pounds) straight up a hill, stop, make a sharp left turn a go straight down the side of the hill.  Many dogs refused to do the hill or could not get enough momentum going up the hill and the loaded cart would just pull them back down.  It was too bad, as many of these dogs tried so hard but they just couldn't make it.
Overall, I thought it was a very good test.  Lots of challenges but not impossible.  The judges were great and everyone was very encouraging.  I met some great Berner people too!!

Bosley was #7 in the test.  They had very cute placards to put on the back of our cart for the test.

I think I will leave my license plate on.


Maggie and Bosley were also entered in agility over the weekend.  Bosley got the last "Q" needed to finish his AgXS title.  He had a couple other really nice runs.  We had some miscommunication on a couple other runs.  Overall, I was happy.  He was very slow in the weaves - trying to be careful and adjust to the 24" spacing.  By the end of the weekend he was figuring it out.

Maggie made it very clear to me that she was not happy that I was making her jump 20".  She cannot jump 16" in CKC until she is 7 years old.  I pulled her from her runs on Sunday and I pulled her entry from a CKC trial in July.  If she is not happy, I am not going to force her to play.

5 comments:

  1. I love the license plate! You have to leave it there for sure. On to the DDX? Do you need some freight? Jane and Gyp are itching to go for another ride, heck maybe Kaleb too :)

    Congrats on finishing his AGXS title too, and good for you recognizing that the height was too much for Maggie - especially since you can see how good 16" is for her now.

    ReplyDelete
  2. super cool Kim!!, I wonder who the collie was?, do you have a catologue?
    Congrats on your AGXS!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a great informative post. So interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wonderful post, Kim! Bosley looks SOOO good hooked up to his cart and with all his ribbons! Well done!
    I have such great respect for you and others like you who recognize the limits of their dog (i.e. Maggie and her jumps)and who would rather give up a potential title than to destroy the "fun" part of doing things with the dog. Kudos to you my friend!
    Rick

    ReplyDelete
  5. Congrats!!! Its sounds like you guy did awesome. Great training. Diana

    ReplyDelete