[MrsBoats]

So today is my 40th birthday.

Lars says Happy Birthday mom!!! He gave me a High in Trial and a first place in Open A Obedience (our 2nd leg) with a score of 197 out of 200!! :rockon: We showed under Celeste Meade who loved Lars' drive and we got the highest score out of everyone in the obedience show!!! Holy Smokes!!!!!!!

This thing that blew my mind was there were breed rings right next to the obedience rings with bitches in season all over that building. My intact boy was ALL business and worked his butt off for me despite the "distractions"

God...I love, love, love this dog!!!! Good Boy Lars!!!!!!

My friend videoed our run in sections. When I get that put all together, I'll post the final video for you guys. :wink:

 

[MrsBoats]

Got it! Here you guys go...Mr. Lars hard at work today. Thanks to my college BFF who was visiting from CO, she videoed the run for us!! Her camera totally glitched during Lars' heeling pattern and it only caught the last half of the figure 8. We lost only .5 a point for all of heeling...it was really damn awesome!

 

[trainingjunkie]

What an amazing run! Congratulations! That was awesome!

And Happy Birthday! What a great gift!

 

[Poly]

That was one fine run. Where did you lose the three points, if you don't mind my asking?

Have you started training with Lars in Utility? He is definitely ready for it.

 

[petpeeve]

Woo hoo ! way to go, team ! :whoo: you's both should be proud as peacocks ! Very nice run especially amidst all of the distractions present, and a real pleasure to watch.

I'm curious about the where the points were lost too, and whether you'll be going on to Utility as well.


BTW, looked like Lars was saying "mmm ! ice cream !" in the down stay, but remained in place regardless. Earns extra points in my books. :clap2:

 

[Abbylynn]

This was great! I loved how Lars remained alert and watching and waiting in the long down ... looks like the others were about to nap!

Congratulations and Happy Belated Birthday! What a fine Birthday present Lars gave you!

Great job!

 

[MrsBoats]

Thanks for the birthday wishes and the kind comments about my boy!

You know...I never noticed the ice cream people until you guys pointed them out! LOL I saw Lars air scent but didn't look further than him for a reason. That's a hockey rink where we were showing and there was plexiglass between him and the ice cream. So, I never thought to look behind him. LOL

For scoring:

.5 off in heeling - he went a little wide on one dog on the outside go around.
1 off on the Drop on Recall - traveling on the down. That can be hard sometimes for Lars because he's coming at me with so much momentum.
.5 off on the retrieve on the flat - slightly crooked front.
.5 off on the retrieve on over the high jump - slightly crooked front.
.5 off on the broad jump - slightly crooked front.

Yes, the plan is for us to go into utility. We have signals, directed jumping, and the utility stand in place. We're working on gloves and go outs. I've to get my butt in gear and re-start articles. We're going to keep showing in Open B while we're working on Utility. I figure more mileage we have in Open B will be a help when we start the hunt for the UDX. We'll be showing heavily in agility too while working on Utility as well. We'll see where we are next winter and maybe I'll bring him out for his UD.

 

[Finkie_Mom]

WOW! Congrats to you and Lars!!! That video was AWESOME to watch! Can't wait to see him continue in obedience and agility!!!

 

[Poly]

.5 off in heeling - he went a little wide on one dog on the outside go around.
1 off on the Drop on Recall - traveling on the down. That can be hard sometimes for Lars because he's coming at me with so much momentum.

I couldn't see your down signal on the recall, so I didn't pick that one up. Maybe a half-point wide on the figure-8 - or was it eariler in the heeling?

.5 off on the retrieve on the flat - slightly crooked front.
.5 off on the retrieve on over the high jump - slightly crooked front.
.5 off on the broad jump - slightly crooked front.

Yeah - saw those.

Still a fine run.

Yes, the plan is for us to go into utility. We have signals, directed jumping, and the utility stand in place. We're working on gloves and go outs. I've to get my butt in gear and re-start articles. We're going to keep showing in Open B while we're working on Utility. I figure more mileage we have in Open B will be a help when we start the hunt for the UDX. We'll be showing heavily in agility too while working on Utility as well. We'll see where we are next winter and maybe I'll bring him out for his UD.

Good plan.

 

[MrsBoats]

I do a verbal command on the DOR. Lars is the king of anticipation and will follow through on something just as I'm starting the signal. It was loud in there and I belted out "DOWN"...my friend who was taping said it sounded like a gun shot. LOL

The half point on heeling was for a wide turn one of the dog on the outside passes on the figure 8. The heeling pattern itself was perfect. So wished I had gotten it on video. I did have the judge go over where I lost points after our class...so I got this info from her.

I could tell he was just off of center on his front with him in front of me. You've got an super duper eagle eye. I can't see that he was crooked just a hair with his fronts on those videos! And I was there!! ROFL

 

[trainingjunkie]

Still pretty awesome! I was so sure I was ready to trial for our CDX. Now, watching you, I just want to train more! We'd have dropped many more points than you did! You guys looked just great!

 

[petpeeve]

I do a verbal command on the DOR. Lars is the king of anticipation and will follow through on something just as I'm starting the signal. It was loud in there and I belted out "DOWN"...my friend who was taping said it sounded like a gun shot. LOL

Not sure I understand what you mean in the bolded part. I think it's wise to have both a verbal and a signal drop to choose from, the signal can be very useful to have on hand for exactly that application: loud venues. IMO it's a good option to a "gunshot" verbal.

Friendly question ... who was the guy at the front of the return line wearing the blue shirt ? a steward ? Looks to me like he was actually the handler with the black lab. Doesn't a steward usually lead all of the handlers out, and back in again ? Whoever he is, somebody should kindly remind him, "slow leaving, FAST returning". It was painful to watch him meandering his way back LOL, at least from what I'm accustomed to seeing.

I thought the competitor in the green top and black skirt barging through the middle of the return line was kinda bizzare too *shrug*. I wonder if that's what you were thinking too, when she cut right in front of you and you began to smile . No offense to anyone involved, and I certainly don't want to detract from your shining moment.



BTW, in regards to the judge's sharp pencil .. depending on the scores that preceeded maybe she was merely leaving a little elbow room in the marking dep't, in anticipation of the remaining competitors that followed ? Really shouldn't be done that way, but meh, who knows. Regardless, what a glorious moment it must have been ! not only a 197, but a HIT !!! from Open A. So nice to see. A birthday that won't soon be forgotten, I'm sure.

 

[MrsBoats]

If you were interested in the scores for the rest of the trial - http://www.infodog.com/RESULTS/2012164902/201216490290000.HTM there you go! The other scores for Open A were 188, 176.5, 179.5, and 176.5. No one qualified in Open B. Reserve High in Trial went to someone in Utility B with a score of 196 under a completely different judge. They had three different obedience judges for that trial.

That girl who barged in on me...that was a little weird. She was a conformation handler and young...and to her credit, she had probably had no clue as to what we were doing. So...things like that...I just let it go. The guy in the blue shirt was the handler of the black lab. There was a steward...the husband of the judge who is also an obedience judge and judged rally at that same trial in the afternoon. He lead us out and back but he held back on our return. I didn't think that was an abnormal pace...that's usually the pace I've come back to at other trials.

Lars will drop on a hand signal. He's got solid utility signals. But, he's tricky because he's a "do-er". If he sees my body start to move and the arm starts to raise up....he's creeping along the ground before I can push my hand out. In Novice...he would release for his recall with just my shoulders slightly going up for me to take a breath before calling him. Hence the gun shot commands because if he gets any visual movement from me...he's off doing something. I have to be very careful with even finger twitches when I'm calling him into front. If he sees slight movement on me when he's coming in...he'll veer to that side where he saw the movement. He follows my eyes when we're heeling and eyes flicking upward to see where I'm going...that will send him forging ahead. He's an unforgiving dog in both agility and obedience. I have to be 100% perfect in my handling or else he does things that aren't right, but I "asked" him to do. However, he's making me a very aware, precise, and good handler.

I don't know if you know who Celeste Meade is. She's one hard core obedience person...http://www.americank9country.com/ak9c-about.html She's not known to be forgiving as a judge but she is very, very fair. The fact I got only three points off under her...I want to put that up in lights on Broadway! LOL

 

[Poly]

I do a verbal command on the DOR. Lars is the king of anticipation and will follow through on something just as I'm starting the signal...

In Open, you can use either a signal or a command for the 'drop'. A lot of folks use the signal because it gets the dog better prepared for Utility. It starts the dog concentrating on your signaling as well as on your voice. And if you have already taught the drop/down signal, it's just one less thing to teach (and there are a LOT of things to teach for Utility). Anyway, that's the motivation.

 

[MrsBoats]

I'm aware that you can use either a verbal or a hand signal for commands in obedience. I personally prefer a verbal on the DOR. Like I said, he's solid on the utility signal exercise and will drop from the stand on a hand signal (only) there.