Our First Competition of 2013

This past weekend, Jax and I ventured out into the Michigan winter weather to compete in our first trial of the year. This was a C-WAGS Rally and Obedience trail hosted by Wolverine Dog Training Club, and held at Northfield Dog Training Club. I mention all these venues because they are all incredibly wonderful people who truly love the dog sports and work to improve them. I love competing with all of these groups.

First, C-WAGS is a rather laid-back venue. They are a group of people who love to train and compete with their dogs, but their trials are not as competitive as UKC or AKC. There is one huge difference in this organization, and that is you can reward your dog during a Rally or Obedience test. For this reason, I recommend the venue to my students as a place to get your feet wet; it's also great for new dogs just getting into competition.

This was my first time competing with Jax in this venue, so we entered Starter (level 1) Rally and Level 1 Obedience. On Saturday, we had 2 Rally tests and 2 Obedience tests. Both of our Rally tests were phenomenal, and I was incredibly proud of the way my boy performed - first place in both classes! Our obedience tests left something to be desired, but we did pretty well, considering.

Their level 1 obedience test is a basic obedience test with a few simple tasks. On Saturday, I missed the walk-through for the test due to being in the rally ring, and bombed our first test. Completely my fault. But, our second test was much better, since I already bombed a test and being able to attend the walk-through. First place in the second test. Success!

Our winnings from Saturday!

Sunday was a bit different. We showed up, and we competed in Rally, Obedience, and a fun class called Rally Zoom - it's rally with not stops, sits, or pausing signs.

In our rally test, we had a PHENOMENAL run. I mean, it was perfect. I left the ring beaming because we had done so well. I ran Jax back to his crate, gave him a big kiss and few cookies....and turned around just in time to see the ring steward right a big "NQ" on the board. WHAT? Our run was perfect! The gentleman I was crating next to must have seen the shock on my face because he came over to me and said, "You looked beautiful out there, but I think you missed that sign..." He pointed to the Down-Walk Around sign I had clearly missed. I sighed, admitted to my mistake, and we moved on.

I was still elated with our performance, and chose to focus on that rather than the fact I was the reason we NQ'd. The woman who did win the class was also elated to have won, because it was her first time showing in rally. If I had to lose, it was great to see her be so happy to win!

We placed third in our obedience test, because when I changed into a slow pace, apparently Jax did not change his pace. Still, it was a good test, he did really well!

Rally Zoom was fun! And it was also a great test! We placed 2nd, missing first by only half a point.

Our debut weekend and a tough contender with Team No F.E.A.R. was a success!

In other news, I had two judges tell me that Jax was ready to learn OPEN exercises. My little man proved that was was ready to move up to bigger and better things. Watch out, he's going to be a tough contender!

Our First Obedience Trial

I know I'm so incredibly behind on updates. So, a quick update about weight pulling: He earned his UWP in Leslie, MI (on the snow!) with Mid-West Weight Pullers in January. We took Feburary off, and this past weekend we made a go at a rail system. His personal best was 2007# - his first 10 point pull (25 times his body weight). He almost pulled the next weight increment of 2447#; he pulled it halfway down the track and then was tired - but he tried it and that made me happy. He got two 10 point pulls that weekend, and made his momma VERY happy.

This weekend, however, is a different story.

While planning out my show calendar a couple months ago, I noticed there would be an obedience show in Southgate (a mere 30 minutes from me) with 2 shows each day - I decided I couldn't pass it up, so I pre-entered. If I could get him ready enough, it was a possibility we could get his UCD title in one weekend.

Obviously, that didn't happen.

I trained and trained. He took to the recall over the jump like an old pro, we were heeling fine in class (it needed tweeking, but it was fine for a Novice A), and even though his sit- and down-stays left something to be desired for, they were passable as long as he didn't break them. Going into the show, I was more scared he would break his stays.

It was the opposite.

Day one, show one: We entered the ring and he must have left his heeling at home. I had a tight leash the entire time because he was lagging behind me the entire time; the figure-8 was just as bad. The off-leash work was a disaster - he was nowhere near me. However, he didn't break his honor down nor the sit-stay during the group stay. And he had a BEAUTIFUL recall over the jump, although his front was slightly crooked, and we only got points off for him hesitating during the finish. Total score: 141/200.

Day one, show two: Pretty much the same as show one, but his heeling was just slightly better. Total score: 143/200.

A qualifying score is at least 170/200.

Day two, show one: On-leash heeling was only slightly better - the leash wasn't as tight as on day one; but he didn't even attempt to heel with me off-leash...he decided to go sniff something in a corner (though, in his defense, even some of the people in Open and Utility were complaining about this particular corner, and the ring in general). He didn't break his honor down, but stood then laid down during the group sit-stay. During the recall, he walked up to the jump, sniffed it, then popped it; came into a front and didn't complete the finish. Total score: 43/200. Ouch.

Day two, show two: All heeling was slightly better - I'm told it didn't look as bad as I thought it did. Still forgot our auto-sits somewhere (those were missing all weekend). He kept his honor down, but stood during the group sit-stay. Jumped the jump on the recall, but immediately did a right-finish with no sign of a front, but didn't didn't sit - just stood at heel. Total score: 89/200.

While we have most of this stuff at home (and in parking lots, stores, the obedience club, etc etc etc), there was a notable difference. A friend went with me for day two and said, "Yeah, that isn't the dog you have at home in training..." We would practice fine outside the ring, but he would shut down once we crossed the threshold into the ring. But now I know what we need to work on.

Thank you to everyone at Happy Paws Training Center for holding this show, and to everyone who attended the show. Everyone was very supportive and helpful, and only encouraged us to keep trying. As a friend of mine said, and what I need to hold on to during these frustrating DNQ's: "By stepping into that ring and competing, you are doing 90% than what all other American Pit Bull Terrier owners don't do."