A New Place

Today I took Quinn to a fun match at a club in a nearby city. I dragged my sister with so I'd have company and a sympathetic ear on the trip home. We arrived early so we'd find crate space and be able to let Quinn just hang out for awhile. When Quinn first arrived Alicia brought him in with her dog. When her dog spotted some poodles in a crate by the door he began to bark, so Quinn had to try to protect 'the pack'. Alicia calmed him down and came on in. Overall moving around the building he did fine, no outbursts. He barked a little in the crate so we did cover it. Occasionally he growled, but did well there too.
On the On-lead heel he was very distracted and I actually stepped on him. He did very well on the figure 8, but he moved on the stand for exam. Part of it was the 'judge' was very hesitant about touching him.
He really wanted to be submissive and go to her. I had to remind him to stay and re-place him. He did actually get examined, with me very close to him. The heel off lead was better, he jumped on my on the fast (which I've just started working on seriously). His recall was short--half the ring, because there were a couple of dogs right by the ring gate and I just didn't trust him to keep his mind on the task. He waited quite nicely even with the judge behind him and I had her call the recall command twice and he held it nicely. When I did call him he raced to me and jumped on me. Since I'm not working on fronts, it was a good recall.
On the sit and down I stayed 6' away. He held them, but he did mutter and talk on the sit stay. As we left the ring, I didn't pay close enough attention and a dog got too close and he went off. I grabbed him and pulled him away--he didn't make any contact just noise. He's not ring ready, but he's coming along nicely.

Quinn's Novice Ready Class

I've been taking Quinn to a Novice Ready class taught by another club member. I haven't been able to attend all the classes, (darn work!) but I've made most of them.
We did some heeling working on fast, where Quinn jumps at me a little; and we practiced our fronts and recalls. Then Robin had each of us do a Novice run through. Quinn got to go first, he did outstanding on heel on leash, and the figure 8, he did a good stand for exam. Stays have been our bugaboo, so I was thrilled he held his stand.
Heel off lead was fine, then we got to our recall. Again, that stay command really threw us off. He would get distracted the minute I got more than 10' away. I did get to do two recalls with him successfully, but obviously were not ready to go into the ring.