Oops, I haven't posted since January. The plus is I have been training Quinn!
I've been taking him to the obedience club and practicing at least once a week. I've been doing some practicing at home, but not nearly enough.
I took Quinn to the BDOC Obedience trial last week. I entered him just one day in Preferred Novice, I wanted to see how he did. Sadly, I didn't do as well as he did. I was nervous that he would go off on another dog. The building was very small, many people and dogs crowded together. Alicia initially came in without her wheelchair to video tape my run, but then when the host offered to help her bring her chair in--she went out the door--and out went Quinn's brain.
He growled quietly a couple of times, but didn't do too badly. There was a woman just outside the ring with her uncrated dog. The Border Collie was either in her lap or at her feet, and did I say I was nervous?
We started the heeling pattern right in front of her (and did the recall there as well.) I was very concerned he would begin barking at her dog. Quinn was more worried that Alicia would leave without him. Our heel on-lead was just okay, he lagged on the about turn and he refused to sit--why? Most likely, it was because I was hyperventilating and was not consistent. The figure 8 was much better! His stand-stay was great. The heel free was okay, again lagging on the about turn. At the very end of the heeling exercise, the judge had each team halt right in front of the ring gate (and that person with the dog.) It would have been much better, if I hadn't anticipated an about turn instead of a halt. I started to about turn when she said stop and Quinn, confused, circled me and did not sit. Damn! Completely my fault!
On the recall, I called him, he ran right past me to the ring gate. I thought 'Oh no! Here it comes, he's going to start barking at the other dog.' Nope, he was looking for his Auntie Alicia! After all, he loves her and it would be horrible if she disappeared without him. I said "Quinn" and he came back to me, but he did not sit in front and the judge just said "Exercised Finished." I was pretty sure we had NQ'd.
The final exercise in Pref. Nov. is the sit or down stay. Similar to the Beginning novice sit, the dog must sit or down in the center of the ring and the handler walks around the perimeter of the ring. Quinn did fantastic, he watched me, but didn't break his sit.
I was very happy when the judge said "Congratulations!" We qualified, our score was not very high, just 182.5, but we took second place and earned our first PCD leg.
My sister took the video with her Kindle Fire. She's been known video tape her feet instead of the intended target, so she didn't do too bad of a job. Here's the video:
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