The show in Alexandria is a combined confirmation (6 rings) and obedience (1 ring). Bern was entered in Open Sat & Sun. Tracey had Kamikaze entered in Utility, Sparkle in Open, and Xanadu in confirmation.
Xanadu's back was bothering her Saturday when Tracey was warming her up. By Sunday she was better but still not 100%. No points for her this weekend - she just wasn't her perky self.
The obedience ring was nearest to the lobby... a buzz of activity. Not the nice calm environment Sparkle needs. She got to stay home Sunday.
Both Kazee and Bern showed great on Saturday. However, neither one managed to qualify but we were both hopeful for Sunday. Bern even had to chase down the dumbbell after he pounced on it and caused it to fly. The dumbbell pounce took Bern so far out of range of the jump that he didn't notice the jump until he was trotting past it on the way back to me. It wasn't his only bobble so I took it in stride. However he glanced at the jump on the way by with an expression of "Oops I should be jumping that I think".
Utility went first on Sunday. Kazee was looking great until the directed jumping exercise. Long story short - it seems Tracey vocalized a command before her arm was extended upward to signal "jump". Kazee read the partially raised arm as a return to heel signal and came straight in.... BUMMER FOR TRACEY and KAZEE!
When Open rolled around I warmed Bern up and we practiced drop on recall.. and more drops. HE ACTUALLY DROPPED IN THE RING!!!! That was a training goal for 2009... it just took until Jan 2010 to make it happen. He was so excited he got the drop that he autofinished and dropped again into heal position just to show me that he had the dropping part down... -5 from the judge. His healing (-12), retrieve on flat (-2), and broad jump (-1) were nice scores. He was steady as a rock on his stays. On the retrieve over the high jump, we were looking great. I threw straight, Bern jumped, ran out the dumbbell and ... then he came back beautifully over the jump minus the dumbbell. On his way to retrieve the dumbbell, I think Bern remembered that he needed to take the jump on the way back... so he got to the dumbbell, sniffed it, and turned around and proudly took the return jump that he had missed on Saturday. Unfortunately, he forgot to actually retrieve the dumbbell before he came back.... BUMMER for CHERYL and BERN!
Tracey and I are now looking for obedience shows to enter. Both our advanced obedience teams are really close to getting their first legs.
