Well at long last Jessie and I put it together and got UDX leg number 6 (4 more to go) at the Westmoreland trial. All the re-training and doggie bootcamp paid off. No more Mrs. Nice Gal for Jessie -- I know now he needs a little more pressure to do well.
On both days his problem exercises in utility, the go-outs and the moving stand showed massive improvement. He went dead-straight and even galloped on his go-outs, only loosing points for barking while taking the jumps, a no-front, and walking in before sitting on one. But that's still improvement, so I am happy. We can work on the finner details later. His moving stands were perfert -- yahoo! No more walking in to meet the judge halfway. He did release himself several times, but the judges missed that -- but I didn't, so that's something else to work on. He scored a 191 on Saturday and a 188.5 on Sunday, not his best scores, but the judges (Squires and Leverson) have very sharp eyes, so I am happy with them.
Open was beautiful both days. He scored a 191 on Saturday, loosing a few points on a no front, and I stuttered and couldn't get my down command out until he'd traveled so that was another 3 points off. On Sunday, he went from a 3 point deduction to 0 off on the drop on recall -- yahoo! He would have had a 196 on Sunday, but he pulled his short down, long down instead of a long sit and long down. Oh well! It was a learning experience -- I snuck in a subtle correction and figure that made it worth loosing the UDX leg.
In all, I just felt we were working together again like he haven't for a while. It's nice to have it rewared with a UDX leg and a beautiful trophey for High Scoring Terrier, but even without that it would have been a nice weekend. I enjoyed the trial a great deal. Good food, airconditioned building, friendly people. Only problem is that it is crowded so if you go, get there Friday night to set up a crate. Be prepared to move your dog through the crate area with caution -- there is no personal space for anyone. Jessie was fine about that, thank goodness. He had his little shih tzu, Bailey, with him which always makes him more relaxed.
Posted by enoj
at 1:46 PM EDT
