What it takes to get a UD
think though no description in the world of the UD really captures what it feels like to get that first one. My Jessie was 6 before he had learned all those many exercises, and I believe Andy is approximately the same age. That's 6 years of weekly classes, daily practice, driving to parks and schools to find distractions to train near, digging out "go-outs" in a snowy field, doing gloves in the dark to see if the dog will really follow the direction of the hand, practicing pivots in the living in front of the TV, and just plain working working working for 6 long years.

When you see your dog come over that last jump and you know you've qualified it is an amazing feeling of pride and accomplishment. The bond with that dog is so strong at that point -- you know so much about his every mood and every insecurity, he's the focus of your life for that period of time. It took my Jessie approximately 12 tries and 4 months to get his UD -- a dog that finished his CD in 3 tries and his CDX in 4 tries. We had trials where he flunked every exercises, and ones where he waited to fail on that last jump. Everything you do up to the UD you are next to your dog and it's basically one command, one action. For the UD you are far away from your dog, and for an exercise like the scent article, you give a single command and then stand helpless by while your dog has to go to the pile, search the pile (sometimes for a long time), pick up the right article, and bring it back to you.

I hope more people go for a UD on at least one of their dogs. Trust me -- you won't regret it. It'll be a lot of work, it'll make you an emotional wreck while you're doing it, but you will come out of it knowing your dog like you never thought possible. And you've all got a great breed for it -- as silly as our kerries are, they are also great workers and very smart. They can all do it, given the chance.

Another attempt at UDX leg up in smoke
Well, the saga continues. Me and Jessie made another attempt at UDX legs with no success. But it was a good weekend and I discovered some new judges that I absolutely love and a great new trial. The trial was the Youngstown All Breed Training Club in Youngstown Ohio. They have a great place to hold trials -- beautiful footing, but so springy everyone was having to throw their dumdbells more then once, including me, both days, LOL. The competition was brutal -- the winning dog in Open B had a 200, 2nd place was a 199, third was a 198.5, and there was a four way run off for forth with 198s!!! In Utility B the lowest placing score was a 197 and that was a two way tie. Wow!

Jessie was having a bad obedience day. He Qd in Open only on Saturday, with a 193.5 which is very low for him in Open. Utility he would have had a very nice score, but he only went 9 feet on his 2nd go-out (not the required 10 feet) beyond the jumps (and sat in front of the wrong jump -- yet the stinker ran all the way across the ring on command to jump the correct jump so if I'd had one more foot it would have been a Q!!). 2nd day he started to do the same thing, so I just gave him a 2nd command, and everything else that day was actually very nice. In Open B he did ok (not his best) on Sunday, but desided to take a nap during the long sit and NQd himself. Lazy, lazy, lazy.

All in all, though, it was very fun. Watching those top dogs sure gives me something to work for. And all the top handlers were very nice and gave me many training tips. Those long stays in Open B are a great place for picking the minds of the best trainers.

Now, about the judges. They were so nice! Look for them. They all made a point of commenting on how pleased they were to be judging a kerry blue terrier. They were friendly, smiled a lot and encouraged me and complemented Jessie. They were:

Mrs. Suzanne D. Hemminger
Mrs. Nancy K. Withers
Mrs. Catherine M. Thompson

Look for them at trials! They would be nice people to have judge a terrier trial -- all so friendly and nice. Nancy Withers even said, "Oh, I haven't judged you before. I'd remember a kerry blue." I thought that was very nice to say! And she knows Evelyn and commented on how nice Pheonix is doing and such. It's nice to have a judge recognize and appreciate our breed -- sometimes I feel like some of the judge's out there have only really like BCs, goldens and labs.

4th UDX leg and great trial this weekend
Well, Jessie was a good dog this weekend and got his mom another UDX leg. We went to an absolutely wonderful trial put on by the Golden Triangle Obedience Training Club. It was very unusual in that it was
held in a school gym, with crating in the hallways. This produced a very quiet, pleasant working environment and helped my dog a great deal. They also had the most amazing raffel of baskets -- they
looked so professional with everything from coffee to champaign to dog toys. I didn't win one, but I tried. I highly recommend this trial!

I also got to see Linda again with her lovely airedale bitch - she got a 2nd place in Novice. Such a nice way to end Novice -- now on to Open for her (hopefully). We were talking and thought it would be
nice if people included a location in their posts so we know who to look out for at trials. If you feel comfortable doing this, or mentioning when you will be attending a trial, I think it'd be a
great idea.

On Saturday Jessie passed both Utility and Open getting his forth UDX leg. He got his lowest score yet in his life, a 180 in Utility, but that's passing so ok with me. Open was his usual 195, and not good
enough for a placement, but still made me very happy. Sunday was unlucky -- he failed to take a jump in utility until a 2nd command and broke his sit stay in open. Oh well!

I'll have to title this "Just when you think it's safe to go back in the water . . . ."
We got our 3rd UDX leg with style on Thursday. We went to the first kerry blue terrier obedience specialty and got 1st place in both Open and Utility with a score of 195 in both classes as well. We also got Highest Combined Score which won his mom some lovely Waterford Crystal. I thought I was safe. I thought no problem to go to the trial the next day. My dog knows what he's doing. I forgot I own a terrier.

After his success, Jessie realized that he had to top it, so the next day at Hatboro he really distinuished himself. When I sent him to the article pile, saying, "Find IT", he thought I said, "Scent It", so he trotted out there and scented the pile with his own urine. I was mortified, but held my cool and didn't get angry. He's now resting at home. It was a long jog back to Rochester NY from Phili PA tied to the bumper of my car, but somehow he made it, LOL.

Ah well, he is a terrier and sometimes he just needs to remind me. At the time it was humilitating, but in retrospect, it's actually kinda funny. He'll be doing articles in lots of stinky places for the next few weeks!

if you don't succeed at first,try try again -- another UDX attempt
Well, another attempt at a UDX leg that comes up empty handed. It was great weekend, though. I saw many things I really liked in Jessie's attempts. First day, in Utility, we started with the scent articles. We've had that before and he always walks in on the first article retrieve. But he actually trotted in! Both times! I was so pleased by that. All his other exercises were wonderful until the last one -- the "go-out" part of the directed jumping. The point he was supposed to go-out to backed up to the Utility A ring. Right at the go-out point (where he needed to run to) there was a large male german shepherd dog, his owner, and the judge doing scent articles. I've worked so hard on Jessie and teaching him never to even LOOK at another dog at a show, and NEVER run at another dog. Well, here I sent him charging out to another dog. Poor Jessie didn't know what the heck to do. As far as he could see, either way he was in trouble. So he went half way and stopped and looked back at me. I could see he was totally confused. I guess I can't get mad. I'd rather see him stop like that then to think it's ok to charge other dogs at shows. Same exact thing the next day in Utility -- all his exercises went fantastic until the go-out, where once again timing had the same german shepherd was at the go-out point and Jessie just couldn't bring himself to go. I know what I'll be working on next week! LOL!

Open was much more successful. Since Mass we've been doing sit stays every day, a couple times a day and slowly upping the stress level on the stays. It worked. Perfect sit stays both days, and the 2nd day even had the downs first. I think I'll keep doing that with him -- a couple sit stays a day. Obviously I haven't been training that enough.

He got a 195 on Sunday and would have gotten a similar nice score on Saturday, but when he turned to bring me back the dumbell on the ROH, he was not in front of the jump, so he thought he'd take the fastest route back to mom and completely bi-passed it. Oh well, just a little error on his part -- nothing to get worried about. Then I lost us a point on Sunday in Open by holding my hand in the air too long when I gave him the signal to drop on the recall. You have to do it pretty quick and I kinda did a slow motion one -- glad I asked the judge about my score or I wouldn't have known I got hit for that. I'll be working on quicker signals!! Oh well, we still would have been out of the ribbons by half a point, so I don't feel too bad.

My little shih tzu, Bailey, had a great weekend as well. He got a 98 out of 100 in Rally, and first place in Graduate Novice (oh, well, he was the ONLY dog in Graduate Novice -- but his tail was wagging and he did all the exercises nicely and first place is first place in my book).

It was a fun weekend. The fall trial in Hamburg always is very nice and has great tropheys and lots of crating room. I got a crate fan for high scoring terrier, a little vase for high scoring kerry, and a nice beer tumbler for my graduate novice win. Very fun!

AKC National Obedience Invitational
Woo Hoo! My boy, Primrose Jessie James UD is getting an invite to the Obedience Invitational! I'm so excited. That was my number one goal in obedience, to someday get an invitation! I can't wait for January -- I'll be there having fun with my kerry!!! Ya Hoo!!! Congrats to Evelyn and Phoenix for their invite as well. And my instructor, Robin Willey got invited too with her Irish Setter. This is SO COOL!

Sorry, don't mean to brag, but I'm so excited. I wanted to get invited so bad! My little naughty kerry boy is going to Florida to play with the BIG DOGS of obedience, LOL.

another attempt at UDX legs -- progress but no success
Hope you don't mind my reports on my UDX attempts. It's so interesting to me, at least, the process for trying for something like a UDX. I'm really enjoying it and I'm learning so much about myself and my dog. It's so much more challenaging and time consuming and brings out personality traits in my dog I didn't know were even there. Plus I'm learning I'm a dang good loser and a real optimist :-).

Anyway, we went to a big, noisey show this time -- Springfield, MA. Coolest part was my instructor got there on Thursday and set up right near all the kerries so I got to meet everyone that I've talked to on this list and never met. Plus I got to see some really beautiful dogs. So nice to see some real show kerries all groomed to perfection. I was very impressed! Loved the show, actually, but breed wasn't just in the same building,
it was right on top of us. Blow dryers, barking dogs, commotion.
I'd say this was Jessie biggest test since last Syracuse's winter
shows where he completely fell apart.

This time he did ok -- not fantastic, but ok. We qualified in Utility both days with scores in high 180s (I think a 189 and a 186 or something like that). Pretty good, if you ask me, for a setting such as this while we're just a few months past our UD. That's five Qs in Utility in a row -- woo hoo! I'm so proud of that.

First day, Jessie did a repeat of his Erie PA performance -- didn't want to drop on the recall. This time I used a hand signal, though, and just held it up there, determined to get him to drop without a 2nd command. He came in really close -- traveling about 3 feet, but then did drop. Ya hoo! Not good enough to Q, but definately a step forward. But then, like in Erie, he laid down on the sit stay (hmm, I know what we'll be doing every night this week!).

Day 2 in open we started with the DOR as the first exercise! At first I thought this was bad, then used it to my advantage. I did a few drops before going in the ring. We went in and set up. I could tell he was stressing by the way he was holding his ears. I called him and he crawled in at a walk. Then I gave him the drop signal and he went down! Success!!!! I was so excited and let him know he was the most wonderful dog in the world. Of course when I sent him for the broad jump, he also started to WALK towards that. I thought, ugh no way will I let THAT become a problem, and 2nd commanded him with a sharp, happy "Come on! Over!" and clapped my hand in a happy way. He
picked up a trot and did a lovely jump, but of course that was an NQ. Finally, on the sit stay he didn't go down -- he got up! LOL! The little nut stood and walked a few steps. Since another dog had already gotten up there was no one to grab him so the show chairman went and got him. Imagine my horror to come back and find the chairman of the show holding my dog!!! I was sure he'd bothered another dog or done something equally horrible to get this special
treatment and expressed my horror and terror. Thankfully the chairman just laughed and told me that no, he'd just stood and walked a few steps then stood there looking dazed and confused. Sounds like my kerry, alright -- a little baffled by life. Sigh.

Anyway, that's the report from the UDX front lines -- still advancing slowly, but no major battles won this week!

the saga of the UDX continues . . . .
Well me and Jessie made another try at UDX legs, but got none. We went to Admiral Perry Obedience Trial in Erie PA and had lots of fun. It's a great trial and the weather was perfect -- nice and cool.

We NQ'd in Open both days -- Jessie just didn't want to do the drop on recall. Oh well! Everyone has the bad drop days. He made it up to me in Utility, winning forth place on Saturday with a 191.5 and a great score of 192 on Sunday.

Off to Springfield MA next weekend. Maybe we'll do two days of Qs in Open and NQ Utility both days, LOL.

brag -- High In Trial
Hate to brag again, but I'm so proud of my kerry boy, Jessie. We tried again for a UDX leg this weekend, but didn't manage that task. But we did get a fourth in Utility on Saturday, and then first place in Open B on Sunday and High In Trial!!!! I was so excited. He had a wonderful woulda coulda shoulda score in utility (only half a point off), but I double commanded the high jump and NQd him when he hestitated. Just the thought he almost got a 199.5 left me amazed (the next highest score was a 195 so it wasn't an easy judge). The judge told me I had a really nice dog that he was sure would get a 200 some day, LOL. I told him I'd faint if that ever happened. It's so nice to hear, though, that someone likes your dog. He said Jessie hit every front and finish -- must have been something in the water there.

It was a really nice show site -- indoors, air-conditioning. They had signs saying no crating indoors, but then let us do it anyway. The trial was South Hills Kennel Club Trial in Washington, PA. The club was really nice, and the judges were nice. There were tons of different breeds -- bull terriers, a great dane who won Novice B, a bulldog, and such. The judges kept commenting on all the "ususual" breeds that weren't just showing, but also winning. Very cool to see. Put this trial on your "must go to" for next year!

small brag -- first UDX leg and first OTCH point
Have to brag about my kerry boy, Jessie. Our first weekend trying for UDX legs was a great success. We brought home three third place ribbons, one OTCH point, and one UDX leg. Only thing he missed was one little drop signal, or it would have been two UDX legs, but who's worried about that? Not me. I'm on cloud nine.

The trial we went to, in Mt. Nittery PA was lovely. It was on the Penn State Arg. area -- such a beautiful setting. You had plently of space to walk your dog. There were two rings in the building, widely spaced apart, and the hosting club was warm and friendly. Great lunch was sold, along with lots of yummy snacks. They gave lots of good money prizes. We took home about $85 (still waiting to see if we got high scoring terrier on sunday, we got it on Saturday, although we had tough competition from a little adorable wheaton terrier). They even had a "2nd High Scoring Combined Prize" which we got on Saturday, and a "2nd High Scoring in Trial". I really loved that!

I got a peek at the art work for the all-terrier agility trial tee-shirt for Montgomery and it's beautiful. No kerry on it, but lots of other terriers and the art work is absolutely stunning. If anyone is looking for terrier tee-shirts made, ask the wheaton club who did it, because it's really good. Not just art -- but really captured the character of the terrier breeds shown.