AKC Obedience

A very amazing brag…. my friend Maddie competed at the Marshall AKC obedience trials this past weekend with her Golden Retriever Ginny. Maddie and Ginny earned OTCH points earning her OTCH – Obedience Trial Champion—OK not just her OTCH but Ginny’s TENTH OTCH!!!! Yes 10 times over OTCH on the same dog. Just amazing! Congratulations to Maddie and Ginny!!!

Since the rest of this post is about kira, allow me to share this picture of Kira taken at the Capital Area Schutzhund Club Schutzhund trial, where Kira earned her schutzhund 3 title:

Now for Kira’s story and her first experience with AKC.

About to toss out the junk mail, including a AKC premium list for an upcoming dog show, but before tossing it, I pull it out and open it. It was for the upcoming Battle Creek Kennel Club and the Holland Kennel Club shows.  Three days of shows in Marshall, MI just a few minutes from my home. Not just breed shows but they were also offering obedience all three days.  I pause, look at the clock the entries are due today at noon and it is now 11:45 am.  If I enter this will give me two and half weeks to brush up on AKC rules and practice the AKC obedience exercises Kira has never done. So I plug the phone into he computer so I have a good online connection and enter Kira in all three obedience trials.

Two weeks later, it is Thursday night, the first trial is tomorrow.  Have we practiced or trained once?  No not once.  It has been about 10 years since I last competed in AKC with a dog for a CD.  I flip through my memory trying to recall the AKC Novice exercises and more importantly to ascertain which exercises Kira will not be familiar with.  She has never done a group-sit stay or a group-down stay.  Kind of screwed on practicing that one at the last minute, especially with other breeds.  In schutzhund Kira has done the out-of-motion sit, but not the sit-stay per se as done in AKC.  So we do a 1-minute sit-stay and then we do a 3 minute down stay.  No problem with either of these, she has the concept down.  Now the AKC stand-for-exam, she has done a moving stand, but never had to do a stand-stay while a person goes over her.  Alone in my building with just her and me, no problem, however,  Kira is very social, someone walking up to her to touch her she is going to think it is a love fest.  OK what else will be new and different for Kira?  Oh yeah the about turns…gotta find out if the German-style about-turn is acceptable or not. Can she do an about-turn just moving to the right?  We give it a try, yep no problem.  OK, can’t think of anything else.  Five minutes of training before three days of trials that should be good. That is 5 minutes more training then we did for the entire month prior to her schutzhund 3! 🙂  My goal just to qualify all three times earn our AKC CD and not embarrass myself, Kira, or the breed.

We get to the showgrounds with plenty of time to find someone to test the stand-for-exam.  I find a willing volunteer that isn’t afraid of a big GSD that could potentially lick them to death. I stand Kira,  walk 6 feet away, my volunteer approaches Kira to touch her on the head shoulder, back and croup. As they get near her she is wagging her tail and steps toward them to meet them, obviously social time.  So a little explaining to Kira that this is not meet-and -greet time and she must not move.  Being the brilliant dog she is, she says, “OK got it.”

Our turn is up. I make a major mistake on …yep… an about turn, big points off for that one, handler error is the killer.  Kira is slightly off-center on her recall, and a few other minor points off here and there and we finish her first CD leg with a 195 (out of 200) and a first place. Next day and next trial.  I decide to be very clever and put some napkins in my pocket so I can wipe the sweat off my face during the long sit and down stays.  Becasue it is in the 90’s and the building has no air or ventilation the sweat is profuse, I reach in my pocket and pull out my napkins,  wipe my face and return the napkin to my pocket. At the very end the judge goes down the line and tells each of us if we qualified or not, she comes to me and informs me she deducted points for putting my hands in my pocket.  Apparently this is a double cue/command….?  News to me, but maybe it is if you train with food and keep food in your pockets. The judge also says to me with a big smile on her face, and “I see the cheese in your hair.”  Very confused I start groping my hair for cheese.  I leave the ring still groping my hair, and go up to my friend Maddie and ask her if I have cheese in my hair.  Her response to me is “you don’t train with food.”  Ohhhhhhh the light went on in the little pea brain.  I was being accused of cheating?  This was upsetting, one because I do not use food at all when training Kira and two I don’t have that much hair to hide anything in it!  Instead of rewarding/training with food Kira works for her ball.  I have tried training her with food and she gets bored and lazy.  Despite the judges comment we still Q’d and Kira got another first place.  Sunday, I think, was free from handler errors.  During the long stays I never put my hands in pocket and let the sweat run in my eyes, I barely breathed.  Day 3 another qualifying leg for Kira, another first place, and her first AKC title “CD” companion dog.   Kira is something special! Her new name and titles: UCH V Quellie vom Kirschental schH3 KKL1a LBZ CD

Karen Sessions took this photo of Kira and I during training about a year ago.