Not a good day for D ‘n A

Last night the Cape Cod Kennel Club held the annual Members Obedience Match. Dylan is “retired” and Aiden is still a “baby” but we thought we would enter them in the match to support the club. The event was held in a vacant school gym where the CCKC classes are held. Not an attractive building at all as you will see in the videos. The KC has not used the ring mats in ages and they were dirty and smelly….yes, I’m making excuses already!!

First up was Dylan in Open Obedience. He was doing great warming up outside the ring ….when I had food in my hand (not cheese in my hair!). As soon as we went into the ring he went into his “slow and steady” mode. In the heeling pattern he stopped to sniff the mats. Despite his slow heeling for points off he was doing okay until the retrieve over the high jump. I threw the dumbbell and it landed not far from the jump. The “judge” said to send him anyway and Dylan jumped over the jump and retrieved the dumbbell. At the same second Aiden let out an awful screech fom his crate, Dylan turned to look at him and then came back to me without doing the jump.  NQ!! As it was a match I was able to throw the dumbbell again. Dylan retrieved it, Aiden screeched  and Dylan came back around the jump again!

Aiden was in Sub-Novice Obedience. As I warmed up him outside the ring people were commenting on his GREAT heeling and attention….

Then off to the ring we went. Just as we got there Aiden jumped out of his skin at the big, scary floor mop leaning against the wall! In the ring I got his focus back and started heeling but he was not sure about the mats on the floor….never saw those before! Although not his normal IPO type heeling he did okay. I was sure he was not going to keep still on the stand for exam as we have not trained that much and Aiden is so friendly. Well, what a surprise, he did it perfectly. No points off there. The recall was not pretty as Aiden is not used to doing it on leash and so close to me. I was not allowed to back up and I forgot to gather the leash but we just lost a few points so we had qualified up to that point. Then it was time for the one minute sit and three minute down on leash. There were five dogs in the class and Aiden was in the middle. Aiden managed to stay sitting despite fidgeting and looking at the other dogs. The dog next to him got up and went to its owner but Aiden didn’t move which was excellent. Great, now only the long down to get through…no problem there I thought. Aiden went immediately down when told and out to the end of the leash I went. Then he started whining to the other dogs and squirming around and all of a sudden he sat up! As it was just a match I said “Down” again and he lay right down and stayed put for the rest of the time…but still a NQ!

No dogs qualified in Utility, Open or Novice and only one dog qualified in Sub-Novice earning High in Trial!!

It was a great experience for Aiden. He was exposed to a lot of people, dogs, noise of a show AND a big, scary mop! He took nearly everything in stride and was a social butterfly with everyone. He wags his tail nearly as much as Dylan!