Nikon KKL1

Nikon earned his first time KKL1 yesterday. In the bitework his attacks were fast and very committed (probably the fastest long bite I’ve ever seen him do!). The “attack” was a joke, really, more like a helper running out of the blind *away* from the dog with the sleeve presented like a puppy escape bite, but whatever (not the helper’s fault, this is how the judges make it so that dogs who cannot work under real pressure can squeak by). Nikon outed both times on my command with one command. I’ve been working on having him fight *until* I give the command even if the helper locks up, I do not like dogs that pop off on their own. We did the entire test off leash as in a real trial, no corrections and no retries. For the standing exam I handled himself since I show him myself. His exam seemed to take forever, I feel like we stacked for 20 minutes and was starting to get nervous but they said the longer it takes, the better the critique. We had already done all the measurements the day before. The parts of the critique I remember are this: medium size, medium strong, high wither, great color, pigment, and expression, very good angulation in front and rear, good chest proportions, good topline and underline, steps correctly coming and going, movement shows rear drive and front reach with open shoulder, sure temperament, pronounced, let’s out. I was super pleased with his critique since of the critiques I heard Nikon’s was the most detailed. I was especially pleased that the judge specifically mentioned his temperament and talked about his good movement (he actually opens at the shoulder, no “lifting” at the elbows). I’ll be getting better pictures later but these are a few from the bitework, taken by Phil our faithful chauffeur and gear holder:

Heeling up and asking the judge where to start

Fighting the drive after the “attack” (run-by) on handler

Waiting for my out command

Guarding

Long bite catch

Waiting to stand

It wasn’t all boring for Nikon. The day before he got to do some ring training before the show and practice bitework after the show (he was not in the show but I did photography and handled other dogs). For dinner we went to a friend’s house and Nikon got to play agility in his backyard. He basically has a regulation course with all the equipment. Nikon and Coke got special “cookies” from someone whose dog I helped warm up and handle in the show. Then after the breed survey, the host club held training and Nikon had another really good bitework session before we headed home. I was offered a nice amount of $$$ to transport a dog home, so Nikon and Coke had to share a crate for several hours. They were tired and did not mind. Once home they got leftover cheese cubes and peanut butter jars to make up for the inconvenience.