Pieka’s First Leg In Open Obedience (CDSP)

Pieka and I entered a CDSP (Companion Dog Sport Program) Obedience Trial today.   For those of you not familiar with the venue (it seems most popular in New England, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania) it’s a different venue that is similar to AKC but has some key differences.  In Open, you must successfully complete heeling off leash, a running broad jump, a drop on recall, retrieve on the flat, retrieve over a high jump, and a go out (turn and sit).   There are no group stays.   Handlers are allowed to treat at the end of exercises while still in final position and there are different rules regarding commands.

We had a great day – Pieka was on fire!   We completed our first leg towards our CDX-C title with a 198 (out of 200) and First Place.  The video of our run is below – you know I hate posting pictures of myself, but Pieka did such a nice job here.

Our second leg, honestly, was even better.  Her heeling was more animated and correct, she moved better between exercises, she just looked and felt great.   The ONLY issue was that she did not drop on the first “Drop on Recall” command.   She was coming to me like a freight train, I gave the command, she started to go down…then got distracted by something outside the ring and lost her train of thought.   Therefore, we did not qualify.   While that’s a bummer, it doesn’t change the fact that Pieka performed really, really well for me.  We’ve got one leg down, two to go…..and let’s hope they’re as nice as the first!