 I think I lost my dog. No Ma, it's virtual heeling! |
First thing we did in the ring was a heeling pattern on leash. The dog is suppose to stay by your left side, and automatically sit when you stop. Hoover didn't sit once, but he did stay in the general vicinity of my left leg. Then there is a figure eight around two people. Hoover did absolutely wonderful when he was on the inside of the turn but lagged behind on the outside part. And he didn't sit on this part either. Now Hoover was doing pretty miserable, but between the exercises I praised him to high heaven. I think some people thought I was nuts for praising a dog for doing so badly, but Hoover needed it and I did too. (Hey! I'm a terrier. I have to put up appearances or I might lose my reputation. Can't be too good.) Hmmm, my little fuzz butt, that's probably why the judge said, "Relax, he's a terrier." |
| After that is the "Stand for Examination", which is the first off leash exercise. You take off the leash. Stand your dog and then stand about six feet away from him. Then the judge will touch the dog on the top of the head, back and rear. Then you can return to your dog and your dog can't move his feet until you release him. Hoover did PERFECTLY! He was so good. |
 To fast for the camera! Then you have the same heeling pattern but this time off leash. I started out and Hoover got up but just stood there wondering where I was going. I called him and he came shooting over to me. The rest of the pattern degenerated from there. In the 'fast' part where you have to run Hoover got so excited he tried to run out of the gate to the ring. Luckily they stopped him. |
 That's the way, but stand tall mom! |
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Then the recall exercise is next. I sat Hoover, he stayed while I
walked across the ring. When I called him he came charging over running
as fast as he could. When he got to me, he made a flying leap at me and
stopped about five feet to the back and right of me. He was suppose to
sit in front of me. Then you are supposed to have the dog finished.
Which is just telling the dog to get back in heeling position, he
didn't. On the second day, his recall was spectacular! He dashed across the ring on my 'come' command and then used me as a backstop. He bounced off me, and landed at my feet in a sit. This really wowed the crowd. Then he did a perfect swing finish into the heeling position. Yeah! We only got three points off for him touching me. |
 Ok mom, call me, I'm ready. |
What's That! |
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The last exercises are the group stays. This is where the class lines up in the ring. The dogs are sat and told to stay (this is off leash too) and the handlers go to the other side of the ring. The stay is for one minute. Then there is the down stay, which is the same, except the dogs are lying down and they have to stay for 3 minutes. You can't believe how long 3 minutes is. Hoover kept shifting around looking at everything and I was sure he was going to get up. But he didn't! He got perfect scores on both the sit and the down the first day. But he got up the second day on the down stay. It was just too long. |
| So that was our very first obedience trial. I think we did great! Now here are our scores. I hope this will encourage more people to try obedience. Ours scores are not wonderful and there were scores lower than ours too. We fit right in at the novice ring, and I hope you will too. It's a lot of fun. |
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