Tuesday, April 10, 2007

UD Leg #2!!!

Katie earned UD leg #2 at the Brierfield, AL show last Saturday on her 24th attempt in the utility class. It was a teeny tiny show at a historic park. I was excited about it because I think she will show better outdoors on more natural footing and I think she proved me right. It was unseasonably cold.... started out in the 30's, but luckily our ring became sunny and it was probably just right for showing. Our judge was Barry Roland who was very nice. Before the show he said, "You are the one with the greyhound aren't you? I hope you do very well today." Katie and I were the only Utility A entries...... only 13 obedience entries in all. So it was the nice quiet setting I was looking for. Katie heeled beautifully and her signals were sharp and responsive. She only creeped fwd a little on the down. Articles were smart and confident. She had to work the piles. Barry gave us glove #2 which doesn't always ensure an easy retrieve, but this time it worked in our favor. No problem with the moving stand. Barry was a man with a beard wearing a hat........ very scary for some dogs, but Katie could care less. Then finally down the the directed jumping. Her go outs are great in that she goes all the way to the fence, but she creeps quite a bit back towards me. Nonetheless, it wasn't so bad that she NQed. The first one she stood there instead of sitting. The last jump was the high jump (panel jump) that we sometimes have trouble with. I gave an extra lean to really indicate that jump and it worked. Barry immediately congratulated us and off we went for the huge jackpot of treats. I bring several small containers of treats so I have a wide variety, but also so I can reward her according to how I feel about her performance. Qualifying performance earns them all...... less than qualifying might only earn a couple of containers. The other nice thing was that Stephen was there and was able to see and film a qualifying leg finally and his family was there as well. Points off were Signals - 2, Scent articles #1 - 1.5, #2 - 1, Directed retrieve - 0.5, Moving stand - 0.5, Directed jumping - 7 = 187.5 total score.