Katie and I supported the hound only obedience trial last Friday. Katie competed in Wildcard Utility and Wildcard Open. The Wildcard classes do not count for anything and you can pick your jump height. We had a good time. I have decided that utility is just too hard to do when you don't practice very much. When we used to compete, Katie and I practiced just about everyday. But with all things considering, I think she did very well. We got first place out of one :-).
So here is the run down on the Utility Excercises:
1. Signals - Katie heeled beautifully as usual. I love heeling with Katie. She missed her down signal which was a problem in the past. There is just something vulnerable about standing alone on the far side of the ring and having to lie down. I had to verbally insist.
2. Scent articles - Katie is no dummy, so she thought it might be better to just head on out of the ring for her treats and skip all of this work. She did get the first article right. The 2nd one she just grabbed one randomly.
3. Directed retrieving - She retrieved the correct glove.
4. Moving stand - She did fine.
5. Directed jumping - I was actually impressed that she gave me any go outs at all. I figured she'd head for the gate instead, but she actually did head for the other side of the ring.
1. Signals - Katie heeled beautifully as usual. I love heeling with Katie. She missed her down signal which was a problem in the past. There is just something vulnerable about standing alone on the far side of the ring and having to lie down. I had to verbally insist.
2. Scent articles - Katie is no dummy, so she thought it might be better to just head on out of the ring for her treats and skip all of this work. She did get the first article right. The 2nd one she just grabbed one randomly.
3. Directed retrieving - She retrieved the correct glove.
4. Moving stand - She did fine.
5. Directed jumping - I was actually impressed that she gave me any go outs at all. I figured she'd head for the gate instead, but she actually did head for the other side of the ring.
Open obedience is so much easier. I think in the future, we will stick to entering open. It doesn't require nearly the practice. Here is the run down:
1. Heeling - The judge screwed up our heeling pattern. So she had me restart somewhere in the middle. Figure 8's were fine.
2 - 4. Drop on recall, retrieve on the flat, and retrieve over the high jump was fine or good enough.
5. Broad jump - I chose to skip the broad jump.
1. Heeling - The judge screwed up our heeling pattern. So she had me restart somewhere in the middle. Figure 8's were fine.
2 - 4. Drop on recall, retrieve on the flat, and retrieve over the high jump was fine or good enough.
5. Broad jump - I chose to skip the broad jump.
In Open, dogs have to do a 3 minute sit stay and a 5 minute down stay with the handler out of view. I am always very proud of my greyhounds when they can maintain a 3 minute sit stay and even more so when I am not standing there. This is something we never practice anymore, but like a champ Katie held her sit stay while the basset hound failed by lying down.
