Sunday, February 28, 2010
Friday, February 12, 2010
Cooper got his RN!
I am a little late posting this, but 2 weeks ago Cooper earned his RN! We needed one last qualifying leg, so I entered both days (sat and sun) just in case we did really bad Sat, then I would have Sun to get it. Saturday went really well. Much better than the trials we were in at the Land O Lakes show. I didn't feel like I was dragging him around the ring this time. He connected with me much better and was eager to perform. It almost felt too easy :) We walked away with a score of 96 and 4th place. Cooper was beat out by his Dad(Ryu) who also received his RN at the same time! We had a lot of fun!
So then I was left with what to do on Sunday. Since I had paid for the entry, I thought I may as well compete. I had 2 options; I could change my entry to Rally Advanced, or just compete for fun in Rally Novice again. I though about it overnight and had finally decided we would just fly right into Advanced. I was really nervous about this since we have not really practiced off leash anywhere but at home. Unfortunately, we did not get to the show in time to change our entry, so we were stuck doing Novice.
Boy was I glad we titled on Sat. The judge on Sunday set up an impossible course. He totally tricked almost all of us. He set the course up in only half the ring, so it was really cramped and there was a lot going on in such a small area. There was a weave twice and when coming out of the weave, you naturally went to the right. But here is where the trick was. Straight ahead from the weave there was a 270 turn. It was back to back with another sign and unfortunately we almost all missed it during our walk through. So we missed a sign and got DQ'd. So did 4 other people. Out of 7 of us only 3 qualified! What a bummer! It was fun anyhow and I learned a valuable lesson not matter how comfortable or confident I am with the course, I need to watch the sign numbers as I walk the course.
I looked at what our score would have been if we wouldn't have missed that sign, and we had a 97! I talked to other people that do Rally, one of them being a judge, and they said that this judge is known for having difficult courses and many of them do not enter if he is the judge.
We are now working on our Rally Advanced. I think we are going to do our first Advanced trial at a small obedience show that is the second weekend in March. The judge that DQ'd us a couple of weeks ago is the Sunday judge at this show. How fun would it be to perform for him again and do well!
I will post pictures soon of Cooper on his big day :)
So then I was left with what to do on Sunday. Since I had paid for the entry, I thought I may as well compete. I had 2 options; I could change my entry to Rally Advanced, or just compete for fun in Rally Novice again. I though about it overnight and had finally decided we would just fly right into Advanced. I was really nervous about this since we have not really practiced off leash anywhere but at home. Unfortunately, we did not get to the show in time to change our entry, so we were stuck doing Novice.
Boy was I glad we titled on Sat. The judge on Sunday set up an impossible course. He totally tricked almost all of us. He set the course up in only half the ring, so it was really cramped and there was a lot going on in such a small area. There was a weave twice and when coming out of the weave, you naturally went to the right. But here is where the trick was. Straight ahead from the weave there was a 270 turn. It was back to back with another sign and unfortunately we almost all missed it during our walk through. So we missed a sign and got DQ'd. So did 4 other people. Out of 7 of us only 3 qualified! What a bummer! It was fun anyhow and I learned a valuable lesson not matter how comfortable or confident I am with the course, I need to watch the sign numbers as I walk the course.
I looked at what our score would have been if we wouldn't have missed that sign, and we had a 97! I talked to other people that do Rally, one of them being a judge, and they said that this judge is known for having difficult courses and many of them do not enter if he is the judge.
We are now working on our Rally Advanced. I think we are going to do our first Advanced trial at a small obedience show that is the second weekend in March. The judge that DQ'd us a couple of weeks ago is the Sunday judge at this show. How fun would it be to perform for him again and do well!
I will post pictures soon of Cooper on his big day :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
