I know, I know – I said it after first completing the CD in UKC and then also in AKC that I’m never going to do Novice Obedience again. Apparently I really shouldn’t use the word “never” when it comes to dog events. <G>

Saturday (Obedience)

Last Saturday Quigley and I were entered in ASCA obedience for the first time. I decided that if we do want to continue working toward Open (and possibly even Utility) titles, I’d rather trial at $12-15 per entry in ASCA than $20-30 in AKC until we get more ring experience and have a really solid chance of qualifying. Unfortunately, to get to that point we first have to finish the Novice class…

Both runs went pretty well on the individual exercises. In trial 1 we could have done better if I had moved more briskly on the heeling – that really stood out when I watched the video later. We lost 7 points on the Heel On Leash & Figure 8, none on the Stand for Exam, 10 points on the Heel Free (sniffy/laggy, had to give a second command to heel on the heel free, plus Quigley missed one sit), and half a point on the recall. In trial 2 I picked up the pace and we only lost 4 points on the Heel On Leash & Figure 8, again none on the Stand for Exam, 5 points on the Heel Free, and another half point on the recall. Unfortunately, no video for this one.

I did not expect that we would NQ on the group exercise, and certainly not in both runs. Each time Quigley laid down from the sit as soon as I turned my back and walked away. We’ve been practicing Open out-of-sight sits of up to 8 minutes for super high-value rewards with good success, so that was definitely a surprise. It was hot though, and he does not tend to do well sitting in the heat.

I’m not entirely unhappy with the outcome overall though, as we would have scored 182.5 in trial 1 and 190.5 in trial 2 if Quigley had held his sits. His average of passing scores in all Novice obedience runs so far is 180, so there’s definitely improvement.

Sunday (Rally)

In the morning trial we started out with a run in Novice C, trying for our last RN-C leg that requires a minimum score of 190. We left the ring with a 196, deductions were for my dog bumping me and some awkwardness when I nearly ran into the sign on the moving sidestep right. This was our last ASCA Rally Novice run, as we completed all 3 level titles (RN, RN-X, RN-C).

In the afternoon we moved up to Advanced, in pursuit of X legs (scores of 195 or better), but it wasn’t to be. We ended up with a 189, which was still good enough for first place. Any exercises involving stationary stands has very slow responses recently, and there were two of them on the course, plus a slightly mangled call front – 1, 2, 3, steps back. I really need to polish up on these.