As Cinnamon reported in her last post about our first ever camping, I finally won Elementary Freestyle in a live competition five years after my debut in the sport!
In this post I am going to report about our first Obedience and Rally-O competitions this year, which were held the day after the Paws'n'Music competition.
On the day I entered Obedience Novice and Rally-O Excellent A 1 and 2, while Cinnamon entered Rally-O Advanced B 1 and 2.
The first up was one of my Rally Excellent rounds. Well, I enjoyed the course, but I didn't respond to Mum's cues quickly enough at two stations, so I lost two points, meaning it was a fail, as you need to achieve a perfect score 100/100 in order to qualify in the Excellent class.
Next I did Obedience. In fact I didn't get as nervous as I often do in Obedience competitions. When I am nervous, I tend to lag at the start. But, this time I was kind of eager to start. However, I must admit that I forgot to move precisely. For example, at left turns I was supposed to flip my back side with my right shoulder touching Mum's left leg, but I was making loose left turns. In the recall and dumbbell retrieve I had a little crocked sit.
After some wait, I did the group stays in the Novice ring. As you may know, I used to break my stays all the time in Obedience competitions, and because of that I was unable to graduate from the Special Beginners class for five or six years. However, since I became a Novice dog, I have never broken my stays, even though handlers have to stand away from their dogs with their back toward the dog. This time again, at my third competition in the Novice class, I had no trouble doing my stays! Even when a dog next to me lied down in the sit stay, I kept sitting!
After that, Cinnamon had her first Rally Advanced round. Because I was waiting in the car, I didn't witness it, but, according to Mum, Cinnamon didn't enjoy working in the ring. At the start she ran away from the ring, although she did stay with Mum after coming back into the ring. Mum says that it was very hard to keep motivating Cinnamon.
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| Having a rest in the car between our rounds. |
Then, I had my second Rally Excellent round and I did better than I did in the first one. When I was doing the stay in the Rally ring, I heard someone calling Mum's name. It was someone sent by the Obedience judge. She said they needed us for the prizegiving.
As soon as I finished the Rally stay, Mum and I went to the clubhouse for the prizegiving. Can you believe it? I got a 3rd place in Obedience Novice!
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| I am proud of myself!! |
Shortly after that, Cinnamon had her second Rally Advanced round. However, according to Mum, Cinnamon didn't even stay with Mum in the ring, so Mum called it off after several stations.
Now that we had been in all competitions that we had entered, I thought that we were leaving for home soon. But, after packing up all our stuff, Mum once again walked us, as she hadn't given up her hope that I had qualified in my second Rally-O Excellent A round. In fact she was right! I didn't only get a qualifying score (100/100) but also a 2nd place!
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| I had a photoshoot with my three ribbons after I had a shampoo at home. |
Yay! I got three ribbons in three different sports! I am so happy because Mum looks really happy!
