Rally-O!

The boys had an APDT Rally trial this weekend. I'm very pleased with both of them. Duncan ran Level 1 and Level 2, racking up points, Qs and QQs for advanced titles. Kodiak stayed in Puppy Level, working very hard for his Puppy Championship.

Duncan's Level 1 runs were great. He had scores of 204, 201, and 208. Sunday afternoon he earned a perfect score of 210 with a flawless run! He also had three great Level 2 runs with scores of 204, 203 and 205. We had a bad run Sunday morning (scored 187), but most of that was my fault (the lagging and crooked sits were all him). I screwed up an exercise, did a 360 turn rather than a 270, but thankfully realized I was going the wrong way before I officially missed the next exercise and NQ'd us. When we got to the bonus, I wasn't clear in my "stay" command and he broke his stay before I took two steps away from him. The judge let us try again even though we couldn't get any points for it and Duncan executed the exercise perfectly. Naturally. That one low score put a damper on Duncan's weekend for no more than a couple of minutes. He now has 4 more Qs towards his RL1X (only needs 2 more), and 4 Qs towards his RL2X (needs 6 more). He also earned 3 QQs towards his ARCH (needs 2 more). I'm so proud of how well Duncan did this weekend. Even his 180 left pivots weren't too bad, which is impressive since he just recently discovered what "back" means...

Kodiak had a rough time this weekend. He was mostly fine with meeting and greeting, especially when folks had really yummy treats, but seeing the audience from the ring really freaked him out. And the walls were scary. He started out with a 191 Saturday morning, with his biggest problem being that he really, really did not want to have his back towards the audience, and he didn't want to walk towards them without me right beside him. He dropped to a 180 Saturday afternoon - still didn't want his back to anyone, and he also started stressing over the scary walls with their terrifying air vents. Sunday morning was the worst, with a score of 173. He was stressing over everything, from people and noises to walls and signs. The stationary exercises are hardest for him, because they give him just enough time to start thinking, which almost always leads to panic. When he's moving, its not so bad. We got lucky Sunday afternoon. The course had the required stationary signs, but there was enough heeling to get him moving. One of the other folks gave us some chunks of seasoned steak, which really snagged his attention. I also changed how we entered the ring. Instead of getting him out before the course, putting him up while I walked it, getting him out and trying to get some focus, and then asking for focus in the ring before we stated, I left him in the crate until it was time for him to go into the ring. I told the judge we were going to enter and start, no prep activities first. That seemed to help him quite a bit (no time to think about all those scary staring people). He did beautifully. He held his stay when I asked for it, did his down with no problems, and heeled like a dream. He even managed part of the bonus exercise. Kodiak earned a whopping 202 with that run, and the 4 Qs for the weekend gave him his Puppy Championship title. I'm so pleased with how well he bounced back for that last run and I have seasoned steak on my list for the next Rally trial.

Here's Kodiak in his crate after he finished his last run.

Duncan with 8 qualifying ribbons. At this level, they don't give placement rosettes or prizes anymore, just qualifying ribbons.

Kodiak being smug about his ribbons and toy (notice his tongue sticking out). He technically wasn't supposed to get any rosettes for placements, either, but one of the judges thought he deserved them anyway. The toy and big rosette are for his RLPX.

He's a bit more dignified in this one. And before you say anything, John, yes, he's just as afraid of the ribbons as he was the STAR Puppy medal. It took quite a few tries to get pictures of him sitting in the chair, rather than bolting from it.

In a couple of weeks we should have some great photos from the trial. They had a photographer come in and she'll be sending me a CD with all the pictures she took of Duncan and Kodiak over the weekend. Can't wait to see those!