Saturday I took Tug to his first obedience match. It’s been more than a year since we did any formal obedience training so the match was mostly for me. The judge offered several great tips and with a little work I feel we are ready to compete in Beginning Novice.
The Beginning Novice class is a good warm-up to future obedience competitions. The heeling course has signs (like Rally) and is followed by a “sit for inspection”, a figure 8, a sit-stay, and a recall. The handlers walk the heeling course before the class starts. In the “sit for inspection” the dog does a sit-stay while the handler moves to the end of the leash and the judge approaches the doge for a quick greeting. The dog should remain seated. The figure 8 is a heel around 2-people. The handler has 3-steps from the time the judge says to “halt” the dog to come to a sit. Note that the judge msy have you sit anywhere in the pattern so do not anticipate the stop. The “sit-stay” is solo. The handler sits the dog in the middle of the ring, gives the stay command, and then walks completely around the ring and returns to the dog while the dog remains sitting. The recall is done off leash at and the dog is to sit in front of the handler. The dog does not need to “finish” to a heel. The Beginning Novice class is a good way to get a new dog and/or handler used to the obedience ring and to gain confidence to take the next step. (Details about the exercises and scoring can be found here on the AKC site.)
We had both purebred and mixed dogs at yesterday’s event. Now that the AKC has the “canine partners” program all dogs can enjoy competing and be recognized with titles. It was alot of fun for both Tug and I.
After the match we went to Sag Harbor for an afternoon of dogs being dogs. They love to play fetch in the “forest” (not sure a 5-acre wooded area qualifies as a forest). They both swam in the bay. Tug charges into the water and goes way out to fetch. Shea is still a puppy and learning to swim and her distance is increasing with her confidence. I haven’t given them many opportunities this winter so hope to get them out more this month before the beaches close to dogs for the summer season. It is good for our city dogs to have days where they can stretch their legs and enjoy some nature.
Here’s Shea sporting a new short haircut. Her coat is maturing and it is easier to care for when it is shorter. I cut the hair to about 1/3 the original length. I forgot to take the “before” photo, but she was essentially a fuller version of herself.
Congratulations to the 