This afternoon Denali and I got our first Rally Excellent leg at a small, local specialty trial for herding breeds only. It was great to see so many of the herders together. It was a really small trial. We had only one other dog in the Ex-A class with us, a gorgeous rough-coat collie. Gotta love those placement odds!
Denali snagged the big blue ribbon with a score of 93.
Still some work to do on the three steps back, but we knew that going in. She was the only corgi in the entire group of rally entries - but one of a number of beautiful black and white dogs!
There were some facility-related challenges on this one. It was in a very small building, so the ring and judge's table occupied the entire interior space. That meant that the dogs had no opportunity to see the space until it was time for them to perform in the ring. It is also a dance studio...so we had full-length mirrors on three walls. The lack of ability to acclimate to the space, and the mirrors, kind of freaked some of the dogs and several had to be excused as a result, while others showed a distinct lack of concentration.
But when you have short legs, you're not quite tall enough to see yourself in the mirrors, which started at about 18" off the floor (yeah for 5" legs!). Walking right into a new room and being expected to jump right into the course was a little disorienting for a curious girl like Denali. Consequently, we lost a few "out of position" points because she was trying to look around as she negotiated the course.
But over all, she did really well and conquered the formerly-scary high jump without hesitation. Once again, I was very proud of my gorgeous girl!
Hopefully we'll be able to party with Cappy, his parents, Denise and Trenton, and Alden, Fig and Watson in Vallejo on March 25 when we try for our second RE leg!
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5 comments:
Awwww - Congrats!!!! Now Denali is all caught up with her brother!
You go girl! Go get that RE!!!! :)
Very Good!
Hey, have you thought about a regular CD title for her? It should be a piece of cake.
Good job. Of course, it's easier when you own a brainiac cardi! Of course she could get her CD.
CONGRATULATIONS!!
Yes, I have thought about going back to formal obedience in pursuit of the CD at some point. We actually started out training toward that goal, but I couldn't get Denali to stop lagging on the heeling.
She got burned out on the repetition of obedience and her performance was deteriorating. Neither of us were having any fun.
That is when I switched her to Rally and got my happy dog back again. She was just so bored with the obedience and thrives on the verbal interaction allowed with Rally.
I would like to see her get her RAE, and we'll see whether she's game to go back to the formal obedience training or not.
As long as she's having fun with it, I'll stick with what seems to be making her happy. I just love how proud she is at the end of the course when she hears how well she did.
She has become a wonderful Cardi representative at trials too. So many people have never seen a Cardi so they come up to meet her. She is wonderful with everyone and they all think she's adorable.
Sage has actually displayed a far more promising natural heel. He might actually be more likely to earn his CD in future. He knows how to do everything he'd need to do to get his RN, but he's such a goofball that he's just not ready to focus enough to show. He just started in Rally class this session.
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