When you smell like soap, it makes doing scent articles much harder for your dog. That is why I was thrown into a small fit of panic when I had brain laps and took a bathroom break just a little bit before our turn at the obedience match yesterday. Who knew Utility training could be so personal that you have to schedule bathroom breaks?! :-p
While I would like to blame my soapy smelling hands for Rugby missing the leather article, I don't think that is the case. It is just a small hump we have to go through before he actually becomes the super, amazing, fantastic scent article dog that he is. Hump will likely become much smaller if I start working him before I wash my hands, though.
At least he got the leather one right on the second try. Metal was good the first time.
That was the only NQ yesterday.
The other thing he did that is hard to see in the video is on the go-outs. For the first one, he went out straight until he was 10 feet in front of the baby gate and started veering left. I tried to sit him before he got off track too much. I am about 75% sure that he did this because we had the number one glove and he couldn't remember when we got out there if he was doing go-outs or directed retrieve again. The second go-out was perfect except for the sit (crooked). We have to work on doing gloves THEN go-outs on the same side of the ring.
Utility is so much fun. I freaked out once because right before I went into the ring, I stepped in dog doo. So I was using a wipe or something to get it off my shoe and realized I was getting the chemical smell on my hands. After that I was very careful about not going to the restroom until after our performance.
ReplyDeleteYou did very well with the noise from the other doggie :-)
ReplyDeleteWizz
Looks awesome! See all that hard work over the summer paid off haha. I love how Rugby totally cheated and looked behind him when she placed the leather :P Ellie and I might just attempt to get our CDX wish us luck! I know you and Rugby will do fantastic ^_^
ReplyDeleteLoL, That's why I am having such a hard time practicing articles are home. My hands either smell like soap, food or a cleaner:-) Yesterday I was about to do the articles and then forgot for a sec and ate an orange, that smell stayed on my hands till it was bed time - hence no articles yesterday. Considering that I only have span of two ours to squeeze the article work in, it's very frustrating.
ReplyDeleteWow - I guess those are new things I'll have to start thinking about too!! Had our first lesson with directed jumping last night, what a journey from that to where you guys are! I'm always impressed that the utility dogs can concentrate for so long as well. Keep up the awesome work!!
ReplyDeleteMichelle & Brutus