that last CD leg

Well it's time to finish that darn CD. Spryte earned two legs back in December and I haven't entered her in obedience since. We have been far too busy focusing on agility to spend any time on another sport. But now with regionals finished it's time to switch gears and focus on obedience again.

 I entered Spryte in two rounds of Novice B at the Evelyn Kenny show in July. Now that she is entered it's time to practise!  Today was our first session in months. Truly I can't even remember the last session we did.  We had a friend run us through a novice round to see where we are at and it went very well. She would have passed everything with a nice score. The off leash heel wasn't as sharp as the on leash heel, but I can live with that.  Mostly I just want to get it over and done with.  I have always completed my CD in a weekend or two back to back. So to have waited 7 months to get that last leg is killing me.  I really regret not entering her in another show in December while we were on an obedience streak. But it's too late now, so hopefully that last leg will come at Evelyn Kenny.

I really enjoyed my obedience session with Spryte today.  I don't get that same adrenaline rush as in agility, but there is something really special about the teamwork that forms doing obedience. I love a focused heeling dog. There is something really cool about having a dog happily trot along beside you, watching your every move and not missing a beat. And I like working on the other obedience skills too, I think it makes my dogs a lot more well rounded and gives their mind and body a break from agility.

Besides the novice routine I also worked on all the non jump exercises in Open and Utility.  I haven't done scent discrimination in forever until today and Spryte also did very well with this.  She had no problem finding the wood and leather, and found the metal right away. But she didn't want to pick it up, so she pushed it around a bunch, and then grabbed a wood instead.  After hearing a "wrong" for the wood she decided that she did have to pick up the metal one after all and brought it to me right away. Again for not practising in months I was thrilled with how she performed. Her drop on recall, signals, glove were also very good.  She is still mouthing the dumbbell like crazy and I wonder if I will every fix this one.  We continue to battle it with little success. Her go backs were also less than desirable.  She was hesitant to leave and didn't run a straight line.  So I will need to work on those too.

Anyway I am happy I have entered Spryte in obedience. I feel like I am ready to return to the sport and ready for all the training that is involved. And Spryte also seems happy to be focusing on some different skills for a change.