Sawyer's Amazing Obedience Day - Part 2

April 21, 2013.  After our stellar morning at the Versatile K9 Sports Club CDSP Obedience trial, I had no expectations for the afternoon trial.  It's a really long day and I wouldn't have been surprised if Sawyer did not do as well.  But the big man proved me wrong and did just as well in the afternoon as he did the morning. 

Our second attempt at Open A went better than the first:

I didn't get the Heeling pattern or Running Broad Jump on video but both were perfect and we didn't have any points deducted.

 

We got a half point off on the Drop on Recall.  I can't tell why from the angle on this video and the score sheet didn't specify. 

 

 

Even though the dumbbell took a bounce to the right, Sawyer still returned nice and straight so we got no points off for the Retrieve on the Flat exercise.



Another bad dumbbell bounce, this time to the left, but Sawyer was great and went over the jump on the way out and back.  That along with the straight front and finish gave us no points off on the Retrieve Over the High Jump exercise.

 

The Go Out Turn and Sit is the last exercise and the one that I'm always worried about.  Sawyer did it this morning but would he do it again??  Yes he would!  It was a little to the side, which gave us a half point off. 

Final score was 199 out of 200 and 1st place in the class!!

Our last run of the day was Novice C.  The last sit on the heeling pattern was poor so we got one half point off.

The Figure 8 was perfect, again!

 Moving Stand for Exam, no points off.  He looks for me on the return but doesn't move a foot.

 

Recall Over the Bar Jump, no points off. 

 

No points on the Honor either gave us a total score of 199.5, making us first place in the class, High in Trial and High Combined again!!!

 

Here we are with judge, Diane Cordero.  It's especially nice doing well under Diane since she's a fellow Weimaraner person. 

 

Sawyer with all his ribbons.  What a long, exhausting but very successful weekend!!  He can barely keep his eyes open.

Sawyer's Amazing Obedience Day - Part 1

April 21, 2013.  Today we participated in the Versatile K9 Sports Club CDSP Obedience Trial.  CDSP is a much more relaxing atmosphere for me and I guess Sawyer could feel that because he was a Rock Star today!  There are lots of videos but they are all short.

The day started with a run in the Open A class. 

Sawyer's heeling was spot on.  No points off for this!

Running Broad Jump, also perfect.


Drop on Recall, nailed it!  This was the exercise we failed the first time we tried Open last fall.


Retrieve on the Flat. This is where we lost our points.  Sawyer dropped the dumbbell as he was trying to pick it up so we lost 2 points for that.  His front was also 1/2 point crooked.


Retrieve Over the High Jump.  He also had a 1/2 point off crooked front on this exercise.  We have been working on straightening them out so this was really an improvement. 


The last exercise is the Go Out Turn and Sit.  This is an exercise that we've really been practicing because it's not been consistent at all.  I was worried and a bit surprised that he was going to the ring gate that I almost forgot to tell him to Sit.  He was close but I was able to get around him so zero points lost on this one too! 


Sawyer got a 197 out of 200 and won the run off for 2nd place in the class. 

Next up was our Novice C run.  Sawyer already has his CD-C but with two more qualifying runs in the C class he would earn his Novice Championship.



Sawyer's Heeling was perfect again!  No points off. 



Sawyer usually lags on the outside curve of the Figure 8 but not this time. No points off!

Moving Stand for Exam.  We rarely have problems with this exercise. No points off.


Recall Over the Bar Jump.  Sawyer got the front straight this time so no points off!


Last up is the Honor Stay.  This is no problem for Sawyer since I get to stand right next to him.  So we ended up with a Perfect Score of 200!  This put us in first place and tied with the Open B dog for High in Trial (HIT).  We had to do a run off heeling pattern to see who would get HIT and Sawyer won!!  He also won High Combined having the highest scores in two classes.

Here we are with judge, Sandi Ver Sprill and all our loot!

 

I think he looks good in the High in Trial and High Combined ribbons!! 

 

 

I was thrilled with how the morning trial went.  I had no expectations for the afternoon trial as Sawyer's been sitting around all day so thought he'd be tired.  But Sawyer proved me wrong.....



Sawyer's First Graduate Novice Obedience Trial

April 19, 2013.  We travelled to Maryland to attend the D.C. Weimaraner Club Specialty.  Sawyer was entered in his first Graduate Novice obedience trial.  The exercise we've been struggling with is an 'out of sight stay'.  Sawyer does not like when I leave him and tends to break the stay to come find me.  He has been better with the down stay than the sit stay so I decided to try Graduate Novice, which only has a 3 minute long down stay.  I knew the Weimaraner specialty would not have a large entry and felt Sawyer would be more comfortable with a few amount of Weims than with a whole ring full of other dogs.  As it turns out he was the only entry in that class, which could be good or bad.  We practiced alot for the last couple of weeks, going all different places and trying the stays.  He's been doing good but you never know what will happen in a new environment. 

Nadine videoed the exercises for us. 

The first two exercises were the Heel on Leash and the Off-Leash Figure 8.

Next up was the Drop on Recall, Dumbbell Recall, and the Recall over the High Jump.

The last exercise before the long down stay was the Recall over the Broad Jump.

 

I won't publish the long down because it's just 3 minutes of Sawyer laying down and looking in the direction I left.  I'm so proud he accomplished this.  I know how much work it is for him to stay there while I leave and he did so well! 

 

We got a lovely 1st place rosette and a blanket as a prize.

 

Sawyer had a hard time containing his excitement.

 



Sniff and Go - Nosework

April 14, 2013.  Today we did a Sniff and Go, which is a practice run of the Nosework sport. The dogs are trained to find an odor, in our case we are on the level 1 odor of birch.  This was Sawyer's second Sniff and Go and Daisy's first.  Sawyer is entered in a Nosework trial at the end of May so we're trying to see what we need to work on to prepare for the trial.  I'm happy to report both dogs did terrific!  This event was hosted by Kerber Dog Training in Nazareth, PA.  The searches included Interior, Container, Vehicle and Exterior, just like a trial will.  We were lucky enough to get people to help with the video taping so I could capture these practice runs and watch them later.

First up was Sawyer.  He was the very first dog to run and did a terrific job.  He found each odor and gave me a great alert each time.

Here is Sawyer's Interior search.  He found the odor but I made him show me again so I was sure exactly where it was.  In a trial situation you need to identify where the odor is.

Here is Sawyer's Container search.  I really wish he would be methodical and go up and down the rows but all that matters is he finds the box with the odor.  

Here is Sawyer's vehicle search.  The odor is hidden on one of the 3 vehicles.

The last search is Exterior.  Sawyer seemed a bit slower by the last search but found it just before time ran out.


Daisy was last to go.  This is a sport that she really enjoys and she's really good at it.  She had some of the fastest times!  Her first search is the Interior search.


Her second search is containers.  She found the odor is just over 6 seconds!!


The disadvantage of running two dogs is that I knew where the hides were when I ran Daisy.  She found the odor but I waited her out because I knew it was a few inches over.


The last run was Exterior.  Daisy found this one much faster than her dad, Sawyer.  There's no sign of her slowing down.

Luring without the Rain

April 7, 2013.  We tried lure coursing with Daisy last fall and she loved it...the first time we took her out and she qualify for her first Coursing Ability leg.  The next two times I tried to take her lure coursing it was raining and she didn't want to run in the rain.  I don't really blame her.  So today we went to a lure coursing practice.  It was a beautiful spring day but we still didn't have the enthusiasm we had the first time she was out.  Her second run was better than her first but she didn't consistently follow the lure for the whole course.  Oh well, guess she likes hunting and agility better!

She looks ready to go.

And we're off! 

 

She looks like a jackrabbit.

 

What extension.

 

At least she had fun for awhile.

 

Perhaps we'll try again another day.  

Daisy Gets Her First Title!

March 31, 2013.  This weekend we attended the Nutmeg Weimaraner Club Hunt Tests.  Daisy qualified both days to earn her Junior Hunter title.  This is her first (of hopefully many) title making her: Ashbrooke Oopsie Daisy, JH.

Saturday, qualifying leg number 3.

 

Since we were staying on site, Daisy got to run around after the test was over looking for extra birds.  What fun that was!  And it gave me an opportunity to get some pictures of her since I can't take pictures while I'm running her in the test.

 

 

Sunday, qualifying leg number 4 and new JH title!