With high hopes we went to Katie’s third leg for Obedience Novice today.  I even figured out pretty close to perfectly our timing so we didn’t have to sit around all day.  Katie was engaged as we waited, but anxious to get going. So was I.

There were six teams in our class; we were #4.  Just as the Team #1 started I realized Katie hadn’t gone to potty in awhile…so we went out in the rain and walked around. She wet but I had hoped for more.  Ah well.  (Truly, this matters, later in the story.)

Then it was our turn.  Katie heeled fine into the ring and set up fine.  But she lagged behind me on the heel on leash and wouldn’t sit at the final halt which was right in front of the gate.  She was more interested in everyone sitting out there than me.  I don’t think she even realized I had stopped.

Her figure 8 was OK,  though she lagged a bit on the outside curve, she at least sat when we halted.  Her stand for exam was perfect; she had no problem letting the strange lady touch her.  I was so proud of her!

Then we were back to do more heeling this time without a leash.  If I could get the video to play in this blog you’d see that she was on a different planet than I was.  And as we headed back toward the crowd she whipped around and tugged at her tail.  This is her sign she has to GO!  😦  She didn’t sit on the last halt on this heeling pattern either.  Just stood there and looked at me looking at her.  SIGH.

On a brighter note her recall was pretty cool.  She was almost straight when she ran up and sat in front of me.  That’s been an ongoing problem for quite awhile…she’ll run to me and then sit crooked, all the while grinning.  Silly girl.  Today she sat pretty straight, and finished by circling around me when I signaled and sat pretty.  WHEW! (Those of you on facebook can see the video there.  I can’t remember how to upload to youtube, and so it isn’t going into this blog.)

I thought we had it in the bag then, she has had no trouble at all on her long sits (1 minute) and downs (3 minutes).  But surprise surprise, she didn’t want to sit, though she did after one additional command….and she REALLY didn’t want to down.  I had to physically fight with her, which cost me big points.  I know that she had to GO Mama!  And I was holding my breath the whole 3 minutes thinking she was going to just get up and head for the door.  She did shift from one hip to another and I thought she was going to move, but she stayed where she was.  Have I mentioned that she’s a good girl?

So in the end Katie got her Novice Obedience title.  We scored 178.5 out of 200 possible points.  We even got third place!

While we were waiting for awards the dog next to me leaned in for a head rub.  I couldn’t stop, each time I tried she leaned in further.  What a sweetie!

Best of all for Katie is that she got a ton of ribbons and a new toy!  She won a pink whale.  She’s already been playing with it.

She’s napping now.  I need a nap too.  She did things today she’s never done before, but most of the errors were mine.  Which is why I didn’t get a pink whale I suppose.

Good girl sweetie.  Mama loves you.