After a break of almost 10 years I entered in official obedience trial today. It was Diesel's first obedience trial. I am quite happy, we got 170 pts (max. 200), it is 1st prize result with some very good grades. The most suprising thing was that the judge said he remembered me! He's seen me last time 9 years ago. :-D

In the morning it was -33 C cold! Brr! We had some problems with water pipes: we got only hot water and no cold water at all. And my car did not start. Luckily we live on a hill and letting the car run downhill we got it started. So I managed to make it to the competition after all!

The obedience trial was arranged indoors, of course. Diesel was at first a bit over-excited and huffed and puffed a lot. I didn't have a crate for him with me so he got to sit by the wall attached by his leash. He calmed down pretty soon but I found it difficult to get him to focus in me and doing what I say. One thing I am very happy with him: I can leave him alone sitting somewhere attached by his leash and he can wait there calmly with lots of people and other dogs passing closely by.

However, somehow I managed to tune him into the right mode when it was our turn, and this is how it went:

Approachability: 10
Diesel lied down while waiting for our turn and I had to ask him to sit up as the judge apporached us. Otherwise it went well.

Down stay 2 minutes: 10
I would have been quite surprised if this didn't work. Although in these group exercises you cannot control what other dogs do and that can lead to unpleasant events. In another group doing down-stay a dog stood up and went to the dog lying next to him and tried to mate with her.

Heeling on-leash: 9
I didn't know I am allowed to keep the leash in any way I want to. I thought I had to keep it in my left hand which I never do and it was a bit disturbing. (I wanted to keep it in my right had.). My mistake for not reading through the rules. I was also walking in a too fast pace. The about turns were loose.

Heeling off-leash: 9½
Better but with the same mistakes in minor amount.

Down from heeling: 9½
I gave a small hand signal.

Recall: 9
Diesel first stayed in sitting position but then lied down. For some irrational reason I shouted wrong word as command to come to me. I used a word that is rather insignificant to Diesel and does not remind his correct recall-command at all. No wonder both of us were confused and the ending of the exercise was not good.

Standing from heeling: 9½
Diesel took a few too many steps after command I think?

Jump: 0
My mistake! I was not sure Diesel would recognize the obstacle as a jumping obstacle as it was different from what we have at home and we had been practising it only for a few days. So I took my time taking the basic position in front of the obstacle in hopes of Diesel notising it and recognizing it as a jump... and he sure did! He jumped over it and back again without permission!
After permission he did nearly a perfect jump...

Overall impression: 9
The judge said he remembers me (with my PONs) from my "previous obedience trial era"! that is 9 years ago. He really liked our work and phraised it a lot.

We did all the exercises in the row without much phraise in between. I think this tactic worked well with Diesel. I did not look at what grades the judge gave us during our performance. I was only focusing in our work. Our friends on the ringside said we got very good grades but I really did not rely on that until I saw the score list.

With 170 pts I thought it was a mediocre performance as I thought the jump was only worth 10 pts. But the grade for the jump is actually multiplied by 2 so we lost up to 20 pts in it! We could have scored 190 pts if Diesel only had waited until permission to do the jump... and with such a score we had been sharing the first place in the class. Even with  a 9 for the jump we would have been among the 3 best of the class.

Anyway, with 170 pts it was a 1st prize result. With three 1st prize results you get a title for passing the class. But you can also move on to the next class with just one 1st prize result. This was a lot of fun and i want to go to another obedience trial with Diesel - now i just have to figure out whether we will do another Novice class trial or move on to class 2 (open class).

 

Notes to self after watching the video:
a) Read the rule book before trial.
b) Absurd long legs! Better to walk in a slowlier pace and with shorter steps with such a small dog. I was told this already 3 years ago but now that I see it myself, it makes more sense.
c) There is absolutely no mind in trying out a new command word for recall for the first time in a trial. Better off using the same command as you always use. :-D
d) Not a good idea to step on your dog so that he cries out loud when taking the basic position after a fairly good performance.
e) Not a good tactic to take a long time settling into start position before the jump obstacle hoping that the dog will notice it. He will.