Not only was he 3rd place in Novice B for the first trial, he turned out to be High Terrier in Trial! They had prizes for all the groups. Elmo won himself a squeaky toy, and me a wine glass! Of course, I'd won the champagne flute the day before with Tully (see Tully, CD!), so I'm thinking there must be some sort of link to obedience and drinking.... |
Once I had registered my dogs with the UKC, I was eager to try UKC style obedience with Elmo. UKC obedience is in many ways similar to AKC, but there are some differences, most of which make it a little better test of the functionality of the dog's training. At the Novice level, the differences are first that there is no group down. Each dog does what is called an "honor down", holding a down stay while another dog is doing the on-lead heeling pattern. The other difference is that the recall is over a high jump. I wasn't at all concerned about these differences. Elmo had done down stays with all sorts of distractions, and Mister Rocket Recall wasn't going to let a little thing like a jump come between us! Elmo had his CDX in AKC by this time, so I saw no particular need to practice. Our first try, in October of 2002, it seemed I was right. He qualified easily. The jump on the recall suprised him, but after the barest hesitation, he flew over it joyfully. We went back the next day, intending to get his 2nd leg. For some mysterious reason, Elmo suddenly developed an odd stay problem! When I went around behind him, returning from the group sit stay, he stood up. I was very disappointed! A couple weeks later, I had entered a trial... many UKC events can be entered on the day they are held, but this one was pre-entry only. I had confidently assumed we would get 2 UCD legs at the earlier trial, so I'd only entered one day. Getting Elmo out of my truck at the trial site, I stepped on his paw a bit. He squealed... I didn't think much of it, as he is quite the baby. (I did apologize to him, of course) Later, in the ring, we had done our on-lead heeling pattern, and the judge went to say something to the honor dog. I looked down, and saw that Elmo had a broken nail, with a piece sticking off. I thought I'd better break it free, so it didn't get caught on something in the ring. What I didn't know, was that it was broken to the quick. When I grabbed the fragment, Elmo let out a LOUD scream! There were 2 rings of obedience, and lot of people sitting around waiting for their turn. Everything stopped, and everyone turned to look at us. Our judge whirled to look at me. "He broke a nail," I said, embarassed, and knowing how stupid that sounded. "Do you need to leave?" "Oh, he's okay." "That didn't SOUND okay!" she said, obviously appalled at my callousness. "I touched it. I won't touch it again." Of course, he was fine, and when the judge saw the rocket recall, I'm sure she realized that was so. The recall was particularly rocketlike that day... when he heard "Elmo," he was on his toes, and at the word "front", he launched himself several feet, landed, and launched again to cross the jump. I was standing back more than the 8 required feet (exact distance is at handler's discretion), since I knew he'd be moving fast and need room to slow down. I don't think he DID slow down, he covered the space in a couple more leaps, and skidded to a halt in front of me. With 2 legs on the UCD, I didn't know when I'd find a trial for the 3rd. In January of 2003, though, I found one a few hours drive. It was the same weekend as the Rose City Classic Cluster, which was a 12 minute drive from my house. I had Tully in conformation on Friday and Monday at the Classic, Saturday I had both dogs in AKC obedience there (Tully's first Novice, and Elmo in Open B just for fun. He didn't qualify, but we had fun) On Sunday, I drove that few hours to the trial held by the Monroe Valley Dog Training Club. There were actually 2 trials held that day, and I entered both of them. (not making the same mistake twice!) |
Once I had registered my dogs with the UKC, I was eager to try UKC style obedience with Elmo. UKC obedience is in many ways similar to AKC, but there are some differences, most of which make it a little better test of the functionality of the dog's training. At the Novice level, the differences are first that there is no group down. Each dog does what is called an "honor down", holding a down stay while another dog is doing the on-lead heeling pattern. The other difference is that the recall is over a high jump. I wasn't at all concerned about these differences. Elmo had done down stays with all sorts of distractions, and Mister Rocket Recall wasn't going to let a little thing like a jump come between us! Elmo had his CDX in AKC by this time, so I saw no particular need to practice. Our first try, in October of 2002, it seemed I was right. He qualified easily. The jump on the recall suprised him, but after the barest hesitation, he flew over it joyfully. We went back the next day, intending to get his 2nd leg. For some mysterious reason, Elmo suddenly developed an odd stay problem! When I went around behind him, returning from the group sit stay, he stood up. I was very disappointed! A couple weeks later, I had entered a trial... many UKC events can be entered on the day they are held, but this one was pre-entry only. I had confidently assumed we would get 2 UCD legs at the earlier trial, so I'd only entered one day. Getting Elmo out of my truck at the trial site, I stepped on his paw a bit. He squealed... I didn't think much of it, as he is quite the baby. (I did apologize to him, of course) Later, in the ring, we had done our on-lead heeling pattern, and the judge went to say something to the honor dog. I looked down, and saw that Elmo had a broken nail, with a piece sticking off. I thought I'd better break it free, so it didn't get caught on something in the ring. What I didn't know, was that it was broken to the quick. When I grabbed the fragment, Elmo let out a LOUD scream! There were 2 rings of obedience, and lot of people sitting around waiting for their turn. Everything stopped, and everyone turned to look at us. Our judge whirled to look at me. "He broke a nail," I said, embarassed, and knowing how stupid that sounded. "Do you need to leave?" "Oh, he's okay." "That didn't SOUND okay!" she said, obviously appalled at my callousness. "I touched it. I won't touch it again." Of course, he was fine, and when the judge saw the rocket recall, I'm sure she realized that was so. The recall was particularly rocketlike that day... when he heard "Elmo," he was on his toes, and at the word "front", he launched himself several feet, landed, and launched again to cross the jump. I was standing back more than the 8 required feet (exact distance is at handler's discretion), since I knew he'd be moving fast and need room to slow down. I don't think he DID slow down, he covered the space in a couple more leaps, and skidded to a halt in front of me. With 2 legs on the UCD, I didn't know when I'd find a trial for the 3rd. In January of 2003, though, I found one a few hours drive. It was the same weekend as the Rose City Classic Cluster, which was a 12 minute drive from my house. I had Tully in conformation on Friday and Monday at the Classic, Saturday I had both dogs in AKC obedience there (Tully's first Novice, and Elmo in Open B just for fun. He didn't qualify, but we had fun) On Sunday, I drove that few hours to the trial held by the Monroe Valley Dog Training Club. There were actually 2 trials held that day, and I entered both of them. (not making the same mistake twice!) |
We only needed one! In our first trial, Elmo came through for me, scoring a 188 which was good for 3rd place! He sure liked the treats he got for his prize! He had his UCD! I moved him up to Open for the second trial, but he still had his case of no-drop, so we didn't qualify. I didn't mind. |
Not only was he 3rd place in Novice B for the first trial, he turned out to be High Terrier in Trial! They had prizes for all the groups. Elmo won himself a squeaky toy, and me a wine glass! Of course, I'd won the champagne flute the day before with Tully (see Tully, CD!), so I'm thinking there must be some sort of link to obedience and drinking.... |
On to the UCDX! |
