The big challenge in earning Elmo's UCDX was that after AKC Open, he had decided he should never drop on the recall. I can see his point... there I was all stressed, my body language encouraging him to hurry, and telling him to "down". He really thought he had it figured out!
Fortunately, in UKC Open, one can use both a hand signal and a verbal command on the drop. With this added encouragement, I was able to get his drop back. Otherwise, UKC Open is much like AKC Open, except that the group down is replaced by an honor down during the heel pattern (handler for the honoring dog is out of sight). This is not a problem for Elmo, so we just had to get through the drop issue.
He picked up the final leg on his UCDX at the Washington Classic in June of 2003, with a 1st place finish!
