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Well, she pulled it off - qualified on Saturday to earn her CD title! And what was especially sweet is that Saturday was my old chow's 16th birthday (Kylee). What better way to honor that than for the youngster to earn a new title?? And when I called my Mom on Saturday to see how Kylee and Dora were doing, she told me that she'd sung "happy birthday" to Kylee (while her GSD, Dax, barked in harmony) and then had given all the dogs special treats. Yes, my dogs are spoiled. They deserve it!
Khana's performance wasn't beautiful but she did manage a fourth place out of ten dogs. The judge was tough - first place in novice B was a 192, and that's really low for a novice B class. Khana was distracted as I expected she would be. I just can't simulate the whole "obedience trial" setting for her, and where I live we have few opportunities for fun matches even. The facility is not one of my favorites, either - very little room for warm-up, noisy and loud. I lost her on the "slow" when everyone started clapping and cheering for placings in the rally ring, and then on the "fast" she took off ahead of me for the gate (she was going to go see what all the fun was in the other ring, I'm sure .. *L*). I had to give an extra "Khana HEEL!" command but she swung right back into heel position and we finished okay. What's funny is that we've been having a lagging problem on the fast - but not that day! She ran past and cut across in front of me to head toward the gate. I'm lucky I didn't trip over her.
Her recall was FAST - in fact I thought she was going to bowl me over .. *L* .. she really was moving. There was another chow there (novice A) who casually walked to his owner on the recall. Khana was in full-speed-ahead mode. TOO cute!
So we got our ribbons, our prize (a toy), and our six points toward national rankings for having placed 4th out of 10 dogs. Not many chows place in obedience so those points could very well rank her in the top five chows nationwide! We didn't show on Sunday (today) since she qualified on Saturday, and I wanted to head home (three hour drive). We drove through a snowstorm in Turnagain Pass - not much sticking, but it was really coming down! - and then past Cooper Landing had to slow down for a black bear crossing the road. I stopped and frantically scrambled for the camera, but the bear took one look at us and bolted into the bushes before I could get it out. Khana was throwing a FIT! *L* She was definitely excited by seeing a bear.
It's good to be home, it's good to have the title done - and Khana could care less about titles and all that. She's sleeping under my chair as I type. She doesn't realize that earning three titles in seven months (RA, RE and CD) AND qualifying eight times out of eight times in the ring is quite an accomplishment for any dog, let alone a two year old CHOW! *grin* Yes, I'm proud of the little ragamuffin. She puts up with all my training nonsense. What a girl!
Melanie and the gang in Alaska
Khana's performance wasn't beautiful but she did manage a fourth place out of ten dogs. The judge was tough - first place in novice B was a 192, and that's really low for a novice B class. Khana was distracted as I expected she would be. I just can't simulate the whole "obedience trial" setting for her, and where I live we have few opportunities for fun matches even. The facility is not one of my favorites, either - very little room for warm-up, noisy and loud. I lost her on the "slow" when everyone started clapping and cheering for placings in the rally ring, and then on the "fast" she took off ahead of me for the gate (she was going to go see what all the fun was in the other ring, I'm sure .. *L*). I had to give an extra "Khana HEEL!" command but she swung right back into heel position and we finished okay. What's funny is that we've been having a lagging problem on the fast - but not that day! She ran past and cut across in front of me to head toward the gate. I'm lucky I didn't trip over her.
Her recall was FAST - in fact I thought she was going to bowl me over .. *L* .. she really was moving. There was another chow there (novice A) who casually walked to his owner on the recall. Khana was in full-speed-ahead mode. TOO cute!
So we got our ribbons, our prize (a toy), and our six points toward national rankings for having placed 4th out of 10 dogs. Not many chows place in obedience so those points could very well rank her in the top five chows nationwide! We didn't show on Sunday (today) since she qualified on Saturday, and I wanted to head home (three hour drive). We drove through a snowstorm in Turnagain Pass - not much sticking, but it was really coming down! - and then past Cooper Landing had to slow down for a black bear crossing the road. I stopped and frantically scrambled for the camera, but the bear took one look at us and bolted into the bushes before I could get it out. Khana was throwing a FIT! *L* She was definitely excited by seeing a bear.
It's good to be home, it's good to have the title done - and Khana could care less about titles and all that. She's sleeping under my chair as I type. She doesn't realize that earning three titles in seven months (RA, RE and CD) AND qualifying eight times out of eight times in the ring is quite an accomplishment for any dog, let alone a two year old CHOW! *grin* Yes, I'm proud of the little ragamuffin. She puts up with all my training nonsense. What a girl!
Melanie and the gang in Alaska
