Rally Fun Match

Saturday was our Rally Fun Match held at Mega-Dogs and hosted by Cascade Doberman Pinscher Club. It was rainy in the AM, but by the time we got going the sun had come out.

This was our most "official-feel" fun match to date.

Right away I screwed up when I marched into the ring with Nim to get to the starting sign. Turns out I was supposed to wait to be invited into the ring. I am sure at some point I was taught this but haven't had a chance to practice it yet and clearly forgot.

I LOVED the judge. I think because she was judge-like and I got a lot out of her comments. We did three runs and she did notations on our "map." My first run had the most mistakes and the runs after that I worked to correct them.

You probably can't really read the map, but notes I was given:

TL (2) at the top next to the Straight Figure 8 Weave Twice. 
That means I got noted for "tight lead" on 2 runs. What was happening was as I got to the end cone and was turning to weave back he was swinging wide to the end of the lead. The first time I will give him my bad handling, but also what was going on is that the end cone was pointed towards a kennel and groomer. :) He was totally distracted by the noises. Means I need to work harder. On the final run I was really talking to him out of the 3rd and into the 4th cone. He still swung wide but not the end of the lead.

Sign 2 - Call Front - stepping back
All his sits on the first time through were "hoovers." Dobermans are somewhat championship hoover-ers due to their dislike of unsatisfying surfaces on the rear-ends. The comment was I should make sure I am making a complete defined stop before initiating the next step back. On the following 2 runs he did full sits so it shows that if I rush him he will be more than happy to short-cut.

Sign 9 - return to normal pace
It is only recently that he and I can drop to slow pace and stay in sync (this was sign 8). I get so excited about it that I tend not to speed it back up for a normal pace sign especially if I know I have a tight turn coming (sign 10). This is a training issue I have in class too. I corrected it in the following 2 runs on this course.

It was a fun and socially exhausting day. Lots of doberman people and their pups so he got a lot more interaction than normally at these events.