Obedience on the fly

I had Hokey entered in Wild Card Utility obedience both days at the Syracuse trials. We had a lot of fun and for a dog who has not had much formal utility training he did quite well. I do see some things we will have to work on :)

On the Directed Retrieve for the gloves, Hokey ran right out to the correct glove, then turned, smiled at me and downed with the glove between his front legs. A perfect tracking article indication! So we need to add the retrieve to that!

Then on scent articles, I chose to only have him do leather. He ran right out and indicated the correct article - interesting since he had never worked a pile but on his own decided to choose the article that smelled the most like me. Again, he wasn't sure about the retrieving.

Still, we are on our way and will now actually start training for utility!

Hokey's sister, Tiara, did a stunning job in Excellent B Rally both days - earning a 1st and a 2nd in very big and tough classes.

Tia, Kate's little Aussie, held it together and managed to squeak out her first CDX leg. Six dogs qualified that day, so no placement but she is "on the scoreboard" now!We decided that Kate has finally earned a CDX herself - she put one CDX leg each on her Corgi Flash, on Hokey and now on Tia!
Deb E

From Hokey:
Man, they have some really stupid rules. Why doesn't the person come pick up the glove or the article after the brilliant dog locates it? Why should the canine half of the team have to do ALL the work?

Tia was a bit insufferable on the way home. A lousy little green flat ribbon - big deal! *I* got better scores for my CDX legs AND I got placements!! At least Deb had the good sense to realize the Queezle and I at least deserved to split a cheeseburger on the way home - no double though.

I am going to train like crazy and show that stupid Aussie how a REAL dog does REAL obedience like Utility!