Eepie Earns Her CCD Title

What an amazing year we have had.

In June the Peep celebrated her second birthday. She also celebrated her first anniversary as an Australian Doggy-Citizen and she earned her conformation championship.

Now in July she has earned her first obedience title - her Community Companion Dog title (CCD).

We travelled to Nowra for the Shoalhaven Dog Training Club morning and afternoon trials and the Peep won both her classes. So after one "false start" trial and one "near miss" trial she earned this title in the month of July with three first places and an average score of 92.6%. That's not too shabby for a young dog.

Throughout the day I learned lots of handling lessons at the Shoalhaven trials because i made some silly mistakes (but i also did some things well). Eep had a couple of indiscreet moments in amongst the great teamwork, too. I need to think more about what i do to keep her "up" between exercises - we managed OK but my efforts seemed a bit artificial even to me and a couple of times she looked at me as if to say "why are you acting weird?"

So now the plan is to rest and re-focus in August and prepare for our first Novice trials in September.

So - What lessons are there to learn from three wins and a new title? Where did we lose points at the Shoalhaven DTC trials? And what can we do about it?

My handling errors

Our judge at the morning trial, Andrew Parker, told me that on the Stand for Exam i returned to a different place than the one i left and this is one of his "pet hates" - so i lost two points there. He was right - When i give the command to STAND, Eepie stops dead which means that my feet are still moving when she stops and end up level with or just slightly ahead of her front feet. But on the return, i go back to "my" heeling position which is with my left knee just behind her right elbow....

In some ways i am still "trialling with Harpo" when i go to work with Eepie - Harpo is a bigger dog and he takes a couple of steps to walk into his Stand - by contrast, when Eepie hears the word STAND she just stops bang-bang on her front feet and she's standing still. I need to work on matching her speed and put in a half-step as i am coming to a halt beside her.

On the recall i turned around on the judge's call ("about turn and HALT") with my hands on my belly and after giving her the signal i returned my hands to a lower position - lost another point.

These are both silly handling mistakes that are easy to fix - i have to be more mindful. Without my errors her score would have been 94 (!!!)

For her part, in the morning trial, Eepie lost one point for a slightly crooked front on the recall, two points for swivelling on her bum to check out the dog next to her in the sit stay and three points for taking a big look around on her first Right About Turn in the heel pattern which meant that she was at the end of her lead for a second and out of position.

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In the afternoon trial she lost six points on her heelwork - she took a really big look around again on the first right about turn and got way out of position for a moment - (so it must have incurred a substantial deduction) - the rest of her heelwork was very nice.

Then she moved one foot on the Stand For Exam - Our afternoon judge, Pat Looker, was wearing a big wide hat and she bent right down over Eep during the exam, i could see the expression on Eep's face - it was YUK! I am a Bouvier, i don't do Hugs With Strangers in HATS! and she stepped away politely - that was a point off for one foot moving.

And then there was the recall - smarty pants - she came OK but she knew the exercise would end with me standing beside her so she just went straight into that position and sat. Three points off......

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Fixes

OK - i have started shaping a "touch front" where she comes in square and touches one or both of my feet with her feet - she can't do that and sit crookedly - that will fix the recall fronts. And we get to do a flip finish in Novice (instead of "Return to Your Dog" in CCD) so i think i need to be rigorous about practising the front and the finish separately for the next month to reinforce that they are two different things.

We will have to do lots of "stand for exam with new people in strange hats" for mega rewards for keeping her feet still.

As for the heelwork, i'm not quite sure how to deal with the 'good look around' she likes to take as we do that first right about turn in the heel pattern - i guess practising with distractions on that side is the answer. Novice is all done off lead so it is really important that she stays with me - the marking in Novice will be harder and there's no "safety belt" of a lead to help us get back on track if she gets distracted.

My handling? I have to be more precise and more aware of what i am doing - it will be really silly if i lose our points by being unconscious in my handling.

The bottom line for me is that Eep enjoys what she is doing - i like it that she works wagging her tail and that she works with spirit and that irrepressible Bouvier sense of humour. So i need to proceed carefully - i don't want to "suck all the air out of the room" by drilling the exercises to death - it makes me sad to see dogs at the starting peg with a flat or worried look - dreading "what's coming next"............

Gently Gently Catchee Monkey!