# Neely earns RA and first Novice leg; also my friend's mini earns Open leg



## mvhplank (Dec 5, 2012)

I'm glad it was a Sunday-only trial because I left the house at 7 a.m. and got home more than 12 hours later--an unusually long day for us.

Neely finished Rally Advanced with a score of 96 and 3rd place out of 16 entries. Then in the afternoon he earned his first Novice Obedience leg with 182 and 4th place out of 10 entries.

Even better--my good friend Judy and her mini poodle Jazzy earned their first Open leg--and Jazzy is a very young 11 years old! She has really matured and settled into a good working dog after being bullied by the previous mini poodle, now over the rainbow bridge, who believed she was queen of all she surveyed. Jazzy has gained a lot of confidence by doing scent work, too! 

I'm so proud of my friend! She's my poodle mentor and helped me pick out Neely.


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## Poodlebeguiled (May 27, 2013)

*Congratulations* to both you and your friend. AND to your wonderful dogs. Well done! I bet you're so thrilled....such a worthwhile end to a long day. :cheers2:


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## Charmed (Aug 4, 2014)

Congratulations for all the hard work and for reaping the fruits of your labor! You have every right to be proud of your poodle...and his handler! I love the story of your friend's older dog. My old girl started doing therapy work when she was eight years old, and worked until she was thirteen. And she was also, one of those queens of all she surveyed. Happy Heeling!


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## mvhplank (Dec 5, 2012)

Here's a shot of his current clip and yesterday's ribbons (the placement winners also got a bag of dog cookies).










And here's a link to the videos, if you're interested:

Rally Advanced, B Class

Novice Obedience, A Class


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Marguerite, congratulations to you & Neely and to your friend Judy & Jazzy. It is really nice to see poodles showing their stuff above and beyond being pretty faces. Your rally run was great. Neely did such a great job getting back to you after the jump and also with the figure 8 with distractions. For Lily I think she used to take off on me after the jumps because she would get a thought of agility in her head and she would want to go on to look for another obstacle. It took a long time (well into RAE work) to get her to reliably collect after the jumps and I have tried many different ways of passing the jumps to get her to check in with me. You are lucky to have such a good check in from him. And the distractions, well they still can prove to be a hazard occasionally for Lily and pretty much always still for Peeves....

You do have an enthusiastic recall. Judges who like fast moving dogs will always like that recall, but it can be hard to get the open drop in on time when you have a fast recaller. I think it is really interesting how much better most dogs' heeling is off leash, don't you? As a couple of FYIs, on your outside leg of your figure 8 you had some lagging because your left shoulder was square to Neely or maybe even a bit pushed back which pushed him back. I try to pull my left shoulder forward a bit to prevent lagging. Also on the stand for exam, if the last thing you do after positioning the dog is to press down on the withers a bit you create an oppositional reflex response where they push up at you. I find it sort of sticks the dog's feet to the floor in place to do so.

I love his groom. It is a great clip. Lily has been in an HCC for quite a while now, but I am thinking of taking it all off for the return of spring.


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## mvhplank (Dec 5, 2012)

lily cd re said:


> <snip> As a couple of FYIs, on your outside leg of your figure 8 you had some lagging because your left shoulder was square to Neely or maybe even a bit pushed back which pushed him back. I try to pull my left shoulder forward a bit to prevent lagging. Also on the stand for exam, if the last thing you do after positioning the dog is to press down on the withers a bit you create an oppositional reflex response where they push up at you. I find it sort of sticks the dog's feet to the floor in place to do so. </snip>


Many thanks for those tips! I've actually signed up with Pamela Dennison's online course, "Cleaning Up Your Act: The Fussy and Meticulous Behaviors Needed For Competition / Rally: Part 1," (Pamela Dennison's Positive Motivation Dog Training in Washington, New Jersey) which I expect will include similar advice. I think it starts next week.

I found I didn't much like the look of the sporting clip on Neely, but probably because I wasn't very good at maintaining it. I also thought it required an excessive amount of scissoring ... oh yeah, and because the little kids always asked if he was a labradoodle. I'm still showing him in UKC Conformation, and while I could get away with a Sporting, I really do like the look of the HCC on him. I may take even more hair off as the weather warms up. Actually, he had about an inch of hair over his pack and forelegs before we cut him down last week. I thought it was just too cold to keep it all shaved if I didn't need to.


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## ArreauStandardPoodle (Sep 1, 2009)

Huge congrats to you and your friend! Great job!


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Oh I am glad you didn't mind the unsolicited advise! I know I really appreciate the observations of others, but not everyone does. I have the same problem with lagging on the outside of the figure 8 and my friends tell me it is about the position of my left shoulder. It is so hard to resist wanting to check where the dog is though.

I do a lot of "doodling" when I practice heeling. I include very long and very short and overly exaggerated changes of pace and changes of direction. I also will order moving sit/down/stand stays. Lily has to stay in place while I move around and then I call her back to heel. She has to really think about where heel is and she likes the silly game. It has translated to very attentive heeling from her and made an exercise many dogs look like they barely tolerate into one for which she shows enthusiasm. I will try to get someone to video what I do and post it.

That online class sounds really interesting! I may check it out too. Thanks for the link.


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

Congratulations!


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## mvhplank (Dec 5, 2012)

lily cd re said:


> Oh I am glad you didn't mind the unsolicited advise! I know I really appreciate the observations of others, but not everyone does. I have the same problem with lagging on the outside of the figure 8 and my friends tell me it is about the position of my left shoulder. It is so hard to resist wanting to check where the dog is though.
> 
> I do a lot of "doodling" when I practice heeling. I include very long and very short and overly exaggerated changes of pace and changes of direction. I also will order moving sit/down/stand stays. Lily has to stay in place while I move around and then I call her back to heel. She has to really think about where heel is and she likes the silly game. It has translated to very attentive heeling from her and made an exercise many dogs look like they barely tolerate into one for which she shows enthusiasm. I will try to get someone to video what I do and post it.
> 
> That online class sounds really interesting! I may check it out too. Thanks for the link.


I cannot tell you how many times I've been told that I push Devlin back with the position of my left shoulder--you'd think I might remember that, after so much repetition! I've worked hard to keep my ego from getting in the way of good training.

I see we're on the same page as far as "doodling" goes. When the weather's fit (over 40 degrees, since dog slobber on my treat hand makes it feel even colder), we go to the nearby rec park and walk the 1-mile macadam loop path. It's well away from traffic and, if we're alone, we can even practice recalls and DOR, dragging the leash. There's a new dog park on the property that we never use (he's intact, which the rules don't allow), but since it opened, it tends to keep the number of obnoxious loose dogs down.

I also work in all of the oddball rally signs that I can remember--moving stands, moving downs, and two varieties of backing up--AKC and WCRL have you start your backup when you reach the sign and then forward after the required number of steps, but UKC requires a sit, back up, sit, forward. I've sometimes taken a flexi to practice retrieves or glove exercises out on the grass.


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## poolann (Jan 31, 2013)

Good job! I'm so glad I watched your video because I've forgotten about the figure 8 with distractions. Doh! We have a trial this weekend! Food bowls must contain something for Racer lol


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## mvhplank (Dec 5, 2012)

poolann said:


> Good job! I'm so glad I watched your video because I've forgotten about the figure 8 with distractions. Doh! We have a trial this weekend! Food bowls must contain something for Racer lol


It was our first experience with AKC food bowls, and the first time ever we saw a toy in one of them. From the video's perspective, the right-hand bowl contained treats (apparently not very tempting) but the other had a ball on a rope, which caught his attention briefly.

I've heard horror stories about one judge who put out a big stuffed flamingo toy ... I'm going to have to train for oddball sh#t like that! If my rattie Devlin had continued in AKC rally, I fear that's the sort of thing he would be unable to resist.


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## poolann (Jan 31, 2013)

Toys in food bowls are unusually cruel but I've seen it a few times lol. In fact Bob Withers is a judge this weekend & he did it to us last time. We didn't pick up that last RA leg 6 months ago under him because Racer had to poop. We might have qualified that run otherwise but it certainly wasn't pretty from the start.


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## Quossum (Mar 18, 2011)

Congrats on the accomplishments. I loved the videos; it was great to see another sport in action.

--Q


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Lots of AKC judges use the figure 8 with distractions with toys instead of food since many people are concerned about their dogs eating unknown food. Sometimes the toys are on the floor without the bowls.  One judge I know has a pyramid of glued together tennis balls. The first time we showed to her, Lily saw the balls from across the floor and just left to go help herself to a ball. She was pretty surprised when she tried to take the top one and got them all. She put it down and I managed to call her back, but she kept looking at those balls. I ended up asking to be excused since she really wasn't working. This was actually at a poodle specialty and one of the other spoos actually really wanted the other toy (a stuffed one). The judge ended up giving it to her when the class was over and she had actually managed to qualify!


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## mvhplank (Dec 5, 2012)

*Mason & Dixon KC AKC trials March 28-29, 2015*

Neely and I have only modest success to report for Mason and Dixon Kennel Club obedience and rally trials.

We got our first RE leg with a score (to my horror) in the 70s--and I am rightly horrified because I did two signs incorrectly for -10 each! The first error was failing to sit after a finish (I just didn't notice that he didn't sit). The other was, of all things, doing a 270 the wrong direction--and how many times have I done that sign? The other points were "out of position." Good dog! Bad handler!

We redeemed ourselves on day 2 with a second RE leg with 94 and 3rd place--Neely interpreted the halt/one step right/halt sign as a pivot so I took a do-over, and he got out of position points off, including for visiting the judge after the second jump.

We qualified, but not with distinction, in the Saturday Novice A class for our second leg, but not in Sunday's trial--I had used up my second command on off-lead heeling and rather than have him wander the ring, I took his collar. The judge later told me that if I had just given an additional command, she would have taken 3 points off. He was also good in the stays, so no complaints there. Note for future trials--don't do anything that will automatically NQ your dog if he's just wandering around.

It was still a good weekend with lots of friends at the trial. I had a chance to chat a little with a multiple OTCH trainer of Papillions who lives in south-central Pennsylvania. Her footwork is nothing like what I've been taught, but clearly it works for her. And, since my dog is 9 or 10 times the size of hers, what she does may not work for us. A real ice-breaker was that the shy little rescued Pap she was socializing had decided I was OK and was offering her paw for treats. The woman said that the dog only does that to people she trusts, so I felt the little dog was giving me quite a compliment--or an excuse for a continuous stream of jerky!

Our next adventure is UKC Rally, where we will attempt to get Level 3. Because UKC's RO3 has an honor dog and handler in the ring doing a stay, I must practice teaching Neely do ignore any other dog sitting in the ring while we work--especially small dogs. 

One of the regular attendees at rally trials is a woman with talented Chihuahuas (they usually do agility, and one of them recently earned MACH) and she might run as many as 3 or 4 of them in each trial, two trials a day. Turnout is often low for UKC rally, so Level 3 becomes a logistical exercise in making sure each dog both works and honors in the class, and if you have two dogs, you can't honor for yourself, of course.


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## poolann (Jan 31, 2013)

Congrats! I too was not thrilled about my 73 last weekend in RE & walked out of the ring thinking we had NQ so I was pleasantly surprised. I'm not trying to get to the invitational but I do expect better teamwork from Racer. 

Amazing to meet handlers with Paps & Chi's that do so well as many struggle & give up. I'm glad the shy one took to you. It speaks of your character. Overall a successful weekend for you!


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## mvhplank (Dec 5, 2012)

Poolann, Papillons are so smart that they become good medical alert dogs for those people who don't need a larger dog for mobility support. I'm working with Debby Kay, an internationally known detection dog trainer, who is training a slightly oversized rescued Chihuahua to alert on the scent of low blood sugar (collected as saliva samples). That's primarily because it will be easier to fly to workshops and demonstrations with a dog that size, when compared to the Labradors that she breeds. I know of one mini (or maybe toy) poodle that is a service dog for a veteran who uses her to fetch things like his cane or medicine kit, which have fleecy tugs attached.


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## poolann (Jan 31, 2013)

I agree on the intelligence of paps. I've seen them really excel in obedience & agility. I can certainly understand how a more portable dog would make things easier on a service dog handler.


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## mashaphan (Sep 4, 2014)

:cheers2: Congrats! I don't have a problem w/Che (aka "the whippet on Poodle Forum :itsme as he won't leave me for food,and isn't that fond of toys.but my trainers/peeps are constantly after me about my left shoulder..so,it is common! Our least favorite sign,and one that will make me skip the class:afraid:,is Send to Jump,as he won't leave me to jump! Another reason he failed Sighthound 101,ie Lure Coursing!:argh:

Martha


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## mvhplank (Dec 5, 2012)

mashaphan said:


> :cheers2: Congrats! I don't have a problem w/Che (aka "the whippet on Poodle Forum :itsme as he won't leave me for food,and isn't that fond of toys.but my trainers/peeps are constantly after me about my left shoulder..so,it is common! Our least favorite sign,and one that will make me skip the class:afraid:,is Send to Jump,as he won't leave me to jump! Another reason he failed Sighthound 101,ie Lure Coursing!:argh:
> 
> Martha


Well, then, you have no problem with his bolting away to check out another dog or the judge! That's one of my big worries. Neely has come to understand that when we approach a jump and I point at it, that he should go leap over it. Coming straight back is not yet part of his understanding of how it should be done.

Now ... he has to understand that it still applies in a directed jumping situation.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Congratulations on the successes Marguerite and poolann. We had a busy weekend too at the Salt City Cluster in Syracuse!


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## Chagall's mom (Jan 9, 2010)

*CONGRATULATIONS*,* mvhplank**! *Way to go Neely! :cheers2:


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