The Spaniel Annals

For some reason the semi-annual shows at the Puyallup fairgrounds have been very good to us in recent years. This surprises me as the building is not always considered friendly to obedience dogs; many people complain of the floor literally shaking (it’s on the second floor), and with large entries the spacing can get tight. However, my current generation of dogs has fared well here, often earning titles with good scores and placements. These June shows were particularly exciting: after a looooong dry spell, Reardon finally earned his first utility leg. Utility is considered the “graduate school” for dogs, and Reardon has struggled with working independently at the required distance away from me. (Details on this will be in a different post.) Roz earned her Rally Advanced title with placements, and Gael earned her first Beginner Novice leg on Sunday. While Gael won the class and earned a 189, and did a respectable job on the initial portion of the heeling, her figure 8 was quite out of control. After that, she keep going with very nice work for all the control exercises (a sit for exam, sit-stay and recall). The problems on the figure 8 have led us into a current no-cookies-during-training plan.

However, I have to be very pleased with the final results of all three dogs. Here they are with their ribbons: