FCRSA 2010 - Obedience Day 1

Tuesday morning, the obedience was scheduled to start at 8:00 AM. Since I was co-chair with my friend Chris Van Byssum, we needed to be there by 7:00 AM. Chris and I got various trial details attended to, and all the B classes got underway on time.

On tap for today: Gryffin in Open B, Utility B and Team, and Ty in Open B. I showed Gryff in Utility B first. We did pattern III, with articles, gloves, signals, moving stand, and directed jumping. While he wasn't superbly accurate, he was doing his job. After a very nice first go-out, he looked toward the Novice ring on my right as he sat, then focused on me. Judge Sharon Redmer told me "bar jump". As I signaled and said "jump!", he started on his way, but looking toward the Novice ring. He looked like he was going to come to the inside of the jump, but he looked back at me in time, caught my still in the air signal, and veered and took the jump. The crowd went wild :-). The 2nd half of the exercise was fine. After the last finish, Sharon said "You have a guardian angel!" The end result was a -1 for a held signal, 196 and 2nd place in the class.

Next up was Ty in Open B. We've been concentrating on training for Utility, so had not done that much Open work. It showed! She did Q on the individuals, and was still sitting up on her sit stay. Then the Flat-Coat sillies over came her, and she rolled around on her back during the down stay. Here are three pictures that Cathi Winkles took of her during the Grand Roll. She is the one with her feet in the air. The 3rd one is my favorite. Her butt was actually facing her neighbor dog. I was told later that she then stood up, and that's when she was pulled out of line.

Next up was Gryff in Open B. He had a decent run, and only lost 3 points on the individuals, but went down on his sit stay. Darn. I was disappointed but not that surprised. I simply didn't put in the training time on it that he now needs.

Barb Farrah and Vegas, Gryffin's nephew, had a beautiful run in Open A. I simply couldn't get myself to watch the Open A stays, but I needn't have worried. They won the class with a grand 198.5, which put them in a tie for High in Trial. They won the runoff, which means the 3rd year of the last 4 that a different Grousemoor Flat-Coat has won HIT at the National (Gryff did it from Utility in 2007, Ty from Novice B in 2008).

To finish up the day, we did Team obedience. I put together a team of Deanna German, with whom I did Team in 2006, Barb Farrah, Linda Smithberger, and me about two months before the National. We met in Toledo about a month before the trial to practice. Neither Barb nor Linda had done Team before, but both are experienced exhibitors. We had a great time and because of our Drop on Recall success (all of my team mates dogs did it right. Gryff did the drop right, but came on the next person's call. I gave him a 2nd signal, so he did get to do the ending part with his teammates), we earned 1st place. What a fun way to end the day!

I was SO tired by this point, I wasn't sure if I'd make it back for the Ring of Honor, but after a good dinner and a rest, I made it back, and paraded around the ring with each dog and enjoyed receiving the lovely personalized medallions and big rosettes.

Bed felt VERY good that night!