Switching Gears

Nothing like sending in an obedience entry to get me training more obedience! I've got Sonic entered in Grad Novice in about 3 weeks. My plan is to do 4 Grad Novice trials this fall, maybe a Wild Card Novice, then start in Novice B in January. We are both enjoying the change of pace from field work, and with the more frequent work we've been doing on it, I can see the lightbulb starting to go on for the Drop on Recall. To be honest, I don't think I'll be upset if we don't actually earn the GN title. I'm entering it as a 'test the water' kind of thing, and because it is getting me training. While I'm confident that she could earn her CD this fall, I want to put some 'polish' on her before we do that, and I need to greatly reduce our field training in order to have the time to do that polishing.

I am entered in what I hope are my final two hunt tests of the fall, looking to finish up Little's Senior Hunter title. To be honest, since Sonic finished her SH 3 weeks ago, my strong drive to train field drills has greatly dropped off. It doesn't help that I've been gone the past two weeks (family trip over Labor Day and seminar trip last weekend), really limiting my available time to train.

It has been 5 years since my last Novice dog (Ty) earned her CD, but I've been in the Novice ring a lot since my first CD in 1986. I'm really looking forward to the opportunity to dance the dance with Sonic. She is a blast to heel with, and I think will be one of the best heeling dogs I've had in a while. I guess time will tell!