Dennis Sprung, President of the AKC, sent us a big envelope in the mail with a fancy piece of paper that says Scoop earned his novice jumpers title. woohoo! And after last weekend we have 2 open jumpers and 2 open standard legs, and an open FAST leg as well.

I was trying to decide which of Scoops videos from the weekend to share with you but got all hung up on the imperfections and couldn’t decide which ones to use. A couple late front crosses from me, a pulled bar and a couple refusals from him, a couple suspect rear crosses that felt just great when I did them but look a little “flickish” on video. Darn! Even with our little goofs though Scoop was a good boy. He is growing in confidence, gaining speed, and he is starting to realize that the leash is sitting on a chair at the gate and that he should head that direction to tug with the leash, rather than jump on me at the end of the run.

Through the magic of modern editing I have managed to compile a little video showing some good stuff we did together, and well to be honest, I just cut out the parts I didn’t like:) Wish all of my life’s faults could be “edited” away so easily!

Our weaknesses are going to start biting us back once we move to Excellent. I haven’t yet got the independence I need on his contacts and weaves so that I can position myself anywhere I want while he is doing those obstacles.  Right now I am not letting him stay long at the end of the DW or teeter because I don’t want him to try to nose touch the board. And I am not asking for extra touches like I do in training. At home this past week he was better, but at the show he was shorter than I want in 2o2o.

I don’t have a show for another 3 weeks, and I have a 4 day seminar away from home to teach before then. I am planning on getting in plenty of contact training time while we are in a new location. Hopefully in three weeks I will be feeling more confident on the reliability and independence of those obstacles. For now I am going to stick with AKC for Scoop as I don’t feel confident yet that he can do the higher USDAA frame reliably. Heck, we are not 100% on the low one yet!

Oh well,  lots to train this week and next week and next month and next year! Hope you had a great weekend showing your young dog, and maybe that you too got a really nice piece of paper in the mail.

NJG