Posted by: David Harris
Story by: Brandi Williams
Hi Everyone,
Cinders and I just made the long (9 hr) trip back from St. Joseph, MO. I am very proud to announce that at just over 2 yrs old Cinders passed her SCH 1 with a 265 and tied the score of the HIT dog (the other dog had a higher protection score)!
The weekend started out great Saturday morning with beautiful tracking conditions. Despite my nervousness at showing my first Schutzhund dog for her first SchH title, Cinders did awesome and scored a 97.
Obedience in the afternoon did not go nearly as well. Our routine started with Cinders being attacked by the other SchH 1 dog at check in. Once we separated them, we immediately went into our routine. Her healing was off as she did not want to let the other dog out of her sight and in general was shook up. She sat on the down out of motion, but recovered and did well on the retrieves and send out. However, she got a 0 for leaving the long down. She scored a 78.
We bounced back this morning with a 90a in protection. Her blind search was excellent and she had very nice grips. She lost points for bothering the helper and I had to give an extra down command on the escape bite. She also paused during the barking in the blind as I approached.
Overall, it was an awesome weekend. The people at the Mo-Kan SchH club were great! Cinders and I are now going to take a break in her training as I intend to breed her this fall. Thank you to everyone who has helped us on our journey! The willingness of everyone to help each other and give tips and advice are one of the things that make this sport so special. Thanks again to Tammy for such an awesome dog!
You can view some of Cinders practice routine here: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=aGCb_e_PjXY
Brandi Williams
3 responses so far ↓
1 David Harris // Sep 22, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Brandi, I was curious if the dog that attached Cinders during the check in was removed from competition or allowed to continue?
2 Brandi // Sep 22, 2008 at 1:11 pm
The judge said she would pretend she did not see it. I really liked the Judge and feel that she was fair in Judging and reccomend her to anyone. The dog was eliminated later in the routine for an injury (unrelated). Cinders had barked at the Judge in an excited way as we approached. Maybe that set the other dog off. However, I was watching Cinders closely and she never looked at the other dog. She also never left heel position. As the attack happend, I reached down and grabbed her collar. I never even glanced at the other dog before the attack and Cinders was focused on the Judge. Maybe the Judge saw something she felt was mitigating. I don’t know. To me the damage was done. The owner of the dog appologized and was truly sorry.
It was in some ways a good experience. We worked through it and passed. Also, I know we are capable of scoring much higher in OB. If we can score a 78 on a strange field with strangers around and an attack after already high stress, then I am going to feel a great deal more confident next time I step out on that field.
I believe in my dog a whole lot more than I did before. I know we can pull off a 280 w/o a whole lot more work and ultimately at 26 mos she is still a baby. I believe we scored at least 15 pts less as a result of this incident, but it was worth those 15 pts to learn how resiliant my dog is.
3 gregariousred // Sep 23, 2008 at 10:04 am
Congratulations to both you and Cinders! I hope you keep bringing her to group for light training.
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