Duncan is officially titled as a Companion Dog by the AKC. Halloween weekend we picked up the third leg of his CD title with a 179, our highest score in the ring yet. (172 and 174.5 for the other legs, and 159 on the day I couldn't keep my mouth shut) and picked up two legs on his Rally Novice title. I opted out of the third day of the trial, but we scored a 93 on the first RN leg, with a lot of problems with our work, and then a 90 on the second- my fault, I entered the serpentine the wrong way and cost us 10 points. Duncan did it perfectly that day, and we would have won the class if I had been able to figure out what the hell I was doing. We picked up three 2nds on those legs. (SPGD= Strategically Placed Garbage Disposal, and we'd completed a Rally Level one with APDT, and earned his CGC last year.)
I think that I'll stop showing Duncan. It stresses us both out, and while I love running him through the obedience exercises at home or in class, I have too many worries about him being perfect in the ring. My stress bothers him, and then we're both distracted and messing up. Which makes it un-fun. Maybe the next dog won't be so in tune with my emotional state, and I can get over my ring nerves. Plus, I'll start the other dog in the show ring a lot younger.
I do enjoy the atmosphere, but I need to get into it with a dog trained for the ring work. Duncan was trained to stand when I stop, not sit, and he works as a service dog daily, while the obedience stuff is more a "several times a week" game for us both. We're always fighting service dog training versus obedience ring rules. I can keep it together for obedience stuff for a bit, but I need the SD work daily.
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