Brooks and I did our 3rd show at the Salisbury Maryland Kennel Club today. We got to the venue a little later than I had hoped for. Driving to Salisbury is miserable as you pass through small towns every 4 or 5 miles, with low speed limits, multiple traffic lights, and a town cop with a radar gun, which makes for a slow miserable slog. Add in beach traffic to make it even better. So what should be an hour drive took an hour and 45 minutes.
Anyway..... Brooks was much more settled and attentive than at any of our previous shows. That tells me he's maturing, and is starting to understand that we go to these places to work. We did quick multiple short warm ups, working mainly on attention and basic healing. He did really well with a lot of distractions, and I could tell he was really ready to work.
We were the last dog of the day in Beginner Novice "A". We entered the ring when called, and did the healing pattern. His attention was good, but we had a couple issues on the two left turns, and lost 2 points for him crowding me. I thought the figure 8 went really well, he had nice drive on the outside turn, but we lost 1 point for lagging, and 1 point because I took a step into him as we halted. My issue, as I don't realize I'm doing it, so something to keep working on! He nailed the sit for exam and the stay, which made me really happy! His recall was very good, just slightly off on the front, which cost us 1/2 point.
Our 196.5 was good for 1st place, and the judge was very pleased with how well he did. She was very complementary, and told me he's got a very nice foundation and should do very well in the future, and looked forward to seeing him in Utility. All I could think is that was a long way off, but was very happy with Brook's performance.
We go back tomorrow, same class, different judge, and hopefully will get our third BN leg!!