Sadie’s Dog Show Debut

Over the weekend, Leash Free Living made its way back to the AKC Obedience and Rally Rings. It has been a while since we’ve shown our own dogs, or client dogs, so it was nice to be trialing again.

This time it was Sadie’s turn. The dogs must qualify three times in each level to earn that particular title.  She was entered three times in Rally Novice and once in Novice Obedience.

Sadie qualifying in all three of her Rally Novice runs, so she earned all three “legs” of her Rally Novice title with scores of 99/100, 98/100, and 100/100. The initials ‘RN’ will be added to her registered name, and she can advance into Rally Advanced for her next show.

She only showed once in Novice Obedience, but qualified there too. We had some pretty costly mistakes (no sit, no front), but I think she still did an overall great job for her first time out. She earned a score of 180.5/200, which counts as her first leg towards her Companion Dog Title. She has to show two more times to complete the title. We have a couple of weeks to clean this up before then. You know we will be doing lots of halts and fronts this week!

I love that these trials put your dog’s obedience to the test. I hear people say “I don’t want a show dog” pretty often. But really, who doesn’t want a dog that can heel on and off leash, listen to commands the first time you ask them, can stand politely for petting, hold stays next to other dogs and people, come when called, etc?! This is a fun way to spend time with your dog, and master all the skills that make the difference between a nuisance dog, and an enjoyable pet. If this is something you’re interested in, let us know! We can help!