Dutch Shepherd Forum

So, I was going to post photos from the show, but I left my camera at work and they weren't that great anyway. I had the flash off so I could get more while dogs were in the ring and they just didn't turn out well. I do have a few I'll post in the photograph section later.

The show went great! Rally went in reverse order, so we ended up being last. We arrived to the show at 8 am and didn't go into the ring until a little after 1. We had a 5 hour drive the night before and didn't get to exercise enough after arriving at my parents' house. Odin hung out for 5 hours without any issues. Kids took pictures of him, we walked around, watched the other DS in conformation, met Cheryl from Cher Car (super nice lady), Odin interacted with a 4 month old male DS and didn't get grouchy (yay a puppy and a male!), and then destroyed his last black kong .

The 2nd obstacle was the spiral left dog inside which was the one I just can't handle well with. It was a very difficult coarse for URO1. Odin did great, me not so much. There was a hot dog stand 5 feet from the ring and they just finished the brats as we went in. He was a little too excited about the smells and had a few too many tight leashes on turns and I needed to work harder to get his attention. We only got 6 points off for obedience command things, but the tight leashes NQ'd him.

We also lost 10 points after we finished and were getting collars on to leave the ring, a rottie outside the ring stared him down and Odin talked back. Not in an aggressive way, but not too many other dogs or people understand how he talks, and I didn't want a fight. The woman wouldn't move the rottie out of the ring entrance, so I picked Odin up to carry him out of the ring and apparently not walking the extra 6 inches is a mark down.

I thought the weekend was a success. He really proved how well he could behave in a venue that had everything possible wrong with it and I learned we need to have someone grill during obedience class. The ride to the show was a hour and a half that Sadie would be proud of! My parents didn't appreciate the windows going down every 2 minutes, but it was kind of hilarious. We skipped the second show on Sunday to look at houses. Odin came with and helped rule out the ones he didn't want to buy.

Yay to you for taking positive notes and to Odin for stepping up under lots of pressure! Sounds very successful to me.

I'd been wondering how it went and it sounds like it went great! You have the right attitude and perspective . Sounds to me like he really did well, with a horrible venue.

You both rock!

Looking at houses...are you moving?

leih merigian wrote:
Looking at houses...are you moving?

Hopefully! I really want to run legit agility and other sport classes and there's only so many options in a big city. The place I'm at now has the training in a basement and only 30x50 for the ring area and I really miss the UKC environment that I grew up in. I think having my own place will also really help with Odin's anxiety he sometimes gets in the city and it just seems like the perfect time to move since we're on month-to-month now with our current lease and houses are really cheap in the areas I'm interested in.

My parents have bribed me with an offer to help with co-signing a mortgage if I'm closer to them, so that's sweetened the deal and we looked at 7 houses last weekend while I was visiting.

Sounds like he did well considering the surroundings!

So, where are you looking? 5 hours from Chi-town can be a lot of places!

leih merigian wrote:So, where are you looking? 5 hours from Chi-town can be a lot of places!

In Michigan somewhere on the East side of the state. That's as much as hubby and I can agree on so far. I need the acreage for a kennel license, but he wants to be near a big city so he can work and stuff and be near people because apparently dogs aren't enough company.

We're probably going to be around the Lansing or tri-cities area, it just depends on what we find and how much I can qualify for.