Stout's Rally Miracle!

Yes, a Rally miracle  :)

 

 

 

We scored an 87 in Stout's Rally debut!

 

I really should stop underestimating him... I mean, just look at the video below - no sniffing, no knocking over signs, no peeing on cones, no humping my leg, very little barking. He did not do any of the things that I had feared  :)

 

He just prances along, happy as could be! He did try to throw in a "prairie dog" & did bite the leash once, but I was ecstatic with his run. Even more thrilled with his attitude  :) Good boy!

So did you notice my confusion at about 1:16?  :)  Yep, according to the map below I turned the wrong way on the 270. I wondered why I was facing the wrong direction. And I didn't remember there being a Rally sign for a 450 degree turn  :)

Yep, I lost more points than Stout... I cost him what would have been a 97  :)

I could have re-done the sign for only a 3 point loss, but at the time I wasn't sure I did mess up. And I didn't want to ruin our flow. I could kind of start to feel things going down hill, so I just wanted to hurry up & get out of there! I didn't want Stout's first time in the ring to end in frustration.

Can I say again how thrilled I am? I know it's just one novice Rally leg, but I think it was a good start to his performance career!

 

 

Oh, and a funny story from our warm-up outside the ring: While we were practicing, Stout was his usual exhuberant self - barking, jumping, etc. Now I know there's no barking in obedience. And there shouldn't be in rally either, so I was trying to tone him down.

 

But this lady comes up to me and says very condescendingly "He can't bark in the ring."

 

I say "I'm aware of that. Thank you."

 

She says "He will lose a point for every bark. He cannot bark in there."

 

I say "Yeah, I know. But if that's the worst thing he does, I'll be happy." And I walked away.

 

Come on lady, it's only rally  :)  I'm sure she was disgusted by our score...