Match #1 Results

We entered our first match this weekend. It was hosted by the Potomac Valley Golden Retriever Club and took place in a park in Frederick, MD. We arrived a bit early and got a nice parking spot in the shade, so I could set up Bailey's crate and my chair. I didn't realize how into showing some of these people are, with dog vans filled with crates, portable fans, yard and yards of reflective material strapped all over the car to keep the heat out. I felt a bit out of place with just my crate and a chair!

In any case, we registered around 8 am, then just hung out for a bit. I thought they would have done the Utility class first, because of the scent work but they actually did Novice first. I was totally unprepared to enter the ring when they called for Novice A dogs. Then to top it all off a bunch of the Novice A dogs either didn't show up or should have been in Novice B. So it was just me and one other team in Novice A. Needless to say, we went into the ring totally unprepared. We started with our heeling on-lead, which went ok. Bailey lagged a bit and sometimes crowded me. I corrected him once, which deducted more points. Then we proceeded to the figure 8. I think he did really well in the figure 8 and don't recall any major issues. The leash came off and we did stand for exam. Bailey did that one like a champ, standing stock still for a new person. Next came the off-lead heeling. This was just one big disaster. About 3 steps into the heeling pattern, Bailey realized there was a river on the other side of the ring gates. He trotted right over to the ring gate and stood there while I continued the heeling pattern. I ended up having to call him over to me, and by this point I knew we were done for. He finished out the heeling pattern, but didn't do very well at all since his attention was on how to get to the river the whole time. Finally, we did recall, which he did ok on. I had to step to the side to make him front, which deducted points from both me and him. Then he refused to finish. *sigh* On a positive note, he did a GREAT job on the long sit and long down, not moving a muscle the whole time. I was very proud of that part of his performance. Overall, it was a good learning experience for us both. I made some pretty big mistakes and so did Bailey. I know what I need to practice better on for next time.

After our Novice A run, we spent a lot of time just hanging out. Rally-O wasn't set to begin until after the Obedience judging finished. That meant we had to wait through Novice B, both Open, and both Utility classes. It was very interesting to watch some of the dogs work.

Finally, the rally-o course was set up and we got to do our walk-through. It didn't seem like a very hard course, but what do I know? I walked it twice before we competed, just to make sure I knew it inside out. I think I was second into the ring, so we had the benefit of seeing the first performance too. I won't do a sign-by-sign recap of the course, mostly because I can't remember them! It ended up that the course was pretty easy and Bailey did a great job! We watched the rest of the competitors perform from the shade on the side of the ring. To our surprise, we we received a qualifying score and were asked to go back in the ring for the ribbons. Even more surprising, we received the FIRST PLACE ribbon with a score of 97 out of 100! I was so proud of my boy and our good finish totally lifted up my mood after the morning's performance.

I know there was a photographer at the match, so hopefully some photos will be posted to the PVGRC site and I can share them here too.

Our next match is on Sunday in Leesburg. Hopefully, we will do better in Obedience next weekend!