I'll never be in Novice A again.

For a very good reason!

Last weekend was fabulous.  Leah was wonderful enough to get up early and go with me, help me with my class conflicts, hold my dog when I went into the ring for our pre-class talk, not making fun of me having to stop to go to the bathroom every exit on the way home when we were only 20 miles from her house......

Ruby did such a great job.  She was good in the car both days.  She didn't cause a ruckus being crated in the Rally building.  Her only "issue" was wanting to visit with everyone she saw...kind of throws off her concentration when she's worried about catching the eye of the next person she sees.

In Obed on Saturday, she received a 192 1/2 and 2nd place to finish her CD title!  We then ran over to the Rally building and received a 100 and 2nd place for her second RN leg.  Of course, there was a ton of schmoozing involved.  She can't walk by someone without an attempt at getting their attention so they'll pet her and tell her how pretty she is.

In Obed on Sunday, I told her she could do anything she wanted as we finished her title the day before.  She decided that she really wanted that $10 prize and walked out of the ring with a 195 1/2 and much love and praise from the judge.  We finished her RN title that day with a 97 and 2nd place, and commenced with much schmoozing, grunting, rooing, and growling.

I was planning on her retirement - a dumbbell will take an extremely long time to teach her (convincing a Sibe that she really wants something enough to chase it down, pick it up, and - oh my god - bring it back because YOU want her to is so simple.....) and she just gets frustrated the more we work on it. 

I *may* test the waters and train her in a different way to see if it works.  I got a ton of guilt trips this weekend from my fellow club members about how I owe it to her to see how much I can teach her.....maybe I'll take that challenge on.

She was such a great girl this weekend - I love this dog!

Nerves!

Holy crap, nerves!

I'm really excited, because I'm hoping that Ruby will earn two titles this weekend - her CD and RN.  We had a good Tuesday night...more than good, actually.  So good that I'm afraid that I sucked all the good recalls out of her and she won't have a repeat performance this weekend!

She actually came on a recall.  All the way.  With a perfect front with no hesitation.....THREE TIMES.  In a row.

Sounds simple, right?  I mean, it's something that everyone tries to perfect.  It was once something I never had to worry about.  But I made the rookie mistake of trying to get her thismuch closer to me by helping her get there...and she started to refuse.  "Hey, don't grab my collar."

But, three times on Tuesday.  I was so excited I couldn't believe it......that was my biggest worry for the weekend.  Now all I have to worry about is getting up and going early on both days, and figuring out how to solve the conflicts I have between our Obed and Rally classes on both days.

Keep your fingers crossed for us!  Hopefully we have two title ribbons to share this weekend!