Open to Success

Practice has been paying off.  After moving up to Open level in CDSP Obedience, we had several new exercises to learn.  I actually managed to squeeze in some regular clicker training sessions and worked on what we could at home to prepare.  Tripp caught on quickly, as usual, and not only did he prove he was ready to perform the new stuff in the ring, he also kept his head in the game and had lovely attention during most of the performance.
We entered our first trial on 7/13/13 at DogStar Activity Center in Acton, MA.  Our judges were Rachel Brostrom & Sheila Bennett.  It was a nice day (other than sitting in traffic over half an hour, but at least we got there in time).  Tripp won 1st place in trial one with a score of 193.5 - and half of those point deductions were my fault.  Still not bad for a couple newbies!  :-)
This has always been my favorite level.  Ok, so I've never done it before either, but I liked the look of it.  ;-)  Jumps, retrieves, send outs, and other advanced challenges beyond heeling...  Novice was fun, but Open rocks!  Tripp seemed to enjoy it too, and I'm so happy with his performance this weekend.  His only mishap was on the broad jump in trial 2.  There seems to have been some confusion; it was like he didn't even try.  I can't figure out for sure what caused it, and unfortunately it cost us a Q, but as the judges said, "it is what it is."  These things happen.  What I do know is that I really need to get a broad jump for practice at home.  Considering Tripp has only seen one less than half a dozen times in his life, I'm impressed he can do it at all!
Regardless of scores, we had a blast.  Of course I'm glad we did earn at least 1 Q so I got something for my time and money.  LOL  Tripp obviously doesn't care about those things, he's just happy to be our there working with his mom.  Sounds like a win-win to me!