Day # 1

Today was the first day of the Obedience Trial. We've been working hard getting ready for this big event and I've learned that Fudge has three different personalities that show up for practice.

First there is 'Fudge The Good Boy', who listens to what I say and does exactly what I command.

Second is 'I Don't Understand The Language Fudge' who stares at me, sure that he's never heard any of those words before.

Third is 'I Can't See Or Hear You Fudge' who on the first command lies down on the floor, rolls onto his back and covers his face with his paws.

Yesterday afternoon, after a poor practice, where he didn't pay much attention and just wandered along, he saw me get the shampoo and towels assembled. He got pretty interested in that.



Once the bath was over, he knew something was up and was bouncy all evening in anticipation. I tried an evening practice, but he was too excited to pay attention. It was my hope that after two poor practices, he'd be ready today.



I twisted my ankle last night and it was quite swollen when I went to bed.When I first got up this morning I could barely stand on it, but it wasn't going to stop us. I walked on it as normally as possible and I'll rest it later.

J was at the trial with Splash and Grace. Splash did pretty well, he wasn't fully into it, but he got a pretty good score and finished fourth and fifth in his two runs.

Grace was spacey and wandered along, but didn't give it her best effort. She seemed distracted by all the activity in the building, people and dogs coming and going. She did earn her second leg.

In Rally Obedience the team starts with 100 points and the judge deducts for errors. You need 70 points to earn a leg and you need three legs to earn a title. Grace already had one leg from earlier in the year.

Then it was our turn. When I walked the course without him, I was pleased. All the moves were ones he knew and did well. None of the three familiar Fudge personalities showed up. It was a new one who just strolled along looking everywhere, but at me. We had to repeat several moves and he just wasn't interested.

The judge was very generous and we did qualify, but just barely. We now have one leg toward out title. I can only hope the good Fudge decides to show up tomorrow. I have some more lovely ribbons for the wall and Fudge has a new toy.