John Heffernan

We had a lot of problems with the course on the right last Sunday at a practice. The course on the left is what we practice more at home. My theory is that the slant of the jumps/hoops and/or the way I tried to make a path in black were a problem for Wyatt. I wonder if the path in blue green would work much better. Also, probably just need to practice this variation of the straighter course.

At a recent obedience match, I got the exact opposite of what I was expecting. Wyatt has not been doing well at obedience trials, looking very stressed, needing lots of double commands, and not doing a single automatic sit. (When you are heeling, they are supposed to sit when you stop walking.) I had pretty much decided to stop trialing him but decided to take advantage of the match and see if we could work on the automatic sit issue.

Patriot has nearly qualified and got second with what would have been a 193.5 at a recent obedience trial at the Big E. He just went down on his long sit after he sat funny (paws out farther than they should have been.) So I thought we could get some good practice, especially on the long sit. I expected that he would do really well since he did so well at the Big E.

Patriot was first in Open A. As we entered the ring, I took off his leash before I should have and got distracted trying to decide whether to put it back on. I lost contact with him and when we started, his heeling was way off, lagging and sniffing at things on the floor, which is very unusual for him. He needed multiple commands on the retrieves and walked over the broad jump. It was quite a change from the last trial! He did do with long sits and downs though, which was great.

Wyatt looked great right from the start in Novice B. I don’t know if he knew I cheese going in but he sat right down automatically ever time, just like he does at home. Was I more relaxed, was he more relaxed, did having cheese make a huge difference?

Since Patriot had trouble in his first Open A, I decided to switch dogs and use my second (noncompetitive) Open A slot for Patriot. I maintained contact going in and he did a lot better though he still would not have passed, if it had been scored. I did note that I has not done broad jumps in a while and it seems to help Patriot to do some before an trial. He also does a lot better if the dumbbells are not thrown to far, something I had been working on outside (not enough room inside) last year.

You can’t be attached to expectations with dog competitions in general, but I think it is especially true for whippet obedience.

Since the long sit was the only problem Patriot had in his last open obedience trial (would have gotten 2nd place and a 193), I have working him every day. One thing I started doing was making sure I start it the same way I start at trials. I start the sit from a stand since I don’t sit him until the judge says, “Sit your dog.” That way, the sit is as short as possible. He has down pretty well but has gone down a few times. The good things about (unlike Wyatt) is that what you get at home is the same as what you gets at trials so you can actually fix things that happen at trials.