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Stories of Spur: Dogging it in competition

Stories of Spur: Dogging it in competition
Spur competes in AKC obedience trials. He is a miniature schnauzer. This will chronicle his life on the "campaign trail" as he and his handler compete against dogs of all breeds for high titles.
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Michele McCormick
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March 19, 2008
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michelemc - > Stories of Spur: Dogging it in competition
Spur Earns His First Utility Leg!
    It has been a long time coming - or so it seems to us - but Spur has at last earned his first Utility Dog leg.  It has taken a dozen shows. 

    Time and time again he has come so close, only to have a minor snafu mean failure.  Other times, he has blown virtually every exercise.  And oh yes, there were the times his handler was not all she should or could be.

    We have been working hard, but there are always challenges.  The heat, time constraints, work and all the other activities that are also important in my life. 

    But yesterday at the Gold Country Kennel Club show in Grass Valley, all the effort seemed very worthwhile indeed.

    And our journey is not unusual for competition at this level.  Time and time again I've been told that it can easily take 20 tries or more to win the Utility Dog title.  Of course I've always hoped, that may be true for some people, but maybe not for us.  Alas, it turns out we are a lot like the other teams out there in competition.

    It must also be mentioned that our performance was not stellar.  It was rife with no-sits and automatic finishes that cranked up the points off and left us with a barely-passing score of 172.5.  "Do you want me to announce the score out loud?" the judge kindly asked. 

    I was too happy to mind, and the small crowd that had gathered seemed to me to give us an extra cheer. 

    Since we entered the Utility A ring for the first time in April we've seen only three dogs actually pass the class.  And yesterday, we were the only qualifiers.  Ergo, our humble success also netted us a blue ribbon.

    We need two more successes to earn the Utiility Dog title, but this first leg feels BIG.  We are both proud.  We have overcome a psychological hurdle and we're ready to move on.  Utility A, here we come! 
Topics: miniature schnauzer, obedience training, dog training, Spur, michele mccormick, utility dog, AKC obedience, obedience competition
posted by michelemc on Monday, September 1, 2008 at 05:05 PM
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