Left Pivot...please?

So Nike's finally in fighting form with his heeling (yay!), so much so that he stepped on Honor while heeling because he wouldn't take his eyes off me (sorry Honor!). He has everything he needs for rally, except...the left pivot. And I'm going nuts trying to figure out a better way to communicate it. He pivots on his left 360s and 180s, but once he's sitting, he's SITTING. Beautiful sits, yes, eyes uplifted, but his butt does not come off the ground for the pivot! Lol. He finally started getting it tonight after I started making these wide, sweeping, "backup" gestures, and I C&T for the littlest of rear end movement, so I'm hoping he'll catch on! It's so odd though, Nike always gets things on the first or second try, but this one move...not quite! :)

11 days until trial. I hope I'm doing the right thing by entering him. He did the Halloween rally match, which was more challenging because of the decorations on the signs. Hopefully he's ready. I know his obedience skills are up to scratch, I just want to make sure he's mentally ready. But we're doing APDT, so it should be a nice and relaxed environment!

Great Show Weekend!

This past weekend, Honor showed for the first time in UKC Licensed Altered conformation! I'm so proud to report that after four shows, Honor has 4 BoV wins, 3 Best Female wins, 2 BoB wins, 1 Group win, and made it to BiS twice! She accumulated 98 of the 100 points she needs to champion (so close!), and has all three competition wins needed. I'm so proud of her!

Christmas Update

The dogs had a fabulous Christmas! They got to open presents (LOTS) of toys, and got to visit both families. Eli and Nikki got to go to see Dan's family, and Honor and Nike got to visit mine! All four dogs enjoyed their holiday festivities, and Honor especially enjoyed visiting her "cousin" Romy!

Right now, Eli and Nike are training pretty heavily in agility, and Honor is practicing conformation work in preparation for the January shows at For Your Canine. This will be her first set of shows in Licensed Altered, thanks to UKC's new foray into this venue. Hopefully she'll show well and have a great time!

November Update

I haven't written in awhile! Exciting news on the dogs:

Eli received his 3rd Q in UKC rally and received his URO1! I'm so proud of him. We're going to take a break from rally for a while and concentrate on agility, which seems to be his true love. :)


Honor received her first Q in UKC rally Level 2. She took 2nd place!


Honor and Nikki went for their CGC/TDI certifications, and both passed! I'm so proud of them, and I can't wait for them to start therapy work!

New UKC Altered

I find this very pleasing. My only hope is that they do reconsider allowing Altered to qualify for Total Dog!

Pictures!

What are the dogs up to?

Now that Nikki has completed a very smooth transition into the pack, it's time to identify what the dogs should do next! Defining goals helps keep me motivated, and the dogs just love training!

Honor:
- Honor will continue to trial towards her RL1x (Rally Level 1 Championship). This will keep her engaged in Rally, as well as start to solidify for us whether she would enjoy moving on to Level 2. I'm also considering having her begin weight pull training.

Nike:
- Nike is currently in training for Rally and Obedience. Nike will continue training for both, focusing on Recall Over Jump and Stand For Exam.

Eli:
- Eli has one more leg needed to receive his URO1, which he will hopefully Q for at October's show. At this point, he's been showing me a newly found love of heelwork, so at this point I'm leaning toward Obedience for Eli. BUT, I truly believe he will love weight pull, so I'm going forward with that as well. It's time to buy concrete blocks!

Nikki:
- Nikki is definitely focused on one thing...becoming a therapy dog. As soon as she has a reliable recall, heel, and down, Nikki will try her paw at obtaining her CGC/TDI certification.

It's good to keep busy!