# Kodi's Pre-Novice Run



## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Kodi and I did our first Pre-Novice Run today. For Pre-Novice, you do exactly the same exercises as Novice, with the exception of no group stays. Instead you do an individual stay, either a sit or a down, at the judge's choice.

While Kodi's on-leash heeling wasn't as good as he usually is, (it's as a very distracting venue&#8230; many much more experienced dogs were not at their best either) and he didn't want to sit on the ribbed matting at times, he still won the class and got his first Q.


----------



## Karen Collins (Mar 21, 2013)

Congratulations! Karen I am dying to get into rally with Dance, but my local club is adamant about vaccinations! So, we are not welcome.


----------



## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Karen Collins said:


> Congratulations! Karen I am dying to get into rally with Dance, but my local club is adamant about vaccinations! So, we are not welcome.


I have NEVER had ANYONE question Kodi's vaccine status other than crossing the border into Canada. (Which I expected, and all they cared about was Rabies). The local clubs are actully asking for proof of vaccination? And won't accept titers? Surprising that they have enough entries that they can afford to be that picky!


----------



## Regina (Mar 9, 2013)

Karen WOW!!! I mean super WOW!!! No cheese or filet mignon as treats either  
the last exercise with you walking the whole way around the ring and Kodi just sat there has me speechless. Such a great little boy you have there and you are such a great Mom. The trust he has in you just watching you the whole time is priceless.


----------



## Karen Collins (Mar 21, 2013)

South Carolina is always the last to get on board with anything it seems. I was in shock myself actually. But to enroll in any class here in Aiken, you have to fill out a written appl and attach vaccine records. Titers have to be done annually. It's largely due to ignorance. The groomers, dog trainers, and boarding kennels get all their info from the local vets and they are all in solidarity on this issue. I do have a groomer who states on the phone and his website that he requires proof of vacs, but he has never asked for them in person.


----------



## misstray (Feb 6, 2011)

Way to go Karen and Kodi!


----------



## sandypaws (Aug 8, 2012)

Congratulations, again, Karen and Kodi. I, too, love the way he watches you walk around the room. He's such an awesome guy. It's so obvious how much he adores you.


----------



## Pucks104 (Aug 16, 2012)

Congratulations Karen and Kodi!


----------



## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Regina said:


> Karen WOW!!! I mean super WOW!!! No cheese or filet mignon as treats either
> the last exercise with you walking the whole way around the ring and Kodi just sat there has me speechless. Such a great little boy you have there and you are such a great Mom. The trust he has in you just watching you the whole time is priceless.


Ha! No, in AKC, there is no food allowed in the ring. Even in the venues that DO allow food, it is only allowed as a reward, at very specific spots, and with the dog stationary, in heel position.

But the truth is, while food can be a nice reward for dogs who are well trained, you can't get a good performance, even with food, if the dog doesn't know his job... So food in the ring doesn't get you very far!


----------



## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Karen Collins said:


> South Carolina is always the last to get on board with anything it seems. I was in shock myself actually. But to enroll in any class here in Aiken, you have to fill out a written appl and attach vaccine records. Titers have to be done annually. It's largely due to ignorance. The groomers, dog trainers, and boarding kennels get all their info from the local vets and they are all in solidarity on this issue. I do have a groomer who states on the phone and his website that he requires proof of vacs, but he has never asked for them in person.


Well, at least you could do titers, though. Even if it's a pain in the neck, there's no risk to your dog that way.

BTW, my older son recently moved to Hilton Head for a job. I can't wait to go down and visit him!


----------



## Ruth4Havs (May 13, 2013)

Wow you two are such a great pair in the ring! Congratulations on another upstanding performance!:clap2:


----------



## Ruthiec (Jun 18, 2013)

Wow, really impressive. Well done to the two K's.


----------



## Karen Collins (Mar 21, 2013)

krandall said:


> Well, at least you could do titers, though. Even if it's a pain in the neck, there's no risk to your dog that way.


You are right Karen. I am being a bit stubborn, because I want desperately to make a point that vaccines are dangerous and more than one is titer is unnecessary. Dance's titers are 2 yrs old. I probably could bring them and no one would look closely at dates. She's pregnant now, so after her litter I might just enroll us in classes. I love them. I started with my Tibetan Terrier but never got far enough to compete. It was a lot of fun though!


----------



## Karen Collins (Mar 21, 2013)

krandall said:


> BTW, my older son recently moved to Hilton Head for a job. I can't wait to go down and visit him!


Hilton Head is wonderful! You would love it. I am a Navy brat and have lived all over the USA and while SC has it's drawbacks, I wouldn't live anywhere else. What does your son do?


----------



## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Karen Collins said:


> Hilton Head is wonderful! You would love it. I am a Navy brat and have lived all over the USA and while SC has it's drawbacks, I wouldn't live anywhere else. What does your son do?


He's a Supervising Arborist for Bartlett Tree. The office is on Hilton Head, but he lives in Bluffton. (close by, but a lot less expensive, from what he tells me! )


----------



## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Kodi's second run wasn't as good&#8230; He was VERY stressed out by some of the things that went on. As was I!&#8230; a woman came out of the ring, was mad at her dog, sat down next to us, shook him, them squeezed his neck hard enough to make him screech&#8230; RIGHT before it was time for us to go in the ring!!! there were also several other incidents with people treating their dogs much too harshly, IMO. And I sure didn't see any of those harshly treated dogs put in great performances. 

Kodi Q'd with only a 173 1/2, but was still in 2nd place because most of the other dogs NQ'd. For comparison, High in Trial was only a 184, so he wasn't THAT low. LOTS of dogs NQ'd. Complete classes had NO Q's!) You can see how stressed he was, because if he has a problem in heeling, it's forging, NOT lagging, and he lagged&#8230; a lot yesterday. His "sitter" also was broken, another sure sign of stress fro him. Still, I was very happy with him that he kept working with me, and never completely shut down. I was very pleased with his stand for exam, the recall (except that he missed the front sit.. not usually a problem for him!) and the down stay.

Then there were MY mistakes&#8230; almost losing my balance on him after the stand for exam, and I don't know WHAT happened with the steward! I was embarrassed when it happened, but when I watched the video, I have NO idea why she went that way, KNOWING that's exactly where I needed to be for the off leash heeling pattern. Oh well, at least a little laughter lightened the OPPRESSIVE feeling in the room a bit!

In the spirit of showing you the good AND the not-so-good ...


----------



## whimsy (Apr 3, 2010)

Congrats..you two make such a great team!! I know how hard you both have worked to get to where you are.( I can't believe how some people can be so harsh with their sweet dogs!)


----------



## Karen Collins (Mar 21, 2013)

krandall said:


> He's a Supervising Arborist for Bartlett Tree. The office is on Hilton Head, but he lives in Bluffton. (close by, but a lot less expensive, from what he tells me! )


Your son's job sounds interesting! I used to work in Bluffton. I love the old Town; right on the May River. So beautiful and like taking a step back in time.


----------



## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Karen Collins said:


> Your son's job sounds interesting! I used to work in Bluffton. I love the old Town; right on the May River. So beautiful and like taking a step back in time.


I'm looking forward to getting the chance to visit! But he only went down at the beginning of Oct., and he'll be home for a week at Christmas. So we'll wait until spring!


----------



## Tuss (Apr 22, 2012)

Congrats on your second run. A qualifying score is a qualifying score. He did pretty good considering all the distractions. There is no predicting the distractions that can happen during a trial! When i was at the Halifax trials in Aug (Canadian specialty) during the long down someone walking in door with 4 large dogs and a big metal crate, dropped the crate, the dogs all went mental; this was right beside the ring! All 3 dogs looked up but luckily none moved! Then in the afternoon during the long sit a newspaper photographer decided to try and take photographs and started getting down on the floor right beside the ring with a noisy camera and flash taking photos until the ring stewart told her to stop! I'm sure she got a great photo because all 8 dogs instantly turned their heads to look at her (and all 8 owners shot her the dirtiest of looks!!!!!!) 

I hope you gave Kodi lots and lots of praise for his performance in such a stressful environment!


----------



## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Tuss said:


> Congrats on your second run. A qualifying score is a qualifying score. He did pretty good considering all the distractions. There is no predicting the distractions that can happen during a trial! When i was at the Halifax trials in Aug (Canadian specialty) during the long down someone walking in door with 4 large dogs and a big metal crate, dropped the crate, the dogs all went mental; this was right beside the ring! All 3 dogs looked up but luckily none moved! Then in the afternoon during the long sit a newspaper photographer decided to try and take photographs and started getting down on the floor right beside the ring with a noisy camera and flash taking photos until the ring stewart told her to stop! I'm sure she got a great photo because all 8 dogs instantly turned their heads to look at her (and all 8 owners shot her the dirtiest of looks!!!!!!)
> 
> I hope you gave Kodi lots and lots of praise for his performance in such a stressful environment!


Oh, he CERTAINLY heard how wonderful he was. And I really DO think he was, considering how stressful everything was. Best of all, he got to go for a LONG run in the woods and on the beach yesterday! We BOTH needed it!


----------



## Ditto's Mom (Apr 29, 2007)

Congrats! Love the pics, beautiful place to decompress.


----------



## jabojenny (Sep 18, 2011)

Congrats again to you and Kodi... even though you are very hard on yourself I think you and Kodi looked great. I love the video and picture, especially the yellow leaves, they're beautiful! I have to say that I have seen some people really ticked off at their dogs at some of the agility trials I've helped with I feel so bad for the pups they look so sad. It should be fun and most of the participants have a great relationship with their partner pups and are just fine with how things turn out regardless of the outcome, which is so nice to see.


----------



## sandypaws (Aug 8, 2012)

Love the fall pics, Karen. I assume that's Lake Winthrop, but where is the trail? Is it behind your house and does it eventually get you to the lake? I'm trying to envision it in my mind, but it isn't working!
The lake is where three of my four kids had their swimming lessons. I remember sitting there watching them in the rain and/or very chilly mornings. Sometimes I wondered how they could even go in the water because it was so chilly early in the morning. Memories!


----------



## Pucks104 (Aug 16, 2012)

What a beautiful setting for decompressing!


----------



## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

jabojenny said:


> Congrats again to you and Kodi... even though you are very hard on yourself I think you and Kodi looked great. I love the video and picture, especially the yellow leaves, they're beautiful! I have to say that I have seen some people really ticked off at their dogs at some of the agility trials I've helped with I feel so bad for the pups they look so sad. It should be fun and most of the participants have a great relationship with their partner pups and are just fine with how things turn out regardless of the outcome, which is so nice to see.


That's the way it has been at most of the obedience trials I've been to&#8230; The occasional person acting a bit gruff with their dog, but NEVER this overt nastiness toward the dogs, or the approval and encouragement of that behavior by (many!) other people in the room. Not even the judge did anything about it!

I certainly WASN'T unhappy with Kodi's performance. I think he did the best he could do under those circumstances. (which is what dogs USUALLY do!  ) I just felt bad that he got so stressed out. I'd think long and hard before going to that trial again.


----------



## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

sandypaws said:


> Love the fall pics, Karen. I assume that's Lake Winthrop, but where is the trail? Is it behind your house and does it eventually get you to the lake? I'm trying to envision it in my mind, but it isn't working!
> The lake is where three of my four kids had their swimming lessons. I remember sitting there watching them in the rain and/or very chilly mornings. Sometimes I wondered how they could even go in the water because it was so chilly early in the morning. Memories!


Hi Mary, yes it's Lake Winthrop, but not the Stoddard Park side where swimming lessons are. It's the Pleasure Point side, which is an easy walk from my house. There is an informal doggy play group that goes down there early in the morning and again in the late afternoon to play there. (except for swimming season, when dogs aren't allowed on the beach)

The rail trail goes from Rte 16 in East Holliston, then along Woodland St. It crosses Central St. by CVS, then heads through the woods, more or less following Rte. 16, but out of sight, on the left if you are heading west. It has been improved all the way though Milford now, so we have a very nice trail system, and it also connects a number of pieces of open space.

I pick it up by walking the short distance from my house to CVS. That day, I took a side trail off that leads down to Pleasure Point, then back home down Winthrop St. When I ride Oliver up there, we often ride down into Wenakeening Woods, where there is space to do some gallops.


----------



## sandypaws (Aug 8, 2012)

I am also familiar with Pleasure Point, Karen.  It was always the road less traveled, so to speak. My daughter lives in Milford and told me about the new rail trail which she can pick up from her neighborhood. I know they were discussing doing that before we left for the Cape. It's definitely a great place to walk. Of course, here we have the CC Rail Trail which goes from Dennis to Wellfleet with additional spurs in Provincetwon and Falmouth. They are now working on connecting the entire thing. It's certainly nice that they can make such gems out of the defunct tracks. Glad we have all these resources.


----------



## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Mary, we always liked Pleasure Point better for two reasons. First, it was MUCH less crowded. Second, the big oak tree made shade right down to the edge of the water on summer afternoons… something I really appreciated for my very light skinned kiddos!


----------

