Shortcomings....

Hello everyone!

As promised, here are pictures and the tale of my misadventure at my obedience graduation class. I'm a bit embarrassed to tell you actually...



The day started early. Mom and I headed out with Gramma at 7.30 am to the obedience school. I was behaving quite well, sitting quietly in my crate. When we reached there, I got a bit excited...what's this? Lots of new friends! Unfortunately, Mom wouldn't let me mingle. The instructor said that it's better not to mingle before the exam because if any of the candidates break their stay exercise, I may want to follow suit in thinking that it's play time. *pouts*

Mom took me aside for some warm ups...we did a bit of heel work, recall, sit stay and down stay. All worked well...I loved the treats Mom and Gramma made me (cubed hotdogs fried with a little butter and garlic...YUMMM!) After that, we got a briefing from the examiner about the route for the heel work. Mom seems to be fine...I could sense her nervousness but she's still encouraging. We were third in line for the heel work.

As we were waiting for our turn, I can't seem to stand the smell of new doggies! They all look so eager to play, and so am I! But Mom wouldn't have it....*pouts* She made me sit, but I still managed to get good looks at the new faces around.

Then, we got the call! It's our turn!

First exercise was the heel work on leash....that's my instructor in the dark blue t-shirt! He was the calling steward for the day, and the examiner is behind him.

We did lots of turns, stands, sits and downs in this exercise. Points were deducted if my sits were too slow, and lagging. I think I did alright....*grins*

Figure of eight in the heel work. We have to do turns around the cones. Points would be deducted if I tried to sniff the cones. Mom walked quite fast at this juncture so that I would have to keep up and not sniff at the cones....

A down portion for the heel work. Mom got me down very quickly! hee!

After the heel on leash, it's time for heel OFF-LEASH...Eep! Mom was quite nervous. Moi? I was fine! I was so happy I managed to get lots of praise from Mom...too bad she didn't give me more of the treats in her pocket. Treats are not allowed in the exam....=(


This is when the 'fun' starts...I started to not pay attention, even though Mom kept trying to get me to 'Watch'. Sorry Mom. You didn't give me my treat! Plus, I saw a pretty little lady right at the other side of the ring...oh no!

And off we went on the heel work off leash! Mom also walked quickly, and kept encouraging me to walk with her, which I did! YAYY! But I still managed to glance at the pretty lady doggie at the corner every now and then.

Me sitting like a good boy in the heel work. A few more steps to go till I'm home free! Still keeping a little focus on Mom. But wait! There's ANOTHER new doggie out near the fence! He's barking at me, calling me to play!


Uh oh...I lost my focus on Mom. She kept calling me, and couldn't come back to get me (because points are majorly deducted for going back to the doggy in exam)! I was too enamoured with the calling of the new friend. He seemed so fun! And then..."Thank you very much", said my instructor (Code for: I'm sorry, you have failed this exercise!). Mom was so sad....

After that, there's a 'Stand Stay' exercise, where I had to stand and had Mom leave me at a distance while the calling steward walks around me. Points were deducted if I moved while the steward is walking. Mom said I moved when she left me...but I managed to stop myself at one step.

Next, we had a 'Recall' exercise, where I had to stay while Mom left me at about 20 feet. Then she has to call me, and I had to run to her and sit at her feet all in a straight line. Usually, I do this SOOOO well coz I can't wait to get those yummy treats! But today, I didn't come....*gasp* I was looking at the doggy behind me again (he was calling me again!) and didn't hear Mom's call....in fact, she had to call me numerous times before I heard her and ran to her...in a curved line. Oh dear! (Sorry, there were no pictures for these exercises. I don't know why though...Gramma was the designated photographer for today!)

Still, we have other exercises to go through! After all the other candidates have finished their heel work, it's time for the 'Sit Stay' and 'Down Stay' exercises. These exercises are done in groups. The 'Sit Stay' exercise was for one minute, and the 'Down Stay' exercise was for three minutes! I managed to do well in these exercises...they were a cinch! hehe! All we had to do was just sit or lie there quietly, something I do ALL the time...=P

Here are all my fellow classmates before the exercises! From left to right: Wei Wei(toy Poodle), Hwang Hwang(Golden Retriever), Zara(mixed breed), ME, James(Pug) and Darlie(Dalmatian).

After the exercises, we got our evaluation scores. The passing mark was 75 points out of 100. Only one from my class passed...she was ZARA! Congrats Zara! Needless to say, I did not qualify. Guess how much did I get? A measly 54 points! I got 0 points for the off leash exercise (because I didn't finish the exercise), which apparently carried a big bulk of the points....*sigh* Mom was disappointed. But she said we will try again, and continue with our obedience classes for the next term! We were told that this part of the obedience class (Novice) is quite difficult to pass in one sitting, because the bar is set quite high...so, Mom is determined we pass the next time!

See? I'm still distracted...

xoxo,
Scottie