CLWKS CHROMA Never Ending Story RA, CGC!!!

Falkor got his third Rally Advanced leg yesterday for his RA title with a 94 and a second place! We had to work really hard for this title. Working through his zoomie and sudden anxiety issues was really tough, and I finally felt like I had the dog that I started competing with back again yesterday.

He did a really nice job yesterday and was his normal happy, enthusiastic self in the ring. The course was VERY tight and the judge told us after he handed out awards that we did a really nice job with such a big dog on a tight course. Some of my friends that were watching said it was fun to watch the judge's reaction as we did our run. His eyes were all wide and he had a big smile on his face. I don't think he was expecting such an animated performance from a Dane. :) He also told me that it was great to see such a nice working giant breed. I am really proud of my big guy!

We did it!!!!

WOOOOO-HOOOOOO!!! We did it!!!!

I am just beyond excited! Falkor got his second Rally Advanced A leg yesterday at the show! Honestly it was down right nerve wrecking at the beginning because he was completely LIT UP and was doing tight circles around me in between the stations. I was really worried he was going to lose it completely and zoom because he was so excited, but by some miracle about half way through he settled in and did the rest of the course beautifully. I was really worried at the jump because that has been the place where he most often zooms but he did a BEAUTIFUL job and I can see that all our jump training is really paying off.

People commented that it was really nice to see a happy working Dane. I said "yeah except he can sometimes be a little *too* happy" and they laughed.

Even though our score wasn't high because all the silliness at the beginning, we still got first place since there weren't many A class teams. I am just beyond thrilled we qualified!

Falkor got to pick out a cool new squeaky snake toy and has been teasing Famke with it since we got home. :rolleyes: (Such a brother!)

So we show again on Monday and then I think we are going to play around in Beginners Novice/Pre-Novice for awhile. I REALLLLLLY need to work on my nerves in the ring, I was a basket case yesterday, and I think I can do that better if Falkor is on leash in the ring.

Trial this weekend!! EEKS!

Falkor and I are entered in Rally Advanced tomorrow at our local Great Dane clubs specialty and then again on Monday at our local club's trial. There are actually trials all weekend but my very best friend's wedding is on Saturday and the show site for the weekend trials is not my favorite place to show. We will be showing there on Friday but since it's only a few breeds showing for specialties it's not as crowded and crazy.

I plan to bring my Flip camera and try to find someone to videotape us.

So if you have any spare vibes we could use them!!!! :)

Falkor LOVES the tunnel!

I think it's a riot that Falkor loves the tunnel so much. It amazes me that he can go so fast when he has to squish down so much! I need to get some tunnel snuggers though because sometimes Falkor takes the tunnel with him when he goes through. :)

Really great training session today!

Melinda over at Exercise Finished had this quote at the top of her last post and I LOVE it!

“It is better to do something and fail than to do nothing and succeed.”

I have been working really hard with Falkor on his zoomie issue and we had a very encouraging training session today. I took him and our handy, dandy quicky jump to a local tennis court. I've taken him to tennis courts in the past to exercise him and I thought it would interesting to try to focus only on training. So I set the jump up first and then got Falkor out of the car. I kept him on leash for a few minutes while we did a little warming up and then I took the leash off. I fully expected him to zoom off after he figured out he was free since we've used courts before to burn off energy, but he stayed right with me! We did some more warming up and then did some pretend rally stations. He was doing really well so I adding in the jump. We did the jump a bunch of times in between other rally exercises and he didn't zoom at all! I was kinda hoping that he would so I could try a few of the ideas I have to settle him down. He was so attentive and happy.
Now I know that this session nothing like a real trial, and doesn't come with the typical trial anxiety but it was still encouraging for me. Then we went to Bass Pro Shop and worked some basic obedience stuff. At one point we had a small crowd of employees watching me put Falkor through his paces. :)

The weather is GORGEOUS today and we are all loving it!! 71 degrees with sunshine and a quite a breeze!!