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Video of Kodi's BN run

3K views 19 replies 11 participants last post by  FancyNancy 
#1 ·


This was our third (title) leg.
 
#5 ·
AKC Beginner Novice Obedience. It's the first rung on the formal obedience ladder in AKC. You must "Q" (qualify with a score of 170 or better) 3 times for your title at each level. BN is an optional titling class... if you wanted, and your dog was ready, you could go straight to Novice. But then you MUST finish Novice before doing Open, and must finish Open before doing Utility. There are some other optional titling classes in between too for people who want to do them. The optional titling classes act sort of as stepping stones between the main 3 levels.
 
#10 ·
No, no treats allowed in the ring, Becky! There is no off-leash heeling in BN, and the heeling pattern isn't called. Instead, you follow signs like rally signs. But it's NOT scored like rally, it's scored like regular, obedience heeling. Kodi's heeling was good until we got to the slow. We're still working on that (and you can't see it as much from the front) but he forges quite badly in the slow.

The figure eight is exactly the same as Novice. Instead of the "Stand for exam", there is a sit for exam, where the judge just touches the dog on the head, while you stand 6' out, with the dog still on-lead. The stay is done with no other dogs in the ring, and is a "sit stay". The dog is supposed to maintain the stay while the handler walks around the perimeter of the ring. Obviously, Kodi didn't do this, though he didn't leave from the spot. Technically, my understanding is that we should have NQ'd for that, but the judge must have forgotten the rules, because she just gave me a 3 point deduction. As my trainer said, sometimes mistakes go for you and sometimes they go against you. I got lucky.:) The final exercise is the recall, done only half the length of the ring, and it ends with a front, no finish needed. Obviously, the other place he lost major points was there, because he jumped on me, and didn't hold the front.

But he still ended up with 190 1/2 overall, so I'm not complaining.:)

He is usually quite reliable about the sit and walk around, and while he USED to jump on me a lot, hasn't done that for a year now. I think the problem was that I was nervous. I don't usually get nervous about showing, but since this was our title leg, I think I was more nervous than usual, and that got him keyed up. People who watched said that in the sit, before he stood up, he was throwing a lot of stress signals... lowering his head and yawning, which is unlike him. Unfortunately, the person taping, for some reason followed ME walking around the ring, rather than the dog!:biggrin1: As a result, we can't see what he did, and I didn't see it while I was walking the ring. Likewise, I'm sure the reason he jumped on me was that he was SO excited to be allowed to come to me that he couldn't contain himself.

Oh well, he's not quite ready for Novice yet... still not COMPLETELY ready for the long sits and downs in a group of dogs. So we'll do BN in the B class a couple more times to see if we can clean up our act a bit, and keep him in the ring!
 
#9 ·
Boy, I don't know how you keep it all straight, Karen, especially between AKC and APDT. Great job once again. He's so enthusiastic. Still love the little jumps he does the best. He's just so happy to be performing.
 
#11 ·
Thanks, Mary. I keep the rule books on my iPad so I can consult them at any time!!!:biggrin1:

I like his LITTLE jumps and pop finishes... Not so big on all the jumping ON me he did in this class... it cost us 3 points!:pound:
 
#12 ·
goood stuff Karen, I wish you could put a puppy cam on him. lol
 
#14 ·
I am glad to see you did the beginner novice you both were ready for it, its a step between rally and novice. The judge has the discretion on the wait exercise, Kodi was close to the wall and he could see you the whole time. Many of the judges make them sit in the middle of the ring so you walk behind them, the small dogs can not turn their head naturally to see you, often they move. It is great fun and a good way for people to see how their dog will do in the obedience. I always love seeing you and Kodi.
 
#15 ·
We have done lots of practice in lots of different places in the ring. The first two BN legs were closer to the middle. The funny thing with Kodi is that for the longest time, I could go to the left and he'd hold the stay, but if I went to the right, he'd get up and turn, right when I went behind him. I think it was from all the "walk arounds" in Rally, that are always to the left. In the beginning, I had to stay really close going to the right, and click/treat hin JUST for turning his head without moving!:)
 
#17 ·
I've thought about it but it feels like going backward somehow. We have so many venues we train for that this one is low on the priority list. They do offer it at our training facility, but it always seems to be on the same weekend as another trial elsewhere!:)
 
#18 ·
We followed the progression from CGC to BN and now we are working on Novice. AKC gives a tile for CGC now. The are grandfathering in those of us who got it before they decided to make it a title. Lily is also TDI certified. They are adding that too but we need 50 hours before they will give that title.
I love the attention your dog has. It shouldn't take long for you to get your Novice title.
Congratulations!
 
#19 ·
Thanks! Yes, if we had done things in the "normal order" it would have made more sense. But there are two "tracks" at our training center... One for people who are mostly "pet oriented", and those often are encouraged to train for the CGC. And those who are more sport oriented, and those tend to go into classes leading toward the specific sport in question. Of course there are people who specifically want to do therapy dog work, and they know they need their CGC. But since the CGC testing and the TDI testing are always held on the same day, most people do both together.

Maybe someday Kodi and I will do therapy dog work, but right now, it just doesn't fit into the schedule. That and Nose Work sound like great "retirement activities" for him! And the fact that CGC is now considered a title isn't much of a draw for me... he's already got an awfully long string of indecipherable letters after his name!:pound:

As far as Novice is concerned, he's definitely making good progress, but we need to get more distance on the stays before he's anywhere NEAR ready for ring-time. There's nothing else in Novice that should be a problem. Actually, once we get the stays down, I think we'll do pretty well. He's already working on increasing distance on drop on recall and signals, has started learning the go-out, and has FINALLY started to make good progress on the retrieve. (for a long time, I could get him to pick up, let alone HOLD the dumbell!!!:frusty:) He's just a "busy" dog... which makes it much easier for him to DO something than "NOT" do something. (like staying still for those long sits and downs!:))
 
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