Olive, co-owned by John Willmore and Diane Webb, and handled by Bertha Adamson, earned a Rally Novice leg at an AKC Rally trial in California today. John and Diane are traveling on business and Bertha had come in from Colorado to manage the home front, including pinch-handling the dachshunds at the Rally trial!
Diane writes:
"We got a cell phone call from Bertha yesterday while driving from Annapolis to Baltimore -- Olive got her first RN leg!
I'd forgotten that the last time Olive was at Prado Regional Park it was to do tracking practice and that you were worried about all the gopher holes distracting her from tracking. Imagine doing obedience in those same conditions! Also, Bertha told me that she been confidently thinking, "No big deal, I've done rally with Olive before." Until she remembered that it was *Asti* she'd done rally with!
Anyway, I'm told that Olive was very excited about doing tracking or field trials when Bertha got her out to warmup and even out on the course, but that she was a good enough girl to get a 75. They got one 10 point deduction for not completing the call front-finish right exercise (Bertha says that all the dachshunds struggled with that exercise -- there must have been some big distraction at that spot) and some tight leash, lagging and slow to respond deductions. I know from experience that the judge has a somewhat sharp pencil -- her rally scores are not gifts.
Remy got a 73 in Rally Excellent, Brandy and my sister's dachshund Guinness were excused for distracted dachshund behavior.
I'm hoping that Olive and I can get better scores at Mission Circuit at the end of May, but these outdoor park venues can be pretty tough for dachshunds.
I'm pretty proud of Bertha and Olive for working together well enough for a Q!"
Diane writes:
"We got a cell phone call from Bertha yesterday while driving from Annapolis to Baltimore -- Olive got her first RN leg!
I'd forgotten that the last time Olive was at Prado Regional Park it was to do tracking practice and that you were worried about all the gopher holes distracting her from tracking. Imagine doing obedience in those same conditions! Also, Bertha told me that she been confidently thinking, "No big deal, I've done rally with Olive before." Until she remembered that it was *Asti* she'd done rally with!
Anyway, I'm told that Olive was very excited about doing tracking or field trials when Bertha got her out to warmup and even out on the course, but that she was a good enough girl to get a 75. They got one 10 point deduction for not completing the call front-finish right exercise (Bertha says that all the dachshunds struggled with that exercise -- there must have been some big distraction at that spot) and some tight leash, lagging and slow to respond deductions. I know from experience that the judge has a somewhat sharp pencil -- her rally scores are not gifts.
Remy got a 73 in Rally Excellent, Brandy and my sister's dachshund Guinness were excused for distracted dachshund behavior.
I'm hoping that Olive and I can get better scores at Mission Circuit at the end of May, but these outdoor park venues can be pretty tough for dachshunds.
I'm pretty proud of Bertha and Olive for working together well enough for a Q!"
