Red was only entered in Novice A at the Deep South obedience trial today.  He's done with Rally because he has his RE and doesn't enjoy the constant starting and stopping of the upper level rally classes.  It demotivates him. 

There were only three dogs in Red's class: A lab, then Red, and then...a BOXER.  I was NOT happy when I found that out, because for some reason Red hates all boxers. 

Red's on leash heeling was ok.  Not horrid, but not the nice heeling I expect from him in training.  Red's stand for exam was perfect, and he only lost a few points for not finishing on the recall.  But the heel free was just awful.  He lagged the whole time, I had to give several extra commands, and at one point I even stopped walking and called him to heel before moving again.  I assumed we had flunked that exercise, and I'm sure everyone watching did too. 

Being followed by the boxer ended up not being an issue.  I had been worried about leaving at the end of our run because sometimes it gets crowded near the ring gate and the dogs entering and exiting the ring practically have to bump into each other.  But Tracey got the boxer's owner to move so she wasn't standing right at the ring gate and blocked Red's view of the dog.

When we went into the ring for stays I tried to stand closer to the lab on my right than to the boxer onm my left.  When we were instructed to sit our dogs I sat Red crookedly so he was also facing the lab.  On the down stay I got lucky and Red faced the right on his own.  I'm very proud that Red was able to not only do stays at a trial when he stressed out, but also do stays next to his mortal enemy, a boxer. 

Andto my surprise, at the end of the stays, the judge told us we had passed.  Barely passed, but a Q is a Q.  We ended up with a 174.5 and second place. 

I'm gald Red got his third CD leg and title today, because I don't want to perform obedience next to a strange boxer and risk something bad happening tomorrow.

My first real obedience title on a dog!  Red Rover CD!