Otto won 1st Place in our first Rally Novice trial. Truth be told it is MY first trial ever so i couldn't be prouder of my little big man. Back to the club for another trial this afternoon to try to get our 2nd qualifying score. It takes three loves to achieve a Rally Novice title so we'll have the find another trial soon so he can have RN after his name.
That outfit was not flattering and showed bulges that aren't there but it does show how thrilled and proud I am of Otto. We've come a long way to get to this and it happened so much faster than I thought. Everything started clicking when Otto realized it was fun to be a partner. It was definitely a battle of wills for many months but the pay off is huge. I always believed he would be a great dog one day but I'm happy to say it happened sooner than later. He is now a great dog at two years old...and I already knew that before he won ribbons.
Otto has a big, strong-willed personality and there is always drama when he does anything. Everyone knows when Otto is around! I realized I needed to get some basic obedience classes accomplished so that Otto had enough manners to be allowed to perform in the many canine sports I knew he would love...and I needed to challenge all that high energy and focus so that we were both happy living together. In the beginning, our training was difficult until he realized that working with a partner could be fun. It, literally, took me 2 weeks to get a reliable sit...something that usually takes me 10 minutes with most other dogs. I had no idea when I started this training journey with Otto that it would lead me to so many new experiences and people. What started out as a necessity for Otto to thrive...and me to live with him, LOL...has ended up such a blessing and life journey. If you would have told me 6 months ago when our formal training started that we would be getting high qualifying scores in a Rally Obedience trial yesterday, I would have laughed. Yet, here we are and I am so proud of what we have accomplished so far. Besides his obedience training, he is also showing great promise in agility, flyball, lure coursing,...and am starting to work with trick training for Tricks titles as well as Freestyle dancing competition. I always knew Otto would be a great dog one day., but am so glad it has happened sooner than later.
