[Wrath]

Had a pretty good exam, and was reccomended to go on to Novice obedience.

On the bad side, he was lagging REALLY badly during all of our heelwork. Absolute worst performance he's ever given. Once again, by the time it was our turn to enter the ring, his focus and energy were pretty much gone. We got there a half hour before test time and I warmed him up, he was energetic, attentive, and doing everything splendidly. By test time, he was a plodding, lethargic, scatterbrained meathead. Too hot to put him in the car for waiting and no room for a crate so we brought a rawhide bone to occupy him waiting for his turn. It kept him from pestering other people and dogs, but didn't do much for keeping his energy level up*sigh*

On the positive side, everything else was solid. His recall was a nice trot and he did a good front. He stayed for the stand exam and sit. Had a very harrowing moment before the down stay portion when I put him in a down and before the judge called for everyone to step away from their dog, he rolled over on his back and started flailing his legs. This was the first time I'd ever seen him do this, quite stunned. The instructor was good enough to give me a chance to get him under control so I got him back on his feet, circled him around back into heel position, and put him back in a down. FLOP...he was on his back pawing away again, just having a grand time. By this time I was resigned to have blown this portion fo the test, so I told him to stay and started to step out and the second I started to move, he rolled back upright and settled onto his hip. Tonight was the first night he didn't break the 3 minute down stay and I was chuckling under my breath for the first 2 minutes.

So now we're associate members, paid our dues and enrolled him in Novice 1 obedience for the next term as well as enrolled our other dog in basic obedience (future agility star in the making)