UCH Trout! And Total Dog X's 2!

Introducing UCH Sunway Abercrombie PT JHDs (2/3 UKC Rally O 1, 2/3 UKC Weight Pull, 1/3 HSAc) - finished today with not one, but two Total Dog awards this weekend ( competition conformation win + qualify in a performance event on the same day), with his performance qualifiers both days in both weight pull (10X his weight on rails plus an additional pull that was 312lbs) and Rally Obedience 1 (a 3rd and a 1st). Got two more Best of Winners today to make his competition conformation wins. I like getting his UCh, 2/3 of his rally and 2/3 of his weightpull done for $350 total. That is affordable. And this dog has only NQ'd in one run so far, one of his HSAc runs, since I got him in March/April. Just turned 2 at the beginning of last month.

Weight pull was fun, we had done it with Pow and Brick by chance in GA years ago once. Things I learned this weekend about competing in weight pull: 90 lbs on a cart on rough ground on flat tires = 312lb or more on rails, using clicker was the right way for me to do it, teaching walking out the slack was important, teaching starting a load was important, teaching a stop (stay) was important, teaching rear end awareness/how to untangle the harness and step back into the traces was important, and that crosstraining in dog sports is the bomb. We did all these things, and Trout had a blast. No begging, only one pull where I messed up and didn't ask him to take up slack before the pull, which was saved by the stop and restart commands. The fact that he fouled me because he was too fast says it all. Any behavior can be broken down into smaller pieces - splitting over lumping for weight pull win. Blame Pat Sanford for this getting ingrained in my training, and my Tiki and her Wylie.