# Ribbon-O-Rama



## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

I am speechless, which as you know is pretty rare. "Congratulations" doesn't seem to begin to cover it! What an amazing weekend for you guys, what an awesome job you've done with them. 
Thanks for the diagrams. They really help me know what to expect. 
I can relate to the fog, we've been having issues with that here. So thick you can't see 100 feet in front of you, let alone 100 yards. 
Again, hugest congratulations! You guys rock!


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## Radarsdad (Apr 18, 2011)

Congrats on a successful weekend hope yours was drier than ours. Way to go Slater.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

Congratulations on a successful weekend.


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## sterregold (Dec 9, 2009)

Those were some nice tests--congrats on doing such a good job of them with Slater. I am glad to hear the judges held the dogs to a standard on that first water blind--doesn't do people any favours to pass them for not _doing_ the blind.


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

sterregold said:


> Those were some nice tests--congrats on doing such a good job of them with Slater. I am glad to hear the judges held the dogs to a standard on that first water blind--doesn't do people any favours to pass them for not _doing_ the blind.


I tell you what that was interesting. I've also begun to realize that in Senior you get extra credit for CHALLENGING the blind even if the dog really doesn't do that great of a job. If you try you get more credit than someone who doesn't. Many handlers wouldn't blow the whistle on that one blind until the dogs were AT the island, letting them rumble down the shore a good 30 yards! One handler came off the line absolutely thrilled because her dog "one-whistled the blind!" woooooo! Well it never put a foot in the water. The odd thing (I thought) was that these dogs who obviously (later) were dropped on the water blind were allowed to honor off-lead. Perhaps the judges decided later on to drop them but it was deceiving to the handlers who thought they were in good shape because they honored off lead, only to be dropped later. Also in my mind that is a risky thing to do, if you know you are going to drop a dog, why risk him breaking on the working dog?


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## luvgld7 (Jan 23, 2008)

Congrats to everyone!


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## sterregold (Dec 9, 2009)

K9-Design said:


> The odd thing (I thought) was that these dogs who obviously (later) were dropped on the water blind were allowed to honor off-lead. Perhaps the judges decided later on to drop them but it was deceiving to the handlers who thought they were in good shape because they honored off lead, only to be dropped later. Also in my mind that is a risky thing to do, if you know you are going to drop a dog, why risk him breaking on the working dog?


That is the hard part about judging--and Senior is really hard as you have dogs just out of Junior who probably should not be running yet, and dogs who are pretty much ready for Master. One group can make the test look brutal, and the other make the test look like a cakewalk--finding that middle ground of a test that really meets the standard can be tough, which is why I like to have a dog of my own, where I know where they are at skill wise to run during setup to see if it is fair or not. 

Add to that, with large entries you really do not have the time to talk about every single dog as you go. Really obvious failures you can just kind of look at each other and know. Sometimes where other work has been good, or maybe the test seems to have factors in it that are having more influence than you anticipated (like that water blind at Cuyahoga in June!), particularily early on, you may be willing to give the dogs a little more leeway. Sometimes dogs are so close judges need to do some discussing and actually run some numbers to see if the dog can pass. Usually if the dog is that close and we are aware of it, I like to give the handler a heads up--you are honouring off lead, but the judges have some discussing to do, so no guarantees!


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## GoldenSail (Dec 30, 2008)

Nice tests. Huge congrats on the titles! So when's Slater going to be ready for Master?


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## hollyk (Feb 21, 2009)

Well done!


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## hollyk (Feb 21, 2009)

You should suit your Mom up in camo and have her run Harvin in Started. Started would be a cake walk for him and she would never forget it.


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## Radarsdad (Apr 18, 2011)

> I tell you what that was interesting. I've also begun to realize that in Senior you get extra credit for CHALLENGING the blind even if the dog really doesn't do that great of a job.


Not just Senior. Judges want to see you challenge that blind not cheat it. Once running Master had a judge say "you are first one in 21 dogs to challenge the blind. Thank You" Field trials it is expected.


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