Monday evening was the finale of this season’s dog obedience classes for Tannah and me. The last one is always conducted like a judged event. We arrived earlier than usual, at 7 p.m., as both classes, Beginner and Advanced Beginner were held concurrently in side-by-side circuits. 
Tannah and I were assigned a number, and I took my seat to await our turn. Shauna’s job was to get some action shots of us in the ring. There were 5 dogs registered in the Advanced class and in the end, our evaluator said ours was among the best classes he’d seen in a while. It was pretty high praise considering he and his dog are an award-winning combo; this past weekend they achieved a couple of perfect trial scores, which is very hard to do.
The Evaluator set the course and walked through it as a demonstration for participants to follow. We were the 3rd combo, and Tannah did very well all the way through it. Part two of the exam was a 1 minute Sit Stay (at end of leash), followed by a 2 minute Down Stay (also at end of leash). These are two of Tannah’s specialties…except for this exam.
For some reason, perhaps the extra background noise or just generally more dogs and commotion, she sat up halfway through the Down Stay; an instant 10 point deduction.
Usually she practically falls asleep in that position.
I won’t prolong the suspense any longer; someone has to finish 5th out of 5, and that ‘someone’ just happened to be us. It’s actually not as embarrassing as it could have been. I know Tannah can do a long Down Stay and so does the Evaluator; he was our Instructor for several classes. We’ve signed up to repeat the same class in the Fall so Shauna can practice with Tannah. Obedience training is a very good bonding experience.
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