What has Exquisite been up to?

After a Wisconsin flyball tournament, I made sure to stop by to visit our favorite herding instructor! It has been a long time since Exquisite has seen sheep. In fact, the last and only time he has previously seen sheep, he was only four months old and had an unruly lamb fall right on top of him.  This doesn't seem to have affected him however, as he was an absolute natural on livestock this weekend! 

Exquisite attended his first conformation show at the Cambridge Kennel Club in Cambridge, Minnesota.  I hadn't entered him in this show with any expectations other than building positive experiences in the breed ring since he hadn't been to classes since he was a puppy. However, I was absolutely thrilled that on Friday and Sunday, Exquisite was recognized and placed Best of Winners under judges Ms. Marie Ann Falconer and Ms. Elizabeth Muthard. The entry was fairly small due to COVID-19, so while there was no major this weekend for Exquisite, he did earn his first four points towards his AKC championship at his very first show out. 

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Exquisite is a natural showman and he enjoyed his time in the ring. I am sure that he will soon be asking the judges for the win in future shows. What a bright future this boy has! 

Exquisite's OFA ratings came back! Exquisite has OFA Good hips, normal elbows, and normal shoulders!

Exquisite went to our amazing reproductive vet today, just over a week after her second birthday, to have his OFA radiographs taken. He had his hips, elbows, and shoulders radiographed and submitted to the OFA databases. I also have my vet check patellas, but I do not submit them to OFA. Both our veterinarian and the technicians gushed about how Exquisite was "By far the best dog we have ever done radiographs on"! I'm so proud of him and so thankful to have started cooperative care with him. What a good boy! 

One of my goals for this year is to better myself as a trainer. I wanted to start doing more cooperative care work with my dogs, and teaching them that they have freedom of choice. I have begun training consent behaviors, and Exquisite has taken to this training with enthusiasm. We are now doing completely restraint free, cooperative nail trims and are always improving upon our cooperative grooming. I look forward to seeing our relationship blossom as we explore consent training together.