Last weekend we hosted what we think is the first Companion Dog Sport Program (CDSP) trial in Ohio. One of our instructors and I (not knowing each other!) went to a seminar about it 9-10 years ago, but it seems nothing came of it at the time.
This is a competition obedience program that is beginner-friendly in that it’s less formal than AKC. Multiple trials are allowed in a day. treats in the ring at certain points. Fun things in the beginning levels (jumping!). And easier to host than, say, AKC.
We hosted our first trial – and learned a lot. We are eager to plan more and we have a list of changes to make. The exhibitors seemed happy – we had a nice balance of experienced teams (out of state!) and new teams (local!). Many breeds and sizes, and participants in all levels of competition. There was a lot to celebrate from near perfect scores, new titles, and having beautiful behaviors hold up well.
New title.
Griffin and I didn’t do our best – we’ve not done much obedience training since going to Sweden and that prep was very different from what we need here. I thought we’d be able to carry on longer with what we have, but our performance showed what we need to work on and I’m excited to see what we can do for next year.
We did finish our last Novice run and moved up to Open. This means we got to do retrieves (yay – he’s so fast and sharp!), jumping, off leash heeling (yay!), drop on recall (magically decent!), and a go out (decent!). This gave us our first open leg – and my first time doing Open level with any dog. It’s so, so fun to finally be able to do these fun things!