Your Dog, Your Journey: Ribbons Tell a Story

Every person who steps in the obedience ring is on a unique journey with his or her dog. What does your journey look like?

By Dana Nelson

Earlier this month I read a really good blog post called “When the Ribbons Lie” written by Julie Bacon of Q-Coach. In it she speaks of the times when on paper you won but you know it wasn’t what your best was, what you are striving towards. Almost like you got away with something. This happened to me at my most recent trial.

When working towards your UDX, you must Q in Open B and Utility B – at the same trial. Chip had a decent run in Open. I was really pleased with his work – our work. In fact, until the Stand – Stay, Get your Leash we were qualified. Note the UNTIL. As I grabbed his leash, I heard the ‘aww’ from the crowd. And I knew what that meant…he moved. I turned around and sure enough he moved…and that meant NQ.

About 30 minutes later we were in Utility. Chip was lazy in his finishes, he dropped his article, it wasn’t pretty – AT ALL! But he got a Q. So, for us, the ribbons did lie that day. In her blog Julie says: You let the ribbons be what they are — real, earned, worth celebrating on their own terms. And you let the honest assessment be what it is — also real, also worth taking seriously.You don’t have to choose one story. Both are true.

Great advice.

What did I do? Assessed both runs. Watched the video of both runs. Realized what I need to do differently in training and competition. From the video I was able to see that when I gave the stay signal; I gave it too quick and he was looking away as I gave it.

I highly encourage you to film your runs (and your training sessions too). They will show you things you can’t see otherwise.

I also assessed what was good. We’ve been working HARD on the ring entry and transitioning between exercises – that was awesome! Many know of our struggles with signals and go-outs, that day mostly really nice. So let that assessment be honest.

Several days after the trial I also read an interesting Facebook Post. In this post, the writer asked why people only post their ribbons and talk about their Q’s and never their NQ’s. Many Mondays you will see photos of the wins from over the weekend – ribbon photos. Now I realize not as many post about their struggles and NQs as their success and Qs. But why not?

The question stayed with me. How often do you see posts about someone’s NQ? Now, I have posted about both — and not just in this post. There have been times I have been very proud of my NQs: when we were working something out, when my dog worked well, when progress was happening. I think we learn from others when they share — the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Then on Friday, Chip got mail - his Top 20 Ribbon for Obedience from our parent club – the Australian Terrier Club of America. Along with it came two plaques for different levels of versatility in our breed. My first thought was – should I post this?

After giving it some thought, I decided YES, I am going to post this. And the reason may come as a surprise. I posted it because while earning these awards I had WAY MORE NQ’s than I had Qs. Those NQs made me a better handler, a better teammate for my dog.

So, celebrate the Q’s and NQs! You earned them.

Remember: Your ribbons tell the story of your journey with your dog – and so do the NQs.