So, drumroll please............we passed! Woohoo, my little puppy passed basic obedience! And not only that, he got 1st place, the highest scores in the class, which even beat this pitbull that was showing off and doing everything off-leash!

To start from the beginning.. We got to class and were the first ones there. We were wondering where everyone was and then remembered that the trainer said that we'd 'perform' in the order that we showed up to class.. Oh great, so Gibson has to go first, super. After playing w/his buddy, Drake, for a little bit, we were called to go.

We started off by walking. We said heel, and then stopped/sat, turned in circles, walked slow, and sat again. This did not go too well. Gibson was ready to play and was 'herding me' and 'growling'. Oh no! He at least followed me nicely and sat on command, but things were not looking too good. We then did 'figure 8's' around 2 objects and he was still in play mode, but followed me around the obstacles nicely.

We then 'stood for examination' which I've been working on w/him all week. I told him to stand and stay and he did! The trainer came over to pet him and he walked a little bit towards her and wagged his nub, but not too bad!

Finally in our individual test, I had Gibson sit and stay, while I walked away and then told him to come. He did perfectly! Yay! I then had to 'finish' him (which I think is pretty stupid) by making him walk behind my back and sit by my side. Well, he did it, but I had to pretty much pull him around...

So, for the individual exam I thought we did ok.. I was glad that all was left was the group long stays which I figured we'd nail. Everyone else did pretty much how I expected. The one pitbull showoff guy that didn't use a leash was soo amazing during the walk section of it. The dog stayed by his side the entire time..but then when it came to 'stay' he kind of blew it, and then he jumped up on the trainer during the stand for examination. This made me laugh, because my husband said he was making faces while I was working w/Gibson..like Gibson was some screw up..whatev.

So, all the dogs finished and it was then time for the group 'long stays'. We first did a 'sit stay', which was for 1 minute. Gibson was absolutely perfect! He sat the entire time while most of the other dogs kept getting up, woot! Next was the 'down stay' for 3 minutes. I was afraid for the sit one, because he normally lays down half way through at home, but he usually rocks the down stay. Well, everything started off great. He layed down and stayed and I thought we had this one in the bag...until the stupid dog that didn't have a leash on jumped up and went after the puppy next to him to play. Argh! This distrupted the entire class...they all wanted to know what was going on. So I had to go make Gibson lay down again, which he did, and then ten seconds later the dog jumped up again! Well, that was it..Gibson was up and confused and wanted to play or come have me protect him and was done w/this training thing. I looked at my husband and he was so mad at the stupid non-leashed dog..and I was just heartbroken. I knew we could've sat there for 3 minutes perfectly. I really did not think we were going to pass.

So, as the trainer added up our scores (we needed 170 out of 200 to pass), my husband and I sat and told Gibson he did a good job and were bummed together. She was finally ready to tell us the results, and started off w/the pitbull, since he was in a different 'class' for not using a leash. He got a 185, not bad. Next she said she'd announce the scores from lowest to highest..and in 7th place was the french bulldog w/180.. At this moment I realized there were only 8 dogs in class, 2 have been called already..so Gibson passed! Success! This was a huge relief and felt great. I figured he'd be called 6th..ok maybe 5th...4th?? We got to the top 3 and he still wasn't called.. My husband and I were just cracking up in disbelief when it came down between us and my favorite dog in the class (besides my own of course), Rex, a rat terrior (so cute!!).. Rex was called in 2nd, so Gibson got 1st w/190pts!! We could not believe it!! Our little craphead! All we could do was laugh...it was such a funny, but proud moment. We celebrated w/a bottle of wine and Gibson got a scoop of peanut butter on his dinner :)

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