November 2006 Draft Test
(Click on first picture to advance to larger pictures in photo gallery)

Heeling Pattern	Heeling Pattern	Recall	Front
Finish	Harnessing	Unhitched Back Up	Double Checking Harness
Obstacle Course	High Narrows	Left Turn	Good focus
The Back Up	Low Narrows	The Final Gate	Finishing Group Down
Loading up for Freight Haul	Pulling Up Hill	Starting Freight Haul	Pulling Ahead of the Pack
Almost Done	Group Picture	Waiting for Award

Story Continued November 2006 Draft Trial

Draft Trial With in each section the Newfoundlands test first and than Cyrus and I tested after they are finished with that section (the good part is I got to see everyone test before me and take mental notes the bad part is I had to sit around for each section and let my nerves build up). Every Newfoundland passed the basic obedience part in fact one guy commented how boring it was since there was no dogs bolting out of the ring or anything. I guess Cyrus heard him comment on that because as soon as we got in the ring the boy was a clown!! We started our forward pattern and the judge ordered us to halt and from that point on Cyrus decided to talk to me. Forward said the judge BARK, BARK, BARK, said Cyrus right turn, BARK, BARK, BARK, about turn BARK, BARK, BARK. He did all his commands perfectly but just shouting at the top of his lungs for all to hear. I sat him for the recall and walked across the ring and said “Cyrus Come” and here comes my 140lb. boy full tilt I braced myself as he does a body slam into me and ends with a perfect front. When I finished him he adds a spazzy twirl behind me and a BARK to finish off at a sit by my side. God I wish I had that on video because he was too dang funny. A few people came up to me after asking why he was barking so much and I just said be he loves working :) For this section the judge wrote he sure is enthusiastic! Harnessing and hitching went well and the maneuvering course went pretty smooth. The course was set up on a slight incline around many pine trees that consisted of bushes, logs, and vines all on the course. The high narrow was made of a 6 foot bamboo wall on both sides and the three foot back up was actually on a slight incline. Cyrus went through the course perfectly we got through every narrow and 90 degree turn smoothly at the end of the course I actually miss-directed him and missed two trees he was suppose to go through so it took a couple of turns to get back on course but besides that we had no bumps at all. At this point in the trial three Newfoundlands had failed the maneuvering course and than we broke for lunch. Before the freight haul I had to take Cy on a walk to tone him down a bit and burn some energy (since it was about 37 degrees he was very wired and I needed him slightly tired for the freight haul since he is a fast worker). I decided to practice the three minute out of sight and to my horror he kept breaking the down when practicing. I knew this was because he was feeling frisky but because he usually is very good at the down this was really bugging me. I had a stern talk with him telling him this was NOT funny and to not even think about doing this during the test. During the test for the three minute out of sight down I downed him and gave him a stern mom voice of DOWN & STAY we went behind a building I was a nervous wreck and when we were almost done the steward with her back towards us gave us a thumbs up sign letting us know all dogs were so far passing. I was so glad when that was over I sure didn’t want to fail the draft test for something silly like him sitting up on a down command! The distance freight haul was broken up into two groups of four dogs and we were in the second group. I was feeling pretty good going into the freight haul until the first group came back and found out that two or three dogs had failed on the freight haul. In the second group I was the last dog to set out on the freight haul. The fright haul started up a thick wet grass hill and usually I pick up speed before a hill and give Cyrus the pull command but because the dog in front of us was so slow Cy had no momentum and stopped on the hill when he felt the resistance (the entire mile freight haul you can not touch your dog or it is an automatic fail) I redirected him and used the pull command which in the previous week I practiced by giving him many of his favorite treats while pulling up a hill (which worked really well for this situation). The dog in front of us had me nervous as she was all over the path and going up to the other working dogs in front of her so I didn't feel comfortable passing her yet and had to really work Cyrus on his slow and easy command. The mile freight haul went across parking lots, between picnic tables, over dirt, grass, gravel, wood and between trees and we encountered such distractions as other people, dogs and ground squirrels. As a group we stopped half way for a water break and when we continued and the female in front of us went off course and we used that opportunity to move up and passed two dogs and found a comfortable working pace in the middle of the pack. The very last part of the test which I actually forgot about was the intriguing distraction where from out behind a blind turn on the left hand side shot out stuffed squirrels which rolled across the path in front of the dogs. I saw it and gave Cyrus the watch me command and thankfully he missed seeing them but what caught me off guard was a few feet later to the right there was another distraction which was this toy fox thing dangling on a line and Cyrus did see that and his ears went forward and he picked up pace and I had to use a stern LEAVE IT a few times thankfully his feet stayed on course even thou his head kept looking back for the dangling fox. I gave him the pull command for another hill and he forgot about the fox and continued on. We came to the end and the final part of the test the judges’ watch you unhitch your dog and says exercise finished. In our group one dog failed the freight haul. So at the end of the day there was two Newfoundlands that got their Draft Team title, two other Newfoundlands and Cyrus that got their Draft Dog title which gave the Leos a 100% success rate :) So Cyrus is now officially retired from draft testing but he still will be pulling his cart in local parades just not hauling around any weight. For those of you interesting in cart working I highly recommend it, each year Cyrus has gotten so good to the point where he can anticipate a command and start moving in the direction I want him to even before I tell him, it also teaches the dog discipline and is truly a team sport between handler and dog. I can't think of any other sport (at the moment) where handler and owner are working together and tested for a continuous 20 – 30 minutes.