Last summer when I took Solei’s Bronze Good Citizen award I thought about doing it with Elton as well, but decided not to as there was no hurry and I had enough to think about at the time. I’ve been waiting for the obedience club I’m a member of to hold a test (to my knowledge the last one was January 2010) intending for Elton to do it then, and they haven’t! So Elton still hadn’t taken it.

Last week I was sorting out some schedules, and suddenly had an “oh sh!t” moment! - entries for the first heat of the Pre-Beginner Stakes I want to enter close on 23rd March…by which time Elton needs to have passed his Bronze. There was no test coming up at club, and the earliest he could take it was at UK Toy – 26th March. Uh oh!

Thinking if they were holding tests it was more likely to be at the end or beginning of a month, I frantically started emailing round clubs! I had some helpful replies, and one said they were holding a test on 1st March and I would be welcome to come along…yes, result!

I was so nervous, although everything he had to do should have been well within his capabilities I can count the number of times he’s been to an obedience class on one hand (the last time as written here not good at all) and we were going to a venue neither of us had ever been to before, with dogs neither of us had never met before – having not specifically practiced either!

So last night off we went. Arrived nice and early, because I wanted to give us both plenty of time to settle – just as well, we needed it! He had a sniff about and then we did a bit of obedience to get him more focused. He did some lovely distance control (which of course we don't need for anything lol) but his heelwork needs a lot of work before the show in 3 weeks time...oops.

For some reason he's not nearly so comfortable with the chair as he was, and we definitely need to do some more work in more distracting environments. Not easy at the moment, but I'll have to try and get him out there a few times before the 26th. How I wish I had a nice indoor venue to use!

Never the less, this is about being a well behaved pet, not a top competitive obedience dog. As a pet he was fine, and we passed! So Elton now holds his Bronze Good Citizen Award, and panic is over :) I’m so relieved to have that out of the way. Yay Elton!

In other news, we've backtracked with the retrieve and we're currently working on the bed, with him picking it up and placing it into my hand. At the moment he's not having to hold on to it for any length of time, but we'll build that up over the next few weeks. He needs a much more solid hold!

Solei and I have been doing dumbbell work as well. He's still a long way off being comfortable and we haven't made any significant progress yet, but we'll see how he goes. Would be lovely if I could get him comfortable with a dumbbell again! We do this periodically - I get the db out and we play the db game for a bit, nothing happens and I put it away for a few weeks again!