Lance TCOTC obedience trial

Summary: Lance tried for more UDX legs this past weekend.  None achieved, only 1 real Q and another technical Q.  Signals are a foreign concept to Lance and he lost his mojo on articles.  Oh and stays suck.

Saturday was a bust in utility as he sat on my down signal, but other than that it was an ok run.  He kept eye contact on his glove pivot although only mostly dropped the glove when asked (did a very slight tug back).  Go outs were wobbly but ended up straight.  Moving stand was insanely forged.  Never a good sign when I have to walk PAST the corgi after my stay cue!  Articles were very hesitant though.  Lance seemed to fine the correct one right away but searched again a few more times.  He even brought it to me 2ft before having to recheck the pile and ultimately bringing it to me.  The 2nd article was beautiful and fast.
Video of utility

But open on Saturday was one of the nicest runs we have had!  He was much more consistent on sitting straighter on his fronts than he has been and our heeling was less forgy than normal too!  The best part is that he held his sit stay!  Lance went down both days in a trial a few weeks ago so I had feared the problem was coming back.  On Saturday Lance was next to a 180lb great dane; he lost a point for turning away from the big guy on the sit, but held it!

 On Sunday I found out we stood of stayed home.  Lance was much flatter than normal today which made me sad.  Not awful, just not his normal pep that Lance is known for entertaining the crowd with.  '
Utility was going OK in the beginning.  He didn't sit on his glove turn, and returned slower than normal.  Articles were again lacking confidence.  I did metal first this time to see if that would help but it didn't.  He still picked it up and dropped it to research the pile.  He even dropped it again when the judge told me to take it.  2nd article was better but still not speedy.  Go outs were one of the best he's done in a trial though!  No wobbly curves on the sends!  Moving stand was much improved over yesterdays forging.

Signals were a disaster.  Heeling was ok but Lance not only missed the down signal, but also just stared at me for the sit signal AND the come signal!  He was just staring at me like I was doing this weird dance.

Open was better but still felt a bit flat.  Lance almost NQed us on the drop on recall as he slowed to a stop right as the judge cued me to down him.  Everything else went fine, just not a little flater than normal.

On the stays I was worried as Lance was definitely stressed when setting up.  Avoiding eye contact and yawning and he wasn't even next to his great dane "friend" from saturday.  I left and was bummed to return to Lance lying down on the sit.  But as the judge told the 2 other exhibitors who dog's had fallen what time their dog's went down (about 30sec) he skipped over me.  I didn't think much of it and Lance did the down just fine.  As he announced qualifiers who called our number and I asked him again for clarification.  He looked and assured us we had qualified.  I talked to a steward after and she said Lance went down about the 2min mark. 

This is the THIRD time Lance has gotten a "gift" in obedience, although the first on  a stay!.  I've talked to other judges about it in the past and they've all agreed that the judge can't change what he didn't see/hear so to shut about it.  But I didn't feel right about returning for awards, although our score was only mid 190s so not in placements.  In this regard I'm glad he didn't Q in utility as a UDX leg wouldn't have felt right.'

I'm not too worried about our other errors, but I am getting very concerned about about his stay problem.  Two weekends ago Lance was in another obedience trial and he went down both days on the sit as soon as I was out of sight.  Lance had a very hard time holding the sit while going for our open title and now it appears to be back.  I don't know how to fix it.  Lance holds his sit 99% of the time at both schools, home, and work.  I can leave him with other dogs, by himself, with distractions, or completely silent/empty rooms.  I really think Lance feels the stress from me, the other people, and other dogs in a trial and I haven't been able to replicate that.