August 19, 2000
Hilltown Obedience Show'n'Go
Beanhead does Obedience
Good Morning Everyone,
So, while most of you have
slept late, Crumpie and I were on the road to an Obedience Match at Hilltown's
training location. Since Dylan had pointed out that it was the Agility people
who were more vocal about their days....and being right, I have decided to just
report of my morning.
I am not going to break this
down in every exercise, but I thought I would offer some thoughts on my morning.
Susie was suppose to go with
Fred and would have been one dog ahead of me, but she got an offer to go down
the shore. She went. I got to show Crumpie twice. : ) The first time I went I
carried no food and gave no praise other then in second run through with food
and encouragement. It worked perfectly.
Thought:
Put the DIFFERENT "chain
collar" before walking out the door. (This is NOT used for training, only used
to get Beanhead into the mode for obedience...buckle collar/no collar is
agility, harness is tracking, etc.)
Wish you had a 4ft lead.
Do not take the crate or any
other bag that will trigger the excitement of an agility morning, but grab the
bag on the way out the door...last second. Yeah for me, as it WORKED.
Thought:
Do a QUICK warm up outside of
the building. By "quick" I mean a heeling pattern of 10 steps up and back. I
do not believe in drilling this into a dog's head. The dog just gets bored of
doing the same thing in the ring 10 minutes later.
Thought:
Let Crumpie be a dog until it is time to go into the ring. He will have to learn how to settle down on his
own.
It worked.
Everything was perfect. On
and Off lead heeling, figure 8...one could not get better attention from one's
teammate, plus all of his sits. Crumpie did go "wide" on the "about and left"
turns, but I knew he would. Darned Conformation ring.
Second time around, out came
the food and encouragement and wow wee, did we get those turns.
The Stand
The "Stand for Exam" was less
to be desired as he moved his feet. There was one male gate steward and I asked
if this gentleman could also examine my dog as Crumpie tends to move out of the
way of men. By the 4th exam (2 for each time in), Crumpie was standing there
with the biggest happy face one could ever. He knew he finally got it right by
not moving his feet.
Good doggie, he does not have to "go lay down" : )
The recall?
Fast as heck with
a perfect "sit in front" both times. This is something we have been working on
as Crumpie normally comes in and either slams into me or drops into a down.
The first "finish" was perfect, but I think for the second one, Crumpie got wise to the fact that I had
food and well, the sit was CROOKED.
Made him do it again. Yeah, good doggie.
Sits and Downs.
Ok, we will
not be talking about the 3 1/2 minute Down.
Does that explain enough?
Thoughts on watching other
people in and out of the ring:
1) What is with this teaching the dog to bark for obedience?
Please, do not tell me it is for "revving the dog up". BS. That is what YOU are for, that is what toys/food is for.
Obedience is like any other sport we part take in, it is a TEAM sport, not bark
to "get it all out". That is called a focusing problem.
2) When Dolores pointed out a
handler who is a "National Competitor, my interest was perked. I watched. Ok,
I know that when it comes to trying for "High In Trials", (HITs) perfection is
the WHOLE answer, but at least you could train WITHOUT the prong collar and have
a smile on your face. She is just lucky she has a breed of dog that is willing
to work for her like that. Wonder if she has trained any Corgis?
I guess I am not HIT/National
Competitor material after all. (Well, we are, but not like that.)
3) Have fun.
When I was
still in college, my simple philosophy about exams was this. If you do not know
it while out in the hallway getting ready to go into the classroom, all the
cramming in the world is NOT going to help. It just makes you worry more and
you do not perform to YOUR personal best.
Hang out, be a human and a dog
and then be serious. You both will learn to be comfortable in and out of the
ring. I rather go home with a NQ with a personal best performance then go home
with a negative attitude because something we have been having problems with was
not ironed out. That is what training nights are for.
4) Ignore the stares and
answer the question of "where do you train?" with a smile. I got a ton of dirty
looks this morning after our first run through. Why? Because even though my
dog went "wide" on turns and moved on the "stand", I gave my own type of
correction and still kept him "up". The second run through gave me even worst
stares because I maintained a positive attitude no matter what and Crumpie
preformed with a "I will die for you" attitude (The feeling is mutual) and did
his own personal best with the correct behavior.
So in essence this email is
not about the great achievements of Joyce and Crumpie, this is an email to all
of you who have helped me and have maintain positive attitudes towards your
dogs. By me watching and listening, I have learned a great deal from most of
you, but wish to specially thank Deb, Betsy, Ruth, and Anne for all of the extra
info.
Without your encouragement,
training ideas, and positive attitudes towards the art of Dog Obedience, I would
NOT have the Beanhead I have.
And a thank you goes out to
all the people we train with that have that "fun attitude". Without all of you
(and this includes agility people), I would not look forward to class every week
and would probably fall into the "uptight handler" category.
That is something I DO NOT want to be.
Have a great day....as you know we already have.
Joyce and one VERY good BEANHEAD
|
Last Updated on April 21, 2007
