Sport where they use their brain, not all braun? - Page 4

To be fair to Fawn, the prong collar was advised - on here - NOT for her puppies;  the dog she used it on was her
older male dog,  I believe.  Don't bag too much on her, she has exhibited a hugely better attitude & willingness
to learn than many of the bozos who come on here looking for 'advice' on when to breed their (10 month old, displastic)
bitches. ;)

You could do anything to get the dog thinking:

Detection work has a huge amount of mental stimulation: It does not have to be Drugs or Explosives but it could be......to find truffles? find a tennis ball...anything!
Schutzhund, Ring Sport , KNPV
Working trials
Heelwork to Music, Agility.....and so on!

Even get your dog to know a toy by name.....and see how many toys they know for them to retrive it....not a sport but its a stumilation. My previous dog had 57 toys , and if you hid the toys around the house or all in his dog basket, and then asked him to find a particular one (Snappy  - was the crocodile)...he will search the house finding his toys and retrieving the one asked for.....

Turn all his learned commands into words : Your dog knows sit, down, stand etc. and when you hold a sign saying sit, your dog sits....keep on going until all his commands can given to him by reading the command. (Well not reading , but regognising the word and knowing what it means......I suppose it is reading!!??) 

As we all know mental stimulation is just as important with physical, plus it can be fun and rewarding. 

Mark
www.animal-concepts.co.uk 

AKC obedience has a long sit and a long down....Dogs are lined up about 4' from each other (sometimes 10 dogs at a time), handlers are lead out of the ring to a place out of the dogs' sight for a matter of minutes dogs are required to sit. If a dog moves away or lays down its disqualified. Then handlers come back into the ring dogs are put in a down, handlers are lead out of the ring again and dogs are required to stay down for an even longer time again if the dogs moves away its disqualified, handlers are brought back into the ring.

Some of the "tricks" include focused heeling at different speeds, right, left and about turns, gang of 2, down on recall then complete the recall, 2 different types of jumps, and retrieve. All of this and more is required to be completed with percision in a loud building with tons kayos, people eating hanburgers, kids running and jumping, dogs barking and their owners shouting commands just feet away.

AKC obedience is different then SV obedience, but still requires a very well trained team and a dog that has enough drive to keep focused for long periods of time.

Thanks Headmutter and Tarakiwa.  Those are areas I will look into.   As mentioned earlier and on other threads, all of this right now is just speculation and research on my part. 

Since the pups are only 16 weeks today, I have a long way to go before I can really get into any sport.  Meantime, we are having lots of fun and getting our basics down to perfection.  Cirberus showed a little interest in nose work; more than the other puppy and my adult dogs.  She seems to "get it" as the others just look at me like I am mean for not giving them the treat they know I have.

I got a rather rude awakening these last 2 months on the different companies that train and place dogs for handicap work.  Lets just say that I hope they really do help people and not take them for all their money.  Oh well, I'll train Max for myself in this area and maybe a few other areas for fun.

Blitzen;
No AKC registration is needed for a BH, only a 
recognized scorebook. USCA, WDA, DVG etc.
Any dog not having FCI recognized registration
papers is listed as a 'mix' in the scorebook and trial
results.

Also, most judges are pretty 'gentle' with 'virgins'
to the sport doing a BH , and they will in fact
gently 'advise' the handler whats next. 

Even though one should try to memorize the pattern,
usually first time jitters/nerves get the best of the
handler and they also must be told to breathe too 

AKC has the 'PAL' registration, dog would have to
be spayed/neutered to recieve a number. Dog doesn't
have to be altered to get a schutzhund scorebook.

Not sure if Ringsport is the same, but they used to allow
a handler one 'blue dog', this was an unregistered dog.
That may have changed since so many Mal's are not
'pedigreed' registered dogs. 

One doesn't even need to belong to a dog club to do
a BH or CD etc. Sure, it helps, you will learn more and 
get farther faster, but, you can train anywhere on your
in obedience and tracking. Better to have 'spotters' to 
tell you when you f*ck up though 

A sloppy handler will lose more points for their dog
than the dog can generally rack up. AKC is very stringent
in regards to handling procedures in a CD etc, where as
schutzhund is a little more 'lax' about that-ie: there isn't
a 'correct' foot to start off with etc. You won't get nailed 
so bad in a BH if your leash touched the ground etc etc.

AKC? well, they are a picky bunch when it comes to
the details    You can effectively cause your dog
to fail with all your handling errors 
And like many have stated, the ring is hectic and busy,
you have dogs on either side of yours for the sit/down.
Dogs will break from another ring and jump into your
ring during this time and want to run around all the 
other dogs etc etc. It is an very organized clusterf*ck. 

thanks Vonissk.  I am east on 30.  Right now, I am not able to do much extra travel, even to Dallas.  I am hoping that will change this Fall.  I do need to get the puppies registered 1st, I think before most clubs will consider me (since Rose is unregistered).

Once I get my son settled for the school year (we have already started, activity wise) and my other side tracks go away, I will be able to do more than just work with the puppies myself.  I am definitly looking forward to him getting his DL . 

Cirberus will be going to a more experienced trainer for the things beyond the basics, as she shows the most inclination for the different "fun" stuff everyone suggests.  It just may have to wait until this winter. 

vonissk wrote:

Workingdogz thanks for all the info on the BH. I wasn't sure how it worked except with USCA and it's been so long since I was a member there I wasn't sure how they did it now. I've learned a new word from you.....clusterfu*k......thanks...........

You are very welcome 

And yes, I agree with you. Pointing one in a direction 
many times over and still nothing is done? Well, 

Most dog people will help anyone, but that 'anyone' has
to also show some initiative, not just sit back and ask
and ask and ask.  Time to start a little 'doing'.

Bev's last novice trial was nerve wracking for me. They moved the judging time up an hour, I was not notified so arrived at the site only 5 minutes before we were due in the ring. Had to run out to the car, grab the dog and race back inside. Bev never does anything half way, she has one speed, very fast.  I always arrive at a show at least one hour before the judging time to get her settled. Everything went better that I thought it would except she almost knocked me off my feet when she hit me coming in on the reacall.  Not a DQ, but a hefty deduction. Then it was time for the long sits and downs. The ring was small and the dogs were very near one another. The dog next to Bev had "the look" that said he was not going to stay. Sure enough about 15 seconds into the sit he dropped to the floor and starting rolling around on his back right in front of Bev. I thought, oh boy, no CD today. She surprised me, never moved but kept looking at the bad boy and then back at me as if to say - do you see what he's doing LOL. 

I don't know anyone who isn't nervous about showing in OB or agility or for a BH. No matter how perfectly your dog proofs, they are still dogs and often get ring wise and when that lead comes off, it's their world to do as they please. If I ever make it to a Sch  trial I will proabably faint.