At sanctioned matches, experiment with the motivational power of treats as the “promise of future reward” to keep up the dog’s attitude. (Trainers who believe dogs do not understand delayed gratification probably haven’t tried it!) Just before you go into the ring, show your dog an especially desirable treat, let him have a smidgen, then leave the treat on his crate or in your chair. When you leave the ring, go straight to the treat and reward the dog.
You should first use the “promise of future reward” in practice, so that if your dog leaves you prematurely to get the treat he can be gently corrected. He has to learn the treat is there, and he will get it, but when he gets it is entirely up to you. (Give him the treat after a particularly good effort, even if it occurs in the middle of an exercise.) To get this point across to your dog, run through a pattern; at the end of each exercise praise enthusiastically, and take the dog to your chair for a treat. After several practices, you can begin to chain the exercises; to chain, start with the last thing first. For example, perform the Recall, then run to get a treat. Immediately return to the “ring.” Perform the Heel Off Lead, then the Recall, then run to the treat and so on, through all the exercises.
Chaining works well in adding enthusiasm to an exercise the dog might not particularly like if you make the unfavored exercise the last one you practice. For example, if the dog is giving you a ho-hum Utility Moving Stand and Exam, make it your last exercise in a Utility pattern. Perform the Moving Stand, then run outside the “ring” for the treat; perform the Directed Retrieve, then the Moving Stand, then treat; Scent Discrimination, Directed Retrieve, Moving Stand, then treat, and so on. Enthusiasm garnered through chaining almost always carries over into the ring. You can also change the order of the exercises at a show-and-go or a fun match to adjust your dog’s attitude and motivation before showing in a licensed trial.
Something else you can discover about your dog at a match – something you might not have thought about until it was too late – is whether or not your dog will potty in strange places and on leash. At most shows, there will either be an exercise pen filled with sawdust inside the building or a tiny plot of grass designated as an “exercise area” outside. Many obedience dogs are reluctant to use either place. This can be resolved if you teach your dog a “permission-to-potty” command.
When you next take your dog out to practice, go first to an area a short distance away, and give your dog his permission-to-potty command. Keep the leash loose (or have the dog on a Flexi) and let him sniff. If he starts to wander in his sniffing, plant your feet and let him circle around you. He will soon realize he has to pick the spot he wants within your designated radius. Watch your dog so you can tell when he is about to go, and praise him with his command word when he does. Tell him “Let’s go to work!” and walk with him directly to your practice area.
If your dog understands a command that tells him it is okay to potty on leash, you can avoid the embarrassment of having your dog have an “accident” in the ring. At every match and trial, think of your dog’s comfort first: Does he need a drink? Does he need to potty?
How much warm-up does your dog need before he goes into the ring? What kind of warm-up works best: no-nonsense heeling and verbal commands, heeling with praise and treats, doodling, or just play? You can experiment with warm-ups at matches, but be aware that due to handler indiscretion in the past, what is now permissible as a warm-up at a trial is sharply defined by AKC. According to Chapter 2, Section 26 of the AKC OBEDIENCE REGULATIONS, “There shall be no drilling nor intensive abusive training of dogs on the grounds or premises at a licensed or member Obedience Trial…or at a Sanctioned Match.”
In a 1987 letter to obedience judges, the AKC further stated, “…it is important to understand what constitutes training, which is prohibited, and what constitutes a warm-up, which is permitted and encouraged…. A warm-up has the following characteristics:
1. It consists only of the activities contained in the Novice Heel on Lead exercise and a few (three or four) fronts and finishes on lead.
2. It should be for a duration of less than five minutes.
3. It should be within approximately ten minutes of the time when the dog is going to enter the ring for judging.
4. It will not include any corrections. (In deciding what constitutes a correction an individual must be guided by the same standard as would apply in the ring.)
5. It will not be intense.
6. It will not include stands, downs, recalls, retrieving, jumps, stays or other obedience exercises not permitted above.
Keep these trial restrictions in mind as you experiment with warm-ups in matches.
Does your dog show signs of stress at a match, even before he goes into the ring? How does he show it? Does he flick his nose with his tongue, yawn, or refuse to make eye contact? You can help alleviate your dog’s stress at a show by concentrating on him to the exclusion of everything else.
Making exhibiting a positive experience for your dog can go a long way in helping you deal with your stress, too. When you are negative or nervous, you create confusion and apprehension in your dog. You may be able to intellectualize why you are scared, but your dog cannot. Learning how to cope with your own feelings can help your dog cope with his.
If you discover you have a hard time controlling your nervousness, help is available, especially in the fields of stress management and sports psychology. (Perhaps you can even find an answer to the often-asked question: Why do we do this? Why do perfectly ordinary people, who would never dream of putting themselves on display anywhere else, do it on a regular basis in obedience trials?) If you can make the body-mind connection stronger, you will be better equipped to deal with the anxiety that interferes with performance.
Typical of the suggestions found in self-help books and tapes are the following:
• Visualize your actions. Most great athletes create a positive mental rehearsal for their bodies by visualizing the successful execution of every detail in competition.
• Be positive. As your own internal coach, give yourself positive, not negative, messages. Attitude is everything.
• Breathe! Some exhibitors take their last shallow breath as they enter the ring and don’t seem to take another breath until the last “Exercise finished.” Taking slow, deep breaths can relieve stress and tension.
• Just before the “crisis” of going into the ring occurs, straighten your posture and relax any tensed muscles to improve the blood flow to your brain.
Jack Ward, former Treasurer and Chairman of the Board of the AKC, tells of a time when he was judging Novice A. A woman who looked terror-stricken entered the ring with her dog.
“Our first exercise will be the Heel On Lead,” Mr. Ward said. “Are you ready?” The woman looked at him blankly. Mr. Ward waited a moment, then asked again, “Are you ready?”
“I will be,” the woman whispered, “just as soon as I remember my dog’s name.”
Barbara
Don’t forget to smile! In real life you probably smile at your dog all the time. Your dog won’t want to recognize – and certainly won’t want to make eye contact with – the frowning, grimly determined individual suddenly accompanying him into the ring.
Another way to help control your nerves is by controlling your voice. Stress can change your tone, sometimes dramatically. A whining, pleading voice (“Promise me you’ll heel. Pleeaase. Oh, pleeaase do this….”) makes you sound like a distressed puppy to your dog. It is going to cause him to wonder, What’s wrong? Why isn’t she alpha anymore? A loud, panicked or threatening voice (“HEEL!”) will convince the dog there is danger ahead. He will probably respond, either mentally or physically, Oh, no! I’m outta here! A choked whisper (“come”) or a command given too fast probably won’t be heard at all.
Stress can even change the way you move, particularly your pace and footwork on turns. Stage fright tends to slow people down. You know what your heeling cadence should be; to avoid moving in slow motion, count y
our “one-two, one-two” pace to yourself as you heel. Your dog must recognize you in the ring as the same person with whom he has spent countless hours practicing!
You must look, act, speak and carry yourself as if you had complete confidence in your dog and in your performance as a team. When you begin to move and act in a confident manner, you begin to feel more confident as well. It’s true: Nothing makes a dog lag like a handler nervously looking over his shoulder to see if his dog is still there. Nothing makes a dog come in slower on the Recall than a look of doubt on his handler’s face. Nothing makes a dog more likely to break a stay than the nervous twitching of his handler across the ring.
In addition to doing the right things, you should be thinking the right things. Send your dog the correct mental picture for each command. When you say “Heel,” for example, picture your dog happily stepping out in perfect heel position at your side. Do not think, He is never with me on the first few steps. If you do, you will send your dog a mental picture of lagging, and this might be the strongest message he receives! All communications – voice, body and thought – should agree so they can strengthen one another. Visualize the exercise being performed successfully as it is being performed.
Be sure your dog knows that you are happy with his performance. Don’t wait until you are leaving the ring to tell him. Each time your dog knows you are pleased with an exercise, you have just increased your chances of doing well in the exercises that follow. The reverse is also true.
Use at least one match as a literal dress rehearsal. Wear the clothes you intend to wear in a trial so that you can be sure they “move” well and don’t interfere with your dog. The shoes you wear in training, of course, will be the same shoes you will wear at matches and trials.
You can be alerted to mistakes of which you are blissfully unaware if you can get your performance on videotape. If it’s true that the best way to learn is through self-correction, there is no better tool for self-enlightenment than video !
If you are fortunate enough to live in an area that has a lot of matches, or you can set up practice matches with friends on several successive weekends, you can learn how long a rest between practicing and showing is beneficial. Does your dog perform best if you have an intensive practice on Thursday, don’t practice at all on Friday, and show on Saturday? If you show on Saturday and something goes wrong – for example, the dog anticipates the Recall – can you “fix” it during a Saturday night practice before you show the next day? Or do you have a dog who will require extended time and practice after a mistake in the ring before he can be shown again?
Some people will enter a match or show “just to see what the dog will do.” If you don’t know what your dog will do when he gets in the ring, you have no business entering! Handling requires your active observation and participation. Matches are perfect for honing your handling skills, but not if you are trying at the same time to assess the performance of an untrained dog!
LICENSED TRIALS
The dog is ready, the time is right; should you enter that upcoming trial? Check the show conditions first! The type of facility is the most important criteria to be used in deciding whether or not to show a small dog in a particular trial. (A list of upcoming trials and names and addresses of superintendents and show secretaries can be found in DOG WORLD Magazine and in the AKC EVENTS CALENDAR, published each month in conjunction with the AKC GAZETTE.)
The main source of information on show conditions is the show’s premium list. Unfortunately, you can’t always trust premium lists. If you read “Spring Blossom Fair Grounds: Fine Arts Building and Sheep Barn,” can you guess where the obedience rings are going to be? What if it just says “Spring Blossom Fair Grounds”? Call the show secretary listed in the premium list. If you learn the show site is “do-able,” you can often duplicate the described conditions in practice for the trial. If the show secretary tells you, however, that your short dog is going to be heeling in loose dirt in an “air cooled” (that’s a fan) barn where FFA events are held, you can save yourself money and heartache by leaving that venue to the big guys!
Superintendents and Show Secretaries usually post entries in the order in which they are received. Do you want to show early? Send in your entry early. If the entries are not limited and you want to show late, call in your entry to an entry service or fax it the day before the entries close.
There is also nothing wrong with “picking your judges.” Like all dogs, not all judges are created equal. Some judges find it difficult to give a small dog, which cannot equal a hard-charging Golden Retriever in their minds, the score it deserves. If you are going to be showing under a judge who is new to you, ask around. What is this judge like? Does he have an exceptionally loud voice? Does he keep pace right alongside as you heel? Does he walk right up behind the dog on a front? Having friends play “judge,” who mimic your real judge, can be a big help in preparing for a trial.
The Trial
Allow adequate time to get to the show site. Some shows are held literally in the middle of nowhere, a half hour drive on the far side of the town named in the premium list. You don’t want to arrive ringside just in time to hear the steward say, “Oh, there you are! You’re next!”
After you have moved in your belongings and taken your dog to potty, check in with the steward to pick up your armband. Ask how many dogs before you are absent and if any dogs are going out of order; if there are several, you will need to check your status again later. Find out if the judge is going to take a break before you show and how he is dividing the class for stays.
Watch the judge to see how he is managing his ring. How long does he take between dogs? Will you need to be ready to go in almost as soon as the handler before you comes out? If the judge is spending a couple of minutes between dogs at his table, will you continue to warm up your dog until the last second, or spend a few quiet moments with your dog, focusing on the task ahead?
Look around the perimeter of the ring to see if there is anything or anyone that might prove to be an undue distraction. It is often possible to “desensitize” a dog to a distraction in advance. For example, let your dog get close enough to that Irish Setter crated ringside to realize that this is not his Irish Setter best buddy, but is an Irish he does not know and does not need to be concerned about.
Look at the surface on which your dog will be working. By timing your turns, you can often utilize mats that have less wrinkles or tape, find dirt that’s more firmly packed, or avoid dips in the grass that could swallow your dog. Be particularly alert as to where you will stand for any exercise requiring a front and finish. Unless the judge has particular spots marked, you might be able to move just a few inches left or right and avoid wrinkles or holes capable of ruining your dog’s front and finish.
Does the heeling pattern start right inside the ring gate? If you must go to another part of the ring to begin the pattern, you can use moving from point A to point B to your advantage by heeling there, giving your dog praise and a verbal reminder such as “Close,” if necessary.
Watch the heeling pattern. Are there are any “tricky” parts? For example, is the slow only a couple of steps long, and if you slow down too slowly, you will miss it altogether? Does the pattern end with a halt at a ring gate rather than with the traditional about turn and halt? Where are the halts in the Figure Eight? Where does each exercise start? A judge can quickly become weary of having to direct each exhibitor to the right spot to begin each exercise. How refreshing to find an exhibitor who knows where to put himself without having to be told!
What sort of instructions is the judge giving each exhibitor? Before your turn, listen to the judge calling the heeling pattern; insert your own timing and mentally heel to the judge’s commands until you feel comfortable with the rhythm.
You should have worked out in matches what sort of warm-up benefits your dog. A warm-up is not time to try something new or something the dog hasn’t seen before. Of equal importance, do not undergo a personality change jus
t before you go into the ring by verbally reprimanding or threatening your dog. The dog will perform as well as he has been trained to perform; don’t mess up that training by messing with his mind!
Once you are in the ring, the most important thing you can do to help your dog is to not do anything different or unexpected. You can best help yourself by keeping everything above-board, honest and clean. Don’t ever give a judge cause to wonder what you are doing!
Listen to what the judge says, and if there is any doubt as to his instructions, repeat them and ask him if you have understood them correctly. Do remember that “Are you ready?” is not a rhetorical question. To start each exercise, look at your dog to be sure he is in the proper position and that you have his attention. If he is not, or you don’t, fix it – before you answer, “We’re ready!”
When your class is over, get the breakdown of your score at the superintendent’s table. Check the judge’s math and record your score, in a notebook kept just for that purpose. Along with your score, write down your interpretation of your performance, any judging peculiarities, and how you might manage things differently the next time you show. Usually you will know why and where you lost points, but if you are truly baffled by your score, find your judge and politely ask if he would have time to review your performance with you.
Novice
If you have been paying attention to what is going on in the ring, no part of the heeling pattern should take you by surprise. Your confident response to the judge’s commands will be reflected in your dog’s confident performance.
Remember that the conduct of you and your dog the entire time you are in the ring is governed by the AKC OBEDIENCE REGULATIONS. Judging the performance of an exercise does not begin until the appropriate command from the judge has been given, but judging general conduct begins the instant you enter the ring. In the REGULATIONS, Ch. 2, Section 23 deals specifically with handling between exercises. Such things as straightening your dog with your feet or placing him in position with your hands require a substantial penalty regardless of when they are done. It is easy to “pet” a small dog into position, but if your petting is vigorous enough to reposition your dog, a substantial penalty would be justified.
Competitive Obedience Training for the Small Dog Page 17