Anxiety while competing.
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Justicemom
Forums Celebrity
you can't do that it AKC or UKC obedience either. I have wished that I could leave many times but I was stuck. My dog Jazz got a 0 in her one and only time in Open. I surely wished that ground would have opened up and swallowed me that day.
Calliesmom
Moderator
I have a friend who does this with one of her dogs- does a couple obstacles and has party - leaves ring. then maybe the next run, the dog is more excited and they do more of the course- depends on how the dog is doing/acting. and eventually, a whole course is completed and even some Qs have been earned
so patience will pay off
sorry- this was in agility (Nadac).
don't have many obedience people in our club.........
SheltieChe
Forums Sage
you might want to look into other venues where you are allowed to train, praise and give food rewards in the ring. APDT rally, C-WAGS rally and obedience, CDSP obedience all allow that.
oh, scratch that , you are not in US do you have anything of this kind at your neck of woods?... hmm, I have heard although I do not know details but AKC has Wild Card? where you can praise and skip some exercise? something along those lines CKC?
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corbinam
Moderator
I had no idea. That seems odd. I understand the no training in the ring, but I also feel that I should be able to leave if I feel that strongly about something. Hmm.
2GoodDogs
Forums Enthusiast
If you tell the judge your dog is about to be sick, or that you feel ill, they will excuse you.
I do NADAC agility as well - I love it. I really feel it's all about the dogs, and what will benefit them the most. One trial we were at gave draw tickets for "Handler Q's" - for handlers who coached their dogs in the ring (thereby losing the dog Q) or pulled their dogs after their dogs had a success.
Excellent suggestion, but unfotunately none of those are available anywhere near me
. CKC doesn't do wild card 
. I wish they did - I really don't feel that their format looks out for the best interests of the dog. One of my friends had a HORRIBLE trial last March. The poor dog was clearly stressed, and missed the Q in the first section multiple times (on leash heel, off leash heal, figure 8, recall, stand for exam). After the rest of the competitors were evaluated, all dogs have to go into the ring for a 1 minute sit stay, and then a 1 minute down stay. Considering how miserable and stressed her dog was, my friend asked for her dog to be excused - the judge wouldn't let her. In fact, the judge was incredibly snarky - I was about five feet away so overheard the entire conversation. I know all judges aren't like this, but it's no wonder so many people are worried about competing in obedience.
I'm a horrible liar...but if my dog is panicking really badly I just might end up sick! Last time I just ignored the judge and made it into a training session. We still had to complete every exercise, but I helped my dog out as much as possible. Competitors can get into a lot of trouble for that too, but this judge happened to be exceptionally nice.
I've been at the venue about 5 times so far, and things are looking up. I'm not using the K-9 Calm anymore and I've stopped bringing my other dog, and he's still functional. He loves stacking rings, so I'm using that as my guideline. The first day he wouldn't even look at the rings, the second day he retrieved some of them, but couldn't focus enough to stack them, he just banged them on my hand. The third day he retrieved them all, and attempted to stack them, and days 4 and 5 he was able to stack them as per normal. To me this is a really good sign - he's able to think. The three minute sit-stay will probably be our biggest challenge, but we'll give it a try. Otherwise, it's a donation to the CKC, and excellent entertainment value for the other competitors.
Calliesmom
Moderator
I love NADAC too. the local club here gives "whiner's" raffle tickets for every class that you don't get a Q in- doesn't matter if you were working on something in the ring or just messing up
.i've got some great news - all of the work we did before the trial in the building paid off. Starr earned his C.D.X., as well as the last leg required for his R.A. For those of you following the agility forum as well, that means in the space of one week he earned three titles in three different dogsports - one in obedience, one in rally, and one in agility. Even more importantly - he didn't stress in the building. I had decided to pull him if I saw signs of major stress/anxiety - he was a bit distracted, but no drooling, yawning, shaking, etc.
We're taking the next year off of formal obedience, and concentrating on agility, freestyle, and possibly tracking and treibball. During this time I'll be teaching him the fundamentals of utility, but I want it to be in a fun and interactive way - I want a dog who is happy to go into the obedience ring. I'll probably be on this forum a lot looking for suggestions
. Many thanks for the support. 
We're taking the next year off of formal obedience, and concentrating on agility, freestyle, and possibly tracking and treibball. During this time I'll be teaching him the fundamentals of utility, but I want it to be in a fun and interactive way - I want a dog who is happy to go into the obedience ring. I'll probably be on this forum a lot looking for suggestions
. Many thanks for the support.
2GoodDogs
Forums Enthusiast
Congratulations on your CDX! Excellent! And other new titles too!!! Yahoo!