Novice Obedience Question

[k9kreationz]

Well getting a CD is easy compared to getting a CDX or UD.

Novice obedience really tests the basic commands a dog would know. Heeling(very formal) , sit ,down, stay, finish, stand. The are 6 exercises

1.heel on leash an 8 figure
2. stand for exam
3. heel free(off leash)-same pattern as 1 but no leash and no figure 8
4. recall
5. 1 minute sit stay
6. 3 minute down stay

I think Miko is too set in his ways, that or I'd need to retrain it all. Sheesh. I tried a sit-stay. Walked 5 feet and he was up already. Ugh. I tried a recall (and he typically does this, so it'd have to be retrained too). He comes but when he's about 6 feet from me, he sits. Typically, because when I use that command, it's because he's NOT coming when I ask him to. Oops. My fault. I think I'd also have a hard time with the hell/reset. He never would do that. And lastly, when he heels, his head is typically at my leg or slightly behind. Sigh. Maybe I should just be happy with his CGC.

I did try Rally-O (took a class), but the only reason I stopped is the repetition of sits and he's not so great with downs. One command would be tough. Remember, he's 12 and a bit creeky. He's healthy, but when he sits or downs, he's slow (but it doesnt' look painful). So in Rally-O, I just wasn't sure about all the sits, he wouldn't do a down, etc. But otherwise, he was pretty darn good considering he hasn't had to "work" in, oh, 10 years.

The hard part about obedience is you only get one command. No extra talking. Extra commands can be 3 points to an NQ depending on when you need to give them.

Heeling is tighter than Rally and the dog must sit when you stop with no extra commands.You lose points for forging, lagging, bumping, being wide, slow sits and extra commands. A no sit is 3 pts.

Eeesh. I'd fail this. Both parts. Looks like if I choose to do this, I'd have a lot of work to do. Miko may be very obedient, but not by AKC standards. hehehe.

The stand of exam can be hard for some dogs. 1 pt per foot moved to NQ of dog doesn't stay for exam.

This is one thing he'd get a perfect score on. Vets love him. He doesn't move, doesn't pull away, etc. He just stands there looking like "do we really have to do this? Yes? Fine. Hurry up". LOL.

The recall is very formal. You leave the dog in a sit and go across the ring, turn ,with your arms and hands at your side, you call the dog once. Any movement on your part with your arms is points off. The dog must come all the way in front of you close enough so you can touch it and sit. When the judge tells you you ask the dog to finish with either voice or hand signal(can not do both). A no sit is 3pts, going straight to heel is 5pts, stopp too far out is a NQ, giving a second command is an NQ, using both hand and voice to call is an NQ, hand voice to finish is 3pts.

Sit stays- NQ if dog lays downs or doesn't stay.
Down stay -NQ for sitting When you put the dog into the down you can have them standing or sitting but you must wait for the judge to tell you to down.

Okay, I'm thinking I'd get a big fat NQ! Wow. May need to work with him a bit to see if he can break his habits, and if not, be happy with his CGC.

Thanks for all that specific info. Very helpful.

 

[Lovely]

This is really cool! I think it is a goal to work toward (slowly) until we find an obedience class or something to work through. Maybe that will be NEXT summer's project, instead of sweating it out in the Florida heat doing agility! I think Abbie and Duncan could get their CD with some work. I think Abbie might even have a knack for obedience in general. Pierre... he wouldn't be able to stand still when someone approached. He would HAVE to wiggle his little bottom and try to give them kisses. We were lucky with the CGC test that he had been sooo mellowed out by all the exercise that day.

 

[romeosangiovese]

I'm not sure but I think some dogs just don't do as well in obedience as others? Like with Romeo I know he'll suck at obedience coz it's too slow for him. His concentration span is like that of a goldfish. His stays are good and nothing fazes him but his heeling is terrible and his recall is not fast. So for him, something more fast paced seems to work like jumpers which we are doing and which he seems to enjoy (save for the occasional lapse in focus).

Juliet looks like she'll enjoy jumpers and agility too and she may be able to handle obedience because she likes to work (tho' gets grumpy if treats are not forthcoming! lol).

I think having a goal is great! I am working to get Romeo jumper titles first. I've actually signed him up for competition obedience classes as well. I don't know if he'll eventually grow to enjoy it but I'm hoping it will help in other areas like working around dogs, focus, etc.

 

[Smudge]

When I first got Smudge my sole intention was to train him in obedience. My Mom kept saying, "Jessica, he is not a bad dog. He doesn't need to go to a class. We can teach him those things at home."

True. You can teach some of the stuff at home, but you are not getting personalized help and the socialization. Even if I was not interested in competition (and I am) I would still take Smudge just for socialization. I do obedience for fun. By fun I mean I don't stress out if I can't attend a class every month or how long it might take us to get to competition level.

Smudge is very slow to learn things. I've never had a sheltie with such a short attention span. Fluffy is dead set on staring at you until her eyes cross and she passes out. You can see the steam coming out of her head from the intensity of it all.

Obedience is a lot harder to get titles at than agility, but that's ok. I did consider agility when Smudge was about 5 months old, and then I learned some things about his background that made me change my mind.

Tracking may be another option for us later on down the road, too. Although I don't know if they do competition tracking?

As for Fluffy...I think I will wait and just focus on taking her out more. At this point I have no way to transport two dogs at the same time. I want to work with Smudge for a while and then make a decision about what Fluffy will do. Fluffy is very high energry. Even more so than Smudge.

 

[Justicemom]

I'm not sure but I think some dogs just don't do as well in obedience as others? Like with Romeo I know he'll suck at obedience coz it's too slow for him. His concentration span is like that of a goldfish. His stays are good and nothing fazes him but his heeling is terrible and his recall is not fast. So for him, something more fast paced seems to work like jumpers which we are doing and which he seems to enjoy (save for the occasional lapse in focus).

Juliet looks like she'll enjoy jumpers and agility too and she may be able to handle obedience because she likes to work (tho' gets grumpy if treats are not forthcoming! lol).

I think having a goal is great! I am working to get Romeo jumper titles first. I've actually signed him up for competition obedience classes as well. I don't know if he'll eventually grow to enjoy it but I'm hoping it will help in other areas like working around dogs, focus, etc.

I agree. For some dogs one task maybe easier than other. Diva, for example, when we first started obedience it was really hard for her. Like you said the pace was too slow for her and she would rather do some more active. She didn't dislike it is was just hard. Agility, she was a natural at. The progess come slower in obedience but at 20 months she is showing as much potential as my other 2 dogs. She is slowly learning control and emontional discipline. Now that we are learning the jumping and retrieving parts of obedience she is really shining.

Justice was a natural obedience dog but he lots of problems with agility because he was so handler focused. Its not that he was bad at agility. It just wasn't as natural.

Diva benefited from obedience in that she learned to be more focused on me. Justice learned to be more independent from agility. Ember benefited from both in that we learn to work together and trust one another.

BTW Stacey said that Athena got her CD easily with high 190's scores and placements. That is not easy to do especially out of Novice B. Stacey is either a very talented trainer or Athena is a very special dog or both.

 

[Justicemom]

When I first got Smudge my sole intention was to train him in obedience. My Mom kept saying, "Jessica, he is not a bad dog. He doesn't need to go to a class. We can teach him those things at home."

True. You can teach some of the stuff at home, but you are not getting personalized help and the socialization. Even if I was not interested in competition (and I am) I would still take Smudge just for socialization. I do obedience for fun. By fun I mean I don't stress out if I can't attend a class every month or how long it might take us to get to competition level.

Smudge is very slow to learn things. I've never had a sheltie with such a short attention span. Fluffy is dead set on staring at you until her eyes cross and she passes out. You can see the steam coming out of her head from the intensity of it all.

Obedience is a lot harder to get titles at than agility, but that's ok. I did consider agility when Smudge was about 5 months old, and then I learned some things about his background that made me change my mind.

Tracking may be another option for us later on down the road, too. Although I don't know if they do competition tracking?

I started in comp obedience with my mix Jazz. I started by taking her to class for socialization. I had trained tons of dogs and taken many classes and I always took my dogs to class even though I could train them at home.

Jazz did not take to training at all. We had to repeat beginners class twice and intermediate class twice. I trained and trained that dog. I had one goal get a CGC on her. That took me until she was almost 5 years old. When she was almost 8 yrs old I met a lady who showed in obedience. She was impressed with how well behaved Jazz was and told me with a little work I could get a CD on her. I think I actually laughed in her face. But I started training mostly myself and my handling. Jazz ended up getting her ASCA CD in 3 shows and her UKC CD in 5 when she was 9yrs old. I trained her though Open and half way though Utility. But only showed her once in Open. The lady I met was Justice's breeder and thus I was hooked.

BTW Jessica there is comp tracking. It is pass/fail. You need to take a pre trial test and then take the test at what ever level your at. One pass gets your title. You can earn a TD, TDX or VST or CT. I am taking to train Justice for this . But I get started and then stall out because I'm so busy with other things.