Bonkers for Bella: January 2011

Novice Obedience Exercise Descriptions

Heel on Leash: Dog and Handler work as a team, the leash must be loose and held in a natural position. Orders for this exercise are: "Forward", "Halt", "Right turn", "Left turn", "About turn", "Slow" "Normal" and "Fast".

Stand for Examination: The dog stands in position before and during the examination without displaying resentment. Handler is instructed to "stand your dog and leave when you are ready", after positioning the dog the handler stands with dog in heel position, give the command/signal to stay and walk straight forward approximately 6 feet and then turn and face the dog. The judge will approach the dog from the front, using the fingers and palm of one hand, the judge will touch the dogs head, body and hindquarters. Judge will then give the command "back to your dog", handler returns to heel position. The dog must remain still until judge has said "exercise finished".

Recall: The dog must stay where left unitl called by handler and then must respond promptly when the handler commands or signals them to come. On order from the judge the handler will give the command/signal for the dog to stay in the sit position. Handler will then wakl forward to the other side of the ring with arms hanging naturally. On the judges order handler will command or signal the dog to come. Dog must come at brisk pace and sit stright, centered directly in front of handler. On judges order handler will give the dog the command/signal to finish. Dog must move quickly to heel position and sit.

Finish: Dog is directed to "swing" it's hind end around to the left to come to the heel position and then sit, or "heel" around to the right and behind the handler and come to the heel position and then sit.

Sit/Stay & Down/Stay (Group Exercises): The dog must remain in either the seated position or the down position, whichever is required by the particular exercise. The dogs will line up in catalog order along one side of the ring. The leash is removed and placed with the handlers armband behind the dog. Handlers are instructed to "sit your dog" or "down your dog", and then "leave your dog". The handler will walk across to the other side of the ring and stand in a natural position across from the dog until the judge orders them to "return to your dog". Any dog that leaves the place where it was left during the first group exercise will be given an "NQ" and excused from the remaining group exercise.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

If only...

This past week as I've been doing "homework" with Sadie for her obedience class I have also decided to work Bella to refresh her training as well. I really haven't done much formal training with her for a while and I had forgotten how good she can do (at least she does at home when no one is around) She hasn't missed a beat!

I think the break may have been good for her because she seems even better now than she was before. Even things that seemed to give us trouble in the past, such as the "moving down" she did quite well the other night!

If I can only get her past the extreme fear/shyness that she has. Last week there was an episode of Dog Whisperer that confirmed my beliefs about why she is the way she is. It was a Mallinois who was a trained sniffer dog. He was awesome at what he did but he had a problem with being very shy and afraid of sudden noises and movements around anyone other than his primary trainer/owner. The poor guy acted just like Bella does! When DW and the owner/trainer sat down to discuss the dogs problems the owner told him that he had spoken to the breeder and asked why the dog behaved like that and was told that the dog had spent the first 8 months of his life confined to a crate. I truly believe that this has been Bella's problem, I have no idea what happened to her during the first 5 or 6 months of her life but based on her behavior I think that nothing happened! I really think that she spent her time either tied up left in someones yard/garage/crate without any interaction during the critical developmental stages that a puppy goes through.

The good news is that DW was able to bring the dog on his show back from what he called "total rock bottom", unfortunately I am not him and I don't have access to some of the things he did to bring about such a rapid and extreme change in the dog. He took the dog everywhere, even places like New York! He had someone with the dog 24/7 working on his confidence and socialization.

I do have hope for Bella though, I now know that have been doing the right things with her, it's just been a bit slower going. She has improved some but she does still have a long way to go. I think the weather is starting to get better so I really want to start getting her out and about again. I want to take her to places like, petsmart, the park, and even the outdoor areas at restaurants/coffee shops. Even if she never improves enough to compete at another trial, I want her to be able to have a happy panic-free life!

Bonkers for Bella

Novice Obedience Exercise Descriptions

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Saturday, January 15, 2011

If only...