Bonkers for Bella: To crate, or not to crate?

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.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

To crate, or not to crate?

Lately I have been considering whether or not to continue to crate Bella at night. Her crate is the huge plastic "varikennel" kind and takes up so much precious space in my teeny 10x11 bedroom so at first I was considering purchasing her a new smaller wire type crate that wouldn't be so bulky but then DH mentioned just getting rid of the crate altogether and leashing her to the leg of the bed, like I do with Sadie. I could spend the money I was going to use on a crate, and get them both nice new cushy beds and blankets (it gets REALLY cold in there at night) for the floor in my room instead.

I'm undecided. It's been over a year that Bella has been sleeping in the crate; she does fine and sleeps the entire night without any problems, she never has any potty accidents. Sadie started out in the crate and eventually graduated to the leash/bed; and if she is leashed, she wont be able to wander and get herself into any trouble during the night. But Bella doesn't tend to handle change very well, I'm just not sure if it's too soon for her to graduate. My other concern is whether or not she will leave Sadie alone and let her sleep. I don't have the space to put them on opposite sides of the bed and even if leashed (one to the head and one to the foot of the bed) they will still be able to touch each other.

I'm thinking that before I spend any money either way, I might give it a trial run one night. I'll move the crate out and then move her bed that she has in the living room (one that she's used to being leashed to and sleeping on) to my room and see how she does. If it works, it would be awesome to get some space back in my room!

1 comment:

JenFebruary 2, 2011 at 12:56 PM
It's definitely worth a shot. Particularly if you do what you said and use the bed/leash situation she's already accustomed to elsewhere. New beds would help, too!
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Wednesday, February 2, 2011

To crate, or not to crate?

1 comment: