First Ever Obedience Trial (ccd)

[ness]

Varicool yep the dog doing the humping was in open which is why I will not put my non-qualifying dog at ANY level into stays.

If your not getting a qualifying score in the rest as its going to take a while before you do then why are you trialling. That is what training is for. Ring practise at clubs is especially designed to do just that and improve your handling in a position where the dog can be rewarded (or corrected if that is your chosen method). You shouldn't be entering trials unless your dog is reliable in both the stays and the individual work.

My dog entered 4 novice trials for 4 passes (all with placings) and passed her first three open trials (not placed but we were up against some of the top WA dogs at events such as the State Obedience Champs and there wasn't any Open A/Open B so your up against dogs who have there Obedience Champion Titles).

[Tassie]

The day was a HUGE learning curve - even after being informed in the AM session that I was not to touch the dog once in the ring I still did it in the PM (with an 'ooops, sorry, I'm not meant to do that am I?").

Especially after BMPs post - just didn't want this one to go through to the keeper.

As far as I interpret the rules - not a judge, but years of trialling - you are not allowed to touch your dog during an exercise, but you may touch your dog to give reasonable praise in between exercises (reasonable as in something that is not likely to disturb a dog in an adjacent ring). However, at no time in the ring are you allowed to manipulate the dog into position, or physically move it from one place to another - that will/should earn you a penalty for misbehaviour, which will come off your score at the end. (That said, it's amazing the number of handlers, even Open handlers, who will get their dog's collar to start taking it out of the ring at the end of the trial, or even to move back to the start peg. Hey, if the dog can do off-lead heeling, you don't need to be hauling it into position .

[Kowai]

I read in the rules that during the exercises you're not allowed to praise or correct your dog at all, is this right? However once they've said the exercise is finished you can praise?

I find it so hard shutting up during our club's mock trials.. I'm so used to -constantly- talking to my dog while training

[Tassie]

I read in the rules that during the exercises you're not allowed to praise or correct your dog at all, is this right? However once they've said the exercise is finished you can praise?

I find it so hard shutting up during our club's mock trials.. I'm so used to -constantly- talking to my dog while training

Yep - that's right - so a big part of preparing the dog for the ring is to teach him that the fact that you're not speaking to him (other than the verbal cues allowed by the rules) doesn't mean that he's wrong.

The only words you're allowed to use during exercises in a trial (once you've told the judge you're ready) are - dog's name at start of each exercise (if you want) and just before you call on recall (if you want), and the single word commands in English allowed by the rules - e.g. for stand, down, stay/wait, come, give, finish.

And yes, you can praise, pet and talk between exercises - but no corrections at all in the ring at any time, unless you want to take the penalty for misbehaviour.

[SueM]

Blimey because the instructors at my club said both myself and Harvey were ready he was having ring run outs at the club and I was being judged by obedience judges that said he was getting qualifying scores maybe I should just give up I am glad your dog is so good I will follow my instructors advice they say he is ready I just need to get better., did you ever get nervous when you first trialled?

Edited August 29, 2007 by varicool

[ness]

Sorry I didn't mean it like that. It wasn't a criticism. I don't have any background on you but its just my observation of watching a lot of CCD triallers here they aren't ready and enter well before there is any hope of passing. Some instructors recommend people go and give it a shot but I just don't like setting the dog up for failure. Do you train at lots of different places and work all the exercises or parts of exercises or do you always train at the same place - be that club each week or a park you walk to. A friend suggested to me before trialling in Novice (was the lowest class when we were going through) that before you enter a trial you should take your dog to at least 7 different locations and run them through just like you would a trial.

No extra commands other than what would be allowed in the ring. No food. No cheer leading. Praise between exercises only. If the dog can complete that exercise competently then you can think about entering a trial.

First trialled hell I haven't entered that many obedience trials prior to this year like I said 4 novice and 3 open and I am only trialling my first dog. Was I nervous you bet. Am I stil nevous yep more then I should be but I am getting a lot better. Just ask anybody from Perth who saw me the first trial in open. I had flown over to another state to compete and we were entering their State Obedience Championships. I was surprised to get through as yes I was VERY nervous. Not even slightly.

Any way I do admire you for giving it ago and I am sure if you stick with it you will have success. I really didn't mean to criticise you in any way I was just giving my thoughts on the topics in question based on what I have been told by some very seasoned triallers who I admire and respect.

[SueM]

No worries we do train at the same park on obedience training nights, I do go to the pony club and train during the week,he is spot on in all his exercises at training hence why they told me to start trialling I wasnt going to start until next year, but they said he was training well enough going through the dif classes he was always winning best of class when we had fun days,I have a trial saturday week so will see how I go their