Your Very First Obedience Trialling Dog

[RubyStar]

As much as I would love to go much further in obedience with Ruby, I don't think we'll get much further. She's my first dog I've trained for obedience trialling (well, trained full stop!) so I have done many things wrong that have caused problems for me now for trialling. I just didn't know what I was training to be honest! I would see something, not fully understand the criteria, and set about trying to teach it (all of this pre-DOL days for me!)

With Millie, I've taken a different approach after having learnt from my mistakes with Ruby and learning from some great people on here, and even though I still am struggling to sort out certain trialling issues with her too so we can be ready for the ring one day, we've come much further in a shorter time than I did with Ruby. So this shows me that with each dog I own, I will be able to take with me lessons learned and apply them to the next dog, and hope that in however many dogs time, I might have what it takes to make a good go of this obedience trialling thing! I would so love to find that one day I manage to put an Obedience Champion title on Ruby, my first trialling dog, but I am realistic and know that that is a distant dream! (if you knew Ruby, and well, me too, you'd understand why!) So I will have to settle on just aiming towards it for "a" dog in my lifetime (if I don't give up before hand - there's only so much trying and trying I can do before giving in to failure).

So that brings me to my actual questions!

- Has anyone gotten an Obedience Champion title with their first ever obedience dog? How long did it take you to get there?

- If not Ob Ch, how far did you get in obedience trialling with your first ever obedience dog? How long did it take you to get there?

- Are you still competing with your first trialling dog?

- Did you ever get so disheartened with training and felt like you were going nowhere, that you gave up for a while (or permanently)?

I'd be really interested to hear people's views and stories on this topic

Edited July 27, 2009 by RubyStar

[Seita]

Here's a bit of an encouraging story!

My first trialling dog was not a purebred so technically in qld they couldn't be trialed. However our clubs up in north qld used to run trials for the non-pedigrees at the same time as "real" trials, using the same judge and the same rules etc the only thing that was different is they weren't recognised by the cccq. That aside this dog was terrible, and my handling and training was shocking. We never managed a pass despite doing over 20 trials in the years that we competed. Our highest score was 145 and I don't even want to go as far as our lowest! Needless to say I gave up trialling him after those two years!

My next dog I got through CD (no CCD in those days) and had her doing well in Open but unfortunatly she died before finishing that open title, but she would have gone all the way to her OC eventually.

Now much current dog has gone through CCD, CD and CDX all within in six months and is now in training for UD and I expect to have her out in UD next year and aim to complete her OC by the end of next year. I know she can do it!

As for getting disheartened, yes with Buddy my first dog I was often disheartened but was also disallusioned and hoped that at the next trial he would put it together for me. But in hindsight he didn't have it together and I never had him completely ready for trialling. I learnt soo much from him and am thankful that I had a challenging dog to start with as my training and handling has gotten soo much better with each dog after him.

Edited July 27, 2009 by Seita

[leopuppy04]

Here ya go RS - Here's an encouraging story for you

Leo is the first dog I've trained and also trialled :D. If you saw our original heeling videos or what he used to be like you would be horrified!!! It was disgusting!!! ROFL! I had NO idea what I was doing, but some great help from a great club .

We went on to get our CCD and CD in quick succession with some very nice wins and scores. I took about 6mths out, went in and straight away picked up 2 passes for our CDX. Third one took a little longer, but we got there with a lovely score in the end .

He's now getting ready to enter the UD rings, and if he's handler can sort herself out, I'ld like to take him through to OC, but frankly, I don't care .

This already is further than I ever imagined to get with him . Agility titles also to boot .

So you can get there and do it. We were horrible to begin with - I'm amazed that the poor boy is still working with me . You will always have things you wantt o fix and 'do better' next time, but that's the fun of it in my eyes . If you mastered it after your first dog, where's the fun in that! LOL!

[Rivsky]

I don't come in here very often but putting off starting work!!!

I'm still trialling with my first dog (River) and we've gone through CCD and CD so far and now trying to get our first CDX pass.

We've had quite a few hiccups along the way but I'm learning lots from and with him and am so lucky he's a very forgiving boy for putting up with some pretty awful handling to start off with and me changing my signals on him a few times I've also been lucky enough to have lots of help from some pretty talented trainers (thank you to all of you ) which has helped us to sort out those problems.

I haven't yet become disheartened (probably because most of our problems have been caused by me!!!!) and I think that every problem that comes up helps to teach me something new about what I'm doing (or not doing!) and don't think there's anything better than seeing even the tiniest of improvements in the end result.

I have no idea how far we'll get together but as long as we're both enjoying ourselves we'll keep going. Even if we don't get any more titles I'm still enjoying training with him and seeing what he can do and really can't thank him enough for all that he's taught me so far and I'm sure he's nowhere near finished with me yet :D

[poodlefan]

Ted made it through CD after a lot of trials and a break of several years.

He would never have made it through out of sight stays.. we did start training but he found them very stressful.. so that was the end of his career.

[whitka]

My first trialing dog was Toby, got two passes in CD and stoped there because we were really getting no where and he just isnt interested I was training how our local club told me to train not knowing any better and that just made him board with it all. There's alot of factor that played into it, how I trained and the kind of dog he is as Toby is very low drive.

Im taking a different approach with CJ and it seems to be working as she is alot more keen then Toby was to work, so who knows you might see the Black Devil out in the trial ring one day

RS dont give up on Ruby, I hear you got some great mentors up there that could help you

[JulesP]

My first border collie, Moss, was ready to trial when I got Fern. Fern was so great to work with that I didn't really enjoy Moss. lol. Not that Moss was really bad but Fern was a super focused dog. Fern got her encouragement and 3 CD passes straight up before she turned 2. She had a break to have pups. The main reason I had been trialling was because I wanted her to have some sort of title for the pups. Was she worth breeding etc. I had her ready to do CDX when she broke her leg. The leg got better and she then did a cruciate. The operation failed and she was no longer sound to jump. She was a great dog to work with.

[xena98]

Here you go Ruby

I had done obedience for donkey years in fact I started trialing my first dog in 1986

My first dog trialling dog was Sheba a German Shepherd X Doberman. I got started started in school with our pet dog a german shepherd x corgi she was old and fat but it got me interested so when I got my new puppy Sheba off I went to dog school. In those days you use to use the collar no food no play it was a big tug on collar and a pat. so you do your right turn you gave a massive tug yelled out heel and off you go. Poor girl no wonder she hated heel work but I didnt know nothing was still going to school and was listening to the experts. They were telling me all about trials which I never knew so off we went never forgotten my first trial. I was so proud of my Sheba we got 171 our first leg in CD (no ccd or profeciency in those days) till this lady told me that was disgusting and how her dog was on 196 and just got back from the nationals. Well I decided to prove her wrong any way got my title than it was onto CDX didnt have a clue what I was doing. One of my problems was the drop on recall spent 2 years working on that one. Went to another club for extra training eventually we got there. so by this time she was 4. I met a guy at the club he had a beautiful Labrador and he had an AOC (that was what it was called in those days Australian Obedience Champion) I asked him how to get it and he said all you needed to do was get a UD title and a TDX title (tracking dog excellent title) which gave you an AOC so I said yep I will get that and he told me forget it I would never get a ud title my dog is crap the heel work is crap and that you needed decent heelwork to get anywhere and that your dog should be above 185 to get anywhere. Well that was a real downer I was upset I only had done a little bit of UD and that stage and this brilliant trainer had told me my dog and I were crap and wouldnt get anywhere. My scores were only averaging 175 (so you can cjust imagine how much stuff up in my training no food no play and really no rewards and that was how it was in those days. After I thought what this guy said to me I thought bugger you your not going to put me down I am going to get that AOC title so off I went and trained in tracking. UD took about 4 years (never forgot someone said to me the first dog 12 months training 12 months failing and than the third year a pass and that was happened with me) Might add Sheba didnt want to pass in normal trials though Royal Show and the Autumn Festival she passed and after 8 years I got my AOC after everyone said forget it she is hopeless and so are you. I might add by the time I got my next dog I thought there must be another way of training and getting the dog to be happy and I started with the food and toys. I did get stirred and told that aint going to work but I still had stuffed up my heel work but my retrieves the dog flew. There was one person I will never forget her advice and I told years later and she had told me that if I had attention on me the whole time my dog should get 200 the only reason my dog would loose points cause she wasnt paying attention and boy did I work on that one. My kelpie Milo she got her AOC around the 5 year mark and her scores were around the high 180's and we also got the new OC title as well and that was the days that was 5 185 scores with 3 first places and that was hard. I also did a Jack Russell Terrier he taught me lots he got up to ud but unfortunately he didnt pass. Than I got my Xena that I am still trialling today around 3 years of age her OC and Inka around the same age she got her OC and my new girl she is only 23 months and she had one trial in ud and she only failed to sit up. she will be compete on Sunday in ud so overall with 6 dogs got 4 OCs one didnt make it and one in training.

Both Xena and Inka have there Agility Champion title as well.

Thanks to Sheba and Rambo they had taught me lots and I have used that over my other dogs still made mistakes trying new ways watching other people and to those people in the early days thanks to you guys for rubbishing me and my girl Sheba you made me determine to succeed and work on my problems so thanks to you guys you made me a better trainer than I probably would

So Ruby sorry about how long this was even if you think you have stuffed up dont give up cause you will get there. Another piece of advice which I found in Sheba that she hated CD work all that healing but once we got higher they loved it. So dont give up and good luck with both of your dogs

[ness]

Rivsky about the putting off work comment. Ok I am still trialling my first dog and I am still not giving up with her yet.

Ness got her CD in straight trials with placings an additional spare pass under the old novice rules - gawd I look back at that and really wonder how she managed. She was around 2 then.

We had a bit of a forced break as she would not pick up a dumbbell. Lots of positive words of encouragement along the way and a few special emails that I still hold very near and dear from people who I had never met in person.

When she was 6 I ventured over to WA for a three week holiday to stay with a person whom I had never met but who offered me my first chance of a lifetime (and also happens without her I probably wouldn't have got my second BC from WA - thanks Di ). So we travelled over west and three trials later we came home with our CDX title - one of those being the WA States. Not great scores but none the less a title I was never really expecting to be able to come home with.

It was during those 3 weeks that I also met the one person (among a few) to whom I will remain indebted for the rest of my life (thanks Ptolomy ) and who has been there with constant words of encouragement through the tough times in the past few years. Came back and with her supportive emails I managed to train through all the UD exercises on my own.

Back to WA in December 2007 for our UD debut and two weeks live-in torture with Ptolomy . Nope she didn't pass but she came so very very very close. We trialled on and off in UD through 2008 and the beginning of 2009 it started to go seriously pearshaped. I was getting frustrated because I know she can do it but it just won't come together. I took a break from UD and entered her in Open for a few trials and she has come back all guns blazing. She is routinely getting nice Open scores - would be nicer if they weren't so messy but on the whole the rounds have been good.

My handling has continued to improve and Ness is still putting in enough nice rounds to make it worth continuing. We are just about to enter a period with a number of obedience trials and I have made the decision to go ahead and attempt UD again.

Fingers crossed there is a UD pass around the corner although its not just fingers crossed we still have a hell of a lot of hard work to put in.

After that who knows. My little up and coming obedience prospect is going to take me longer then I thought to get ready for the ring so will see what happens.

Edited July 28, 2009 by ness

[OSoSwift]

My first trialing dog was my Dobermann Angel. She started out as a check chain trained dog, then became my cross over dog and at around the age of 18 months became my clicker dog.

Our closest trials were 400kms away, then 480 and then 750kms. we got away to as many trials as we could, but not as many as we would have liked! She was also entire and had phantoms that went for ages, so was only really able to be trained/trialled for about 6 months of the year. We used to bring down a trainer down around every 12 months and when we went to Perth got some training in if time allowed.

Even with all the obsticals we did better than I ever imagined. My only saddness is we didn't manage an AD title, we were self trained,didn't even start until she was 2 and she had to retire at around 5 to a spinal problem. Which was also the reason she never trialled in the UD ring. We had been training towards it, but never got to the ring. We only ever got to 4 agility trials. It also took me over 2 years to get her to even think about picking up a dumbell and that was only possible after I changed the way I trained.

She became Ch Tornadobe D Heaven sent CDX WAC ROM ET

I owe her so much, she made me change the way I thought about training, and taught me the ability to read her so well, not in the beginning, but we had an amazing bond. Sometimes I wonder how she put up with me, sometimes I think she knew what I was trying to say better than I did! When she died at 8 and a half it tore my heart out

[Ptolomy]

My first dog was Lara - she cost me $50 from a pet shop and unfortunately or fortunately for me she knew more than I did about dog training. Lara made it through to Obedience Champion - we did lots of retraining along the way and she saved my bacon on lots of occasions

Lara got her OC in the times when you needed 5 passes over 185 and 3 of these needed to be wins. I would like a $1 for the number of times we passed UD with a score of 190+ but finished 2nd by a point or two. It was really tough competition with dogs like Kiri, Magic, Spinner, Tina, Max, Jack all who would regularly score 195+ in open and UD. Still we made it over the line and it was a terrific feeling getting that last win The dog deserved all the credit.

My next dog, Blaize was a whole different kettle of fish. She is 2 passes off her OC - but I no longer trial her in UD - I didn't think either of us needed the frustration or the grey hair Nowdays I blow the dust off and bring her out in open for the big events and during the year to get 3 Western Classic passes. She is the sort of dog that does best on minimal training and she thinks she is special when she gets to trial.

And then there was OC Scoota I did trial Scoota's brother, Dekka and he got his CD title, but lives with my parents and suffers separation anxiety so OOS stays were always going to be an issue. He is also earth bound and built like a block of flats so getting over a jump was also going to be hard work.

Followed by CDX Beans who is a work in progess and Lexi who is on hold until we sort out her health issues.

If I can offer you words of encouragement - I would say hang in there, try and find a buddy to train with as it does make it easier and you have the guru close by, make the most of it and have lessons on a regular basis as it does wonders for your enthusiasm and frustration

[ness]

Pfftt RubyStar you got no excuse when you have the guru's living close . Better make sure there is room in that house of yours RS for a couple of black and white dogs cos we might just move on over .

I love watching all of Ptolomy's dogs work and having had the good fortune of working them on the rare occasion they are just so much fun and as Ptolomy has said to me in the past Lara was the best $50 she ever spent . Go Lara - not bad for a "first" dog.

Edited July 28, 2009 by ness

[OSoSwift]

My first dog was Lara - she cost me $50 from a pet shop and unfortunately or fortunately for me she knew more than I did about dog training. Lara made it through to Obedience Champion - we did lots of retraining along the way and she saved my bacon on lots of occasions

Lara got her OC in the times when you needed 5 passes over 185 and 3 of these needed to be wins. I would like a $1 for the number of times we passed UD with a score of 190+ but finished 2nd by a point or two. It was really tough competition with dogs like Kiri, Magic, Spinner, Tina, Max, Jack all who would regularly score 195+ in open and UD. Still we made it over the line and it was a terrific feeling getting that last win The dog deserved all the credit.

I have had the pleasure of watching Lara work and she was definately a credit to you. The bit I loved the best was in Albany I think when you did a down on recall and instead of going straight down Lara hit the ground flat out, rolled over and ended up in a perfect down, the judge turned around and said "How the hell do I mark that!"

I have also seen Blaize work and she always looked great, although I didn't get to many Trials I will never forget watching her work as a 14 or so months - I think in Albany again - I had only been training using the clicker for about 6 or so months and watching her work so well and focused help to inspire me

[Ptolomy]

I have also seen Blaize work and she always looked great, although I didn't get to many Trials I will never forget watching her work as a 14 or so months - I think in Albany again - I had only been training using the clicker for about 6 or so months and watching her work so well and focused help to inspire me

Wow that was a long time ago - Blaize is 9 this year yep amazing that she made it this far To date Blaize is my best heeling dog but she has a faulty on off button and she can either be brilliant or bloody awful - there are no inbetweenies with her. I have gone out on a limb and said Beans will be my best heeling dog - for the second trial running she has scored higher than Scoota in heelfree - on the weekend she was like a little wind-up toy

As for Lara - so many people bring up her antics at that trial in the DOR - most said that she should have got extra marks because of the degree of difficulty. Lara will be 13 in December, she still comes training and does little bits and pieces, she is very grey, slightly deaf and yep she is the best $50 I have EVER spent.

[Dova]

Well Ruby Pebbles & Izzi are my first trial dogs, only started this year & Izzi is a challenge. I'm wondering if I'm getting a little long in the tooth to starting something new but hell if I don't try I won't know so I'll have to get back to you on the "how far will we go" question .

[OSoSwift]

Wow that was a long time ago - Blaize is 9 this year yep amazing that she made it this far To date Blaize is my best heeling dog but she has a faulty on off button and she can either be brilliant or bloody awful - there are no inbetweenies with her. I have gone out on a limb and said Beans will be my best heeling dog - for the second trial running she has scored higher than Scoota in heelfree - on the weekend she was like a little wind-up toy

As for Lara - so many people bring up her antics at that trial in the DOR - most said that she should have got extra marks because of the degree of difficulty. Lara will be 13 in December, she still comes training and does little bits and pieces, she is very grey, slightly deaf and yep she is the best $50 I have EVER spent.

Yes it was a long time ago. If Angel was still alive she would be 9 and a half!

I remember seeing Blaize once when her heeling could not be faulted, then the next day she was using "artistic license" but she was always good to watch, she looked like she was having fun.

I agree Lara should have got extra marks that day, because how she pulled it off at speed without breaking her neck I will never know! You can tell that you both have such a wonderfull bond.

I only wish I lived closer to Perth so I could take advantage of all the wonderfull trainers up there

[Gamby]

Where do I start, from the beginning I suppose.

Mr Scotty was an Aust terrier Cross who nearly drove me mad. I took him along to obedience classes so I could somehow get him to behave. Ummm, he passed his three classes with not too much trouble (except for when he decided he would rather go play somewhere else) so I decided we would enter trials. What's amazing is that he never dropped or sat in the stays. All I wanted was ONE pass in novice so we could go tracking.

We did get that pass at Warrnambool, many years ago by default. I was so happy as we could go and have fun tracking.

Well things didn't really turn out that way. Mr Scotty loved to run so we trained for agility. Wow, was he fast, did he have fun making up his own courses. Then one day he got his first pass, wow, then he got two passes on the same day giving him the title of AD. He also did Flyball and he was so fast but only gained his FD title.

Sadly Mr Scotty became epileptic. The tablets slowed him down so much that it was the signal to just let him be a dog.

He enjoyed being a dog, doing his thing, his antics had me laughing just about everyday.

Thanks to Mister Scotty I have been trialing since 1995, attended many workshops, read many pages of info to do with dogs and dog training, watched videos and enjoyed every minute of it.

THANKS MY BABY BOY

I can just imagine what mischief he is getting up to when he arrived over the Rainbow Bridge in Jan 2009.

[Staranais]

No further than special beginners. Since my dog had aggression issues, I couldn't justify taking him into any competition where I wasn't able to keep my eyes on him 100% of the time, including during all of the stays. If I could keep my eyes on him, I knew I could recall him if another dog that looked like trouble started approaching him. So we won out of both elementary classes and then pretty much had to stop, since going further would have required back-turned stays, and I just didn't think that was appropriate to do with a dog with his history.

The club was setting up Rally-O when Monster passed away last year, and I hoped to compete in that since it was all onleash therefore perfectly safe for us.

He had lovely focused heeling for a little staffy, though.

Hopefully I'll get to go further with my second dog!

[The Spotted Devil]

My first dog was a sensational red ACD called Dolly She belonged to my Dad but he didn't do much with her and she was turning into a right, bored terror at the age of 2 when I decided to do some fun stuff with her.

She was seriously hyper, super smart and just a joy to work with. Unfortunately I sucked big time as a trainer Funnily enough, the club I trained with in WA was all about check chains and not much else but I hear they have seen the light

I was blessed to have a companion that was a helluva better obedience dog than I was trainer - she trained me to CDX level I didn't take obedience any further because I simply lacked the skills and patience.

Dolly was with me for 17 years and, as I travelled a fair bit and had a similarly aged cat, I decided against getting another dog until they both went the way of Rainbow Bridge.

[Lablover]

- If not Ob Ch, how far did you get in obedience trialling with your first ever obedience dog? How long did it take you to get there?

CDX with labrador. Taught me not to try to make a silk purse from a cows ear. Wonderful pet. Duck hunting she loved. Low level desire.

I do believe if we watch our dogs, simply watch, you can see traits you like. Some may call what I like..... manic though.

- Are you still competing with your first trialling dog?

No.

- Did you ever get so disheartened with training and felt like you were going nowhere, that you gave up for a while (or permanently)?

Not so much gave up, but with a hard mouth dog....it was tough for a while. Learnt a lot from the problem though!! So in hindsight really happy the problem reared its ugly head.