Things You Would Like To Change About Current Obedience Rules!

[JulesP]

This is from the sit stay thread!

What would you like to see changed in the current ANKC obedience rules??

I think it is weird that we can't talk to our dogs. We praise away and then get in the ring and have to be silent. Obviously too much talking could get a lower score. But what is wrong with the odd 'good dog'.

[Sankari]

Completely agree with that! I think it is really silly not to be allowed to talk to our dogs too Really why is it so bad to be able to say the occassional good dog. My dog works well with vocal praise and i think it would help so much if we were allowed to say the occassional good dog.

Just my opinion.

[pipsqueak]

try rally-o - talking and praising your dog is encouraged

[RachelleBuck]

I agree but I have now trained my dog so that just a big smile is all she needs to know she has done a good job. Works well. I WISH they would get rid of the figure of eight!!!! Stoopid exercise and I would have another title now if it wasn't for that exercise!!!

Edited August 3, 2009 by RachelleBuck

[Joan of Arc]

Personally I think in CCD its a bit silly not to be able to at least give some direction in the heeling pattern. By this I mean when the judge is dictating his/er patter and says 'left turn, right turn' etc why cant we at least say 'heel' to the dog. AFter all CCD is meant to be the encouragement class and some people expect your dogs to behave with 'open' perfect responses.

If you didnt have the figure of eight what would you replace it with?

[leopuppy04]

In UK style work you can talk to your dog in the early classes. So for us I think CCD/ Novice it would be great if we could talk to our dogs. Natrually the more you talk, the more that will bite you in the bum when you get to 'higher' classes

I say scrap the stays . I hate them and I worry about the unforseen accidents that can happen between dogs

[nickojoy]

This is from the sit stay thread!

What would you like to see changed in the current ANKC obedience rules??

I think it is weird that we can't talk to our dogs. We praise away and then get in the ring and have to be silent. Obviously too much talking could get a lower score. But what is wrong with the odd 'good dog'.

Why can't they put the scoring out of 110. 10 points for handler work. So like how you praise your dog, speak and give your dog commands to your dog, hand signals with the words of commands etc.

[Tay.]

haha I love this thread!! I think you should be allowed to talk to your dog up until at least novice! and yep get rid of stays!! If there was no stays we'd have our CCD title now ! or like someone said in the dropping in sit stays thread, as long as the dog stays it dosn't matter wat position its in :p

[Echo]

I would agree with some talk being done during an excercise in CCD. Like someone already said, you could add the word Heel when changing direction or pace. Other than that, the other excercises are so short (bar the stays) that there really is no room for extra commands.

Praise during excercises should not be allowed, even in CCD. Plenty of time for that in between excercises.

If dogs need extra praise during an excercise to keep them working, then they are not ready for the trial ring.

Like most have already said, I hate the stays as well. I do think they should remain as an excercise, but done differently.

There is too much than can, and does go wrong, with strange dogs all in such close proximity, especially when some of them are entered before they are ready for this excercise.

For the CCD stays why not do them on lead? Line the dogs up in the same manner, but have them 3 metres apart, and on lead with their handler standing in front of them. Dogs required to perform both sit/drop stay with one command on a loose lead. Handler is to stand still, with no voice or body movement, same as if they were on the other side of the ring.

Then progress to off lead stays in Novice, with the same distance between the dogs, 3 metres. Much less chance of dogs eyeballing or breaking because the dog next to them has suddenly jumped up. Might have to add an extra group because you would fit less animals into the line-up, but who cares?

I would also like to see the rule on using English language only (unless otherwise approved by Judge) thrown out completely.

We are proud that Australia is a multi-cultural country, but penalise some competitors because they speak a different language. There are many people who do not use English when they are at home.

It would make sense that these people would want to train their dog in their native language. What's the point of speaking one language to each other and a different one to the dog?

It should not matter what word is used for a command in the ring, as long as it is only a single word. The judge does not have to understand what is being said. After all, if they say "down your dog" and the dog does it on one command, that's all that counts, no matter what word is used.

That's my lot, unless I can think of something else.

Julie

[Staranais]

I too dislike the offleash stays we have over here, too much potential for things to go wrong. I wish we could do them as an honour down, as in schutzhund (a dog is on a long down stay while the next team are doing their exercises). Would need another ring, and a steward dedicated to watching the current down team, but would take less time so perhaps it would even out.

And scrap the sit and stand stays all together, unlike the down stay, I just see no practical use for them.

Over here in NZ you can talk to your dog more in earlier classes, which is good. However we have a competition system (only the dog that actually wins the class gets a "leg" towards passing to the next level, instead of everyone who achieves a certain point score getting a leg), and you can't get any titles till you're competing at the second highest level of competition, which few people ever reach (it's hard to win that many classes!) So I'd change it so that you got a title for graduating at all five levels of obedience. Irrelevant to most of you guys, though.

[Leema]

I would like to be able to nominate which side the dog heels on! As long as you can't change halfway through

As long as the same rules were upheld, regarding proximity and position, it's the same exercise.

Also, as 'training aids' cannot be taken in the ring, likes toys, clickers, food (or praise, as stated), then I do not think check chains should be permitted.

[ness]

I vote for the removal of the stand for exam from each of the levels .

[Tiggy]

Stand for exam .

[Seita]

I would agree with some talk being done during an excercise in CCD. Like someone already said, you could add the word Heel when changing direction or pace. Other than that, the other excercises are so short (bar the stays) that there really is no room for extra commands.

Praise during excercises should not be allowed, even in CCD. Plenty of time for that in between excercises.

If dogs need extra praise during an excercise to keep them working, then they are not ready for the trial ring.

Like most have already said, I hate the stays as well. I do think they should remain as an excercise, but done differently.

There is too much than can, and does go wrong, with strange dogs all in such close proximity, especially when some of them are entered before they are ready for this excercise.

For the CCD stays why not do them on lead? Line the dogs up in the same manner, but have them 3 metres apart, and on lead with their handler standing in front of them. Dogs required to perform both sit/drop stay with one command on a loose lead. Handler is to stand still, with no voice or body movement, same as if they were on the other side of the ring.

Then progress to off lead stays in Novice, with the same distance between the dogs, 3 metres. Much less chance of dogs eyeballing or breaking because the dog next to them has suddenly jumped up. Might have to add an extra group because you would fit less animals into the line-up, but who cares?

I would also like to see the rule on using English language only (unless otherwise approved by Judge) thrown out completely.

We are proud that Australia is a multi-cultural country, but penalise some competitors because they speak a different language. There are many people who do not use English when they are at home.

It would make sense that these people would want to train their dog in their native language. What's the point of speaking one language to each other and a different one to the dog?

It should not matter what word is used for a command in the ring, as long as it is only a single word. The judge does not have to understand what is being said. After all, if they say "down your dog" and the dog does it on one command, that's all that counts, no matter what word is used.

That's my lot, unless I can think of something else.

Julie

I agree about the stays I think this is super idea! I was just talking to someone at a trial on the weekend who won't trial as they don't trust other dogs near theirs. Her dog is rock solid on his stays but has space issues and would probably have a go at one of those friendly dogs who break their stays to go say hi to the dog next door. She won't trial him because of this problem in the lower classes where these dogs are usually found. I think your suggestions to space the dogs out more and have them on lead in CCD is a really good idea!

The language thing is also a good idea, I am one of those triallers who use a different language. I have never had a judge refuse but it would be nice not to have to ask permission before starting and explaining why I use a different language.

Things I would like to see different... I think at this stage Novice is too easy, especially compared to the old rules with two stand stays and two lots of heel work. I think they should add another exercise to Novice so that the exercises aren't worth such a ridiculous amount of points! I think they could do something like the distance control AND the retrieve rather than make them optional as both exercises are valuable for later levels and that would break up the points a bit better.

I think that the broadjump should be scrapped from Open, it's a pain to train, has no real value, isn't used in any other levels and honesly when would you use this in everyday life!?!

The other exercise that I think is a bit pointless is the speak on command option in UD. I have never seen some one do it and when food refusal or directed retrieve are soo much easier to train for I don't see the point of offering it. Sure it's fun to train but I would never use it in competition as it's too easy for the dog to move forward or bark twice. I don't mind that they offer it but I think it's a bit pointless seeing as very few triallers use it!

[Keshwar]

I would like to see retrieving as an optional exercise in the higher levels. Not sure what the other options should be tho'.

Bear.

[nickojoy]

I vote for the removal of the stand for exam from each of the levels .

Yep, the dog should be examined by the judge prior to the event starting, like in vetting

[Sheilaheel02]

The other exercise that I think is a bit pointless is the speak on command option in UD. I have never seen some one do it and when food refusal or directed retrieve are soo much easier to train for I don't see the point of offering it. Sure it's fun to train but I would never use it in competition as it's too easy for the dog to move forward or bark twice. I don't mind that they offer it but I think it's a bit pointless seeing as very few triallers use it!

I've used the speak on command in UD with one dog and the directed retrieve with the other. I felt they were much more positive exercises than the food refusal. Sheila did such a loud 'speak' people used to turn and look. Both dogs had a speak on Command before I competed at this level anyway which was taught as a fun trick. Food refusal is a tough exercise for an ACD My youngest dog can also speak on command but I can't see us ever getting to UD at the rate we are going.

I was thinking about whether or not to train for OC or UDX with Trev, but him blowing his cruciate means he is now retired. I give full credit to those who have done years of UD and can then go on to be successful in UDX. It's a LOT of work and IMHO not necessarily a logical progression with the exercises the way they are. I would probably introduce decoys and alternative scent work earlier in the dogs training if I was going to aim for that level again.

The only other thing I can think of is I'd like to see a 'wait' or 'stay' command as optional for the return to the dog after the recall in CCD.

Sharon

Edited August 5, 2009 by Sheilaheel02

[ness]

I think they should remove all the additional padding to the exercises. So finishes, heeling up before exercises like recalls, dumbbell retrieves etc.

[kallistar]

That the scores for CCD and Novice class is altered to reflect the rest of the class level (CCD CD and CDX)

EG Stand for Exam - 20 points

Recall - 30 points

Heel on lead and Heel Free 30 points (currently Heel Free in Novice is 40 points)

But the biggest thing that I would like to see is that novice heel work is still on lead.. after all you need to be able to walk your dog down the street on lead.

But in whole the current rules are ok, and with the rule review happening, things will slightly change again.

I love to hear a dog doing Speak on Command at Trials, and a few of my friends do this exercise in UD.. I too, have done both Directed retrieves and Speak on Command in UD.

[Gayle.]

I love to hear a dog doing Speak on Command at Trials, and a few of my friends do this exercise in UD..

Benson can speak on command. He can't do much else well, but he does this VERY well, and it was so absolutely easy to teach (and we don't use a clicker) that I'm surprised it's a UD exercise.

In fact, my 15yo daughter taught him in about 3 minutes. Now we're trying to teach him to "speak softly".