Not Holding Tail Up

[happydogs]

My puppy had a bad experience in the ring and totally lost confidence. With a lot of patience and making it fun we can now

stand for judges examination no probs but when he has to run his tail is still droopy, is very happy outside the ring just

don't know what to do now advice needed.

[espinay2]

Take the pup to shows. Don't necessarily enter the pup but take the pup into a spare ring and play.

IMHO if you can resist entering now your pup may actually have a longer ring life (and one when it counts when they are up for the bigger awards) than if you push too soon. Sometimes I really do think we push too hard when they are young.

Make the ring FUN! No pressure to perform, just play - take a toy and run around, jump around, have a game. Aim for animation and not much else. The rest will come later as the pup matures.

[ellz]

Also, how old was your puppy when it had the bad experience? This can make a difference to how you go about attempting to fix the situation. Oh and what was the experience? Was it "man made" (ie caused directly by a human or the way they treated your dog) or was it an environmental thing? These are all things that can be dealt with positively if you go about it the right way.

[happydogs]

Thank you, Ellz he was just over 3 months old and had only had a couple of shows and was great with great results

but then a "judge " grabbed at his mouth and even though he squeeled was determined to check his teeth and from

then on just shied off big time. I held him out and slowly brought him back into the ring he is now 8mths old.

I am trying to make it fun and just relax with him so maybe not showing every week for time being may help. It is

frustrating as I really like this boy has great movement when he relaxes and nice on the stack. Am quite happy

to take it slow with him.

[espinay2]

Fingers crossed all works out and he comes back.

While I do show puppies, I must admit I am really in two minds about it due to things just like you describe.

I know some well known US handlers will not put a pup in the ring until it has finished teething so it never has an issue such as this which might potentially jeopardise a future career.

I just wish some judges were gentler with the young ones!!!

Good luck!!

[RuralPug]

Taking him to shows not entered as Espinay suggested said and making the ring a fun place - and a place where he gets a high value treat when he lets a stranger touch or mouth him - is the way to go. Ask other exhibitors to play judge while he is in the pretend ring at lunchbreak or some other parts of the grounds while the show is on, others can train their babies or shy ones at the same time. :)

If he is really jumpy when someone tries to see his teeth, just start with them touching his face gently. Treat. After he is comfortable with that, let them hold his jaw for a few seconds. Treat. Keep going in increments. Progress slowly to a full mouth check. A lot of this you can do at home with someone else as "judge" etc.

[Havasneeze]

Thank you, Ellz he was just over 3 months old and had only had a couple of shows and was great with great results

but then a "judge " grabbed at his mouth and even though he squeeled was determined to check his teeth and from

then on just shied off big time. I held him out and slowly brought him back into the ring he is now 8mths old.

I am trying to make it fun and just relax with him so maybe not showing every week for time being may help. It is

frustrating as I really like this boy has great movement when he relaxes and nice on the stack. Am quite happy

to take it slow with him.

I had this exact same problem with a young bitch I was showing. After the bad experience she would try and jump off the table every time she saw the Judge approaching. I took the opportunity to still show her but explained to the Judge BEFORE they even approached her that she had had a bad experience on the table. I appreciate the time and effort ALL of the Judges took in being extremely gentle with her and after a couple of months she soon relaxed on the table and was no longer looking for an escape route every time...

[happydogs]

Thank you everyone for advice,I have done a few things suggested and he is getting better just patience I think

and hope he relaxes enough to bring his tail up when running.