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New Obedience Trialler...


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I have entered my standard poodle in his first CCD obedience trial on July 8th. We are members of Moorabbin obedience club, so we have done lots of practise. I am use to conformation showing and I am more worried about me stuffing up than the dogs obedience!

Has anyone got any helpful hints on what not to do wrong in the obedience ring???

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Great to see you having a go....just stay nice & relaxed....(which is not easy)otherwise your dog will pick up on your vibes & go into La La land :) so just keep focused & enjoy yourself....

Jan.....good luck :)

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Hi and good luck with the trial. Remember not to stop too suddenly on halts etc, and remember to count three steps or whatever you do so the dog has a warning and doesn't miss a sit or drop.

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Good Luck and hope you come away with a great pass mark and have a wonderful day.

I would have to agree try to relax, have faith in the dog, the dog can do it and you know that.

Have a great day and hope the weather is kind to you, i have a members comp on Sunday at KCC Park and the forecast is rain, just great. :)

Please let us know the results :)

Cheers.

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hey sprong dog sowdo we so im assuming we are at the same club are you the lady with the lovely spronger boy that is doign the instructor course mymsister was telling me about how enthusiastic you are im the one who did ninety percent of the rewriting of it lol

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Do's and don'ts for a first timer.

Do give your dog plenty of opportunity to toilet before going in. (as a showie you know that anyway)

Do spend a few minutes "tuning up" doing static turns, a sit and a drop on heel and maybe a short recall with plenty of motivation and reward before going in

Do SMILE - it will relax your jaw, neck and shoulders and stop your dog from wondering what's wrong with his handler. :)

Do go in with the objective of making the trialling experience a pleasant one for your dog. Lots of praise between exercises and a good reward after you finish.

Do remember to breathe during the stays... amazing how long two minutes can be.

Be nice to the judge - sounds obvious but gee I've seen some snakey competitors in my time.

Good luck! My Lil got her CCD in June. Warm days were her problem - to much effort to sit for a minute when one can have a nice lie down in the sun. :)

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This one's a bit more controversial..

Don't do the stays if you aren't passing and you aren't confident that your dog will hold them. Your dog breaking might cost another dog a pass (its happened to me more than once).

Lately around here we have had two sets of stays for CCD and Novice - one for those passing and one for those who ain't. I like that system.

Having dogs wandering over to your dog, nosing your dog's bum, jumping on it, running out of the ring etc ain't fun even if your dog doesn't break. Its particularly annoying when nothing in the dog's performance in the individual exercises suggests it might have any chance of a stay eg. a dog that's already run out of the ring a couple of times. :)

Edited by poodlefan
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i love that idea nothing worse than having a dog harrass your dog when your on a pass and they arent same goes if you dog has poor stays and likes o disrupt other dogs dont trial until you have them solid

I pull from stays if im not on a pass and also have been known to pull from stays when on a pass because of a known trouble maker being in the same set.

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From past experience - when the judge asks you "Are you ready" and you're not, tell them you're not. That's why they're asking. So if your dog isn't sitting straight, or isn't concentrating on you, tell the judge you're not ready, do an about turn, and go back to the starting peg. When you're ready the judge will ask you again "Are you ready". Remember the excersise starts as soon as you say "ready", so give yourself and your dog the best chance and start the excersise when you and you're dog are BOTH ready.

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yes thats a good one really through the whole thing just take you time if the judge calls left turn and you are right to do it take a few steps then turn try not to rush into moves because you were told to a good way to practise is to tape calls and then play them while heeling and make sure you dont do the call for a coumt of three after it

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Having dogs wandering over to your dog, nosing your dog's bum, jumping on it, running out of the ring etc ain't fun even if your dog doesn't break.

Completely offtopic, but this comment just reminded me of my first open trial with my boy. We were sitting on a qualie (from memory it was about 190 :) ) & while doing the out of sight sit stay one of the other dogs in the ring decided to come over & mount my dog & start humping him :D . Zac took it for about 10 seconds & then decided that discretion was the better part of valour :D & took off over to where we were hiding. It was pretty disappointing especially as I had spent months making him rocksolid on his stays as when I first started he suffered from separation anxiety when I left him & would break every time. But hey, that's life :love: , the good thing is that he never broke his open stays again, cant hold that day against him I would have bolted too :p . Interestingly he was also dog aggressive (although he never ever showed aggression when he was working cos he was always focussed on me) but instead of having a go at the other dog, in that situation he chose flight rather than fight. :)

To the OP, everyone has given good ideas & tips in this thread :D , my suggestions are what others have already mentioned

  • Give your dog a quick warm up before entering the ring, but dont do too much & bore him with it
  • Make sure when the judge asks you if you are ready that you actually check to see if your dog is in fact ready & if he's not, then say so!
  • Most of all - RELAX! :D

It can also sometimes help to watch the judge's runout before you go in the ring & see what their heeling pattern looks like - that doesn't mean "Oh great, now I know what it looks like I know exactly what to do", but it will give you an indication of where the judge will ask for slow & fast pace & where you may have to do your turns which will help especially if you are nervous. Of course if you are first dog up in the ring then that advice goes out the window :D , but if not it just may be enough to make the difference :rofl: .

Good luck with it - I still remember how nervous I was at my first trial, trust me, it does get easier :D .

Edited by MrsD
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Just one comment...Make sure you train for the trial...i.e. If you train with heaps of verbal praise/encouragement and lots of play-time and food rewards, and then go into a trial and walk around like a robot with single comands and no toys or food, your dog will wonder what's wrong with you!

That's what I had problems with with my dog, Hope. The verbal and physical praise I gave her between exercises, during a trial were not enough. She was used to heaps of verbal encouragement during training, to perform well. Then we hit the trial ring for the first time and after a short while of my silence, she 'shut down', (she's quite a 'soft' and nervous dog) probably thinking 'what have I done wrong?'. I'm still struggling to change her first impression of the trial ring.

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Just one comment...Make sure you train for the trial...i.e. If you train with heaps of verbal praise/encouragement and lots of play-time and food rewards, and then go into a trial and walk around like a robot with single comands and no toys or food, your dog will wonder what's wrong with you!

That's what I had problems with with my dog, Hope. The verbal and physical praise I gave her between exercises, during a trial were not enough. She was used to heaps of verbal encouragement during training, to perform well. Then we hit the trial ring for the first time and after a short while of my silence, she 'shut down', (she's quite a 'soft' and nervous dog) probably thinking 'what have I done wrong?'. I'm still struggling to change her first impression of the trial ring.

Hi Hopenfox,

I like what you say....but what sort of program did you use to train this way? Did you just ask for more each time b4 you got to the fun, heaps of verbal praise/encouragement stage? Its a problem you see a lot around, but I haven't yet heard of how people over come it.

All the best Capnash!

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:confused:

I have entered my standard poodle in his first CCD obedience trial on July 8th. We are members of Moorabbin obedience club, so we have done lots of practise. I am use to conformation showing and I am more worried about me stuffing up than the dogs obedience!

Has anyone got any helpful hints on what not to do wrong in the obedience ring???

Hi Capanash,

Good luck on 8th July. Pele (16 month old Bull Terrier) and I are entering our first Mock Trial on 9th July. We had our first ring practise 2 weeks ago. I made more mistakes than Pele :rofl: I used to be Trial Secretary at my obedience club for 10 years, but have never trialled:-)

Get to the trial early, walk around, don't do too much practise before, or your dog will be bored with it before you enter the ring. Try and be calm when you enter the ring or your dog will pick up on your anxiety. Just think of it as a conformation exercise. You go in the ring, you both have fun and your dog does a great Stand for Examination. Fingers crossed for the stays and recall :rofl:

I'm having problems keeping Pele motivated without verbal and food rewards :rofl: How to keep her motivated for heel pattern :rofl:

Good luck

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