When to
start the young dog For those
working with puppies and young dogs the big question is when do I start
competing. It’s not really about
competing but I believe that starting the young dog is part of the training
process. I used to think it was best
not to enter a dog until they were ready to compete at the Excellent A level,
that way I didn’t have to spend a lot of time in Novice and Open.
For some trials that meant shorter days or opportunities to volunteer in
more classes. I changed my
mind a few years ago when I realized that my young dog, Tar’n, was a bit
stressed when it came to standing in line with groups of dogs and people waiting
to enter the ring. Not wanting to
endure the need to always find a calm corner and wait until my turn in the ring
I decided it would be good to start her slowly and let her get used to it.
Fun matches were a good way to help train with this issue but in our part
of the country fun matches are few and far between so I decided to enter her in
partial trials. I started with small
one-ring trials and selective classes at USDAA trials and eventually worked up
to 2 ring trials and all classes. She
got over her waiting line shyness, now she just sits and watches the dogs in the
ring and acts like any other dog sniffing other dogs, looking for horse
droppings and waiting for me to tell her it’s finally our turn.
Once in the ring she doesn’t even remember anyone else is around.
Entering her as soon as she was able to run Novice courses also gave us
some teamwork and ring experience that was very helpful in our training.
We didn’t Q our first 3 times out and move up to Open but we had some
fun working out our issues and sometimes just being silly.
She is after all a Golden. The
introduction of FAST in AKC is a great tool for training.
Now a competitor can get some ring experience even before the dog is
ready to compete in Novice if they want to and then spend the rest of the day
volunteering, watching some great runs and visiting with friends. A while back a good friend of mine, Mardee Kayser, guest wrote an article on her experiences in getting her MACH, well this past weekend Mardee ran her puppy Bebop and her enthusiasm and love for the sport and her Goldens prompted her to write another story about her ring experiences. I hope you enjoy it Bebop’s
First Leg……by Mardee Kayser I am so
excited- Bebop earned his first Novice Standard leg this weekend with a clean
run and a first place. I was hesitant to enter the whole complement of classes
because he still doesn't have reliable weaves, so I decided to try two Novice
FAST classes (where I could avoid doing weave poles) and just one Standard
class. In
Saturday's FAST class, he went out and did two jumps and the teeter, then
started running around. I got him back, he did a little more, than ran off
again, got him back, did some more etc. But he did nice contacts and kept all
the bars up and even did the distance work just didn't get credit for the bonus
because he went in the wrong end of the tunnel. After that run I thought, ooo
boy, we are in for some tough times here. But Sunday's FAST class was MUCH
better- he stayed with me the whole time, had nice contacts again, kept all the
bars up but didn't get the bonus because he came out of the box back to me
between the obstacles, and even though he did go out and do the chute, it still
counted as a refusal. The Novice
Standard course didn't look too bad, but man, those 24" jumps are TALL and
ohmigod a four board spread on the broad jump is just HUGE and we hadn't
practiced a full height table in awhile so would he even get on it and then I
was hoping the "quick fix" I had worked out in practice on Thursday
would actually get him to finish the weave poles,
so I was plenty nervous before the class.
This was compounded by the following factors: a. I was
the first dog on the line in the class. I know I'd better start getting used to
this, but when you run 20" dogs it happens so rarely that I have never
developed much of a plan. I don't like having to cut my walkthrough short, and
I'm never sure how much time I need to get both of us ready. And it doesn't help
that you get up there and pretty much everyone in the class watches those first
few dogs, and people are on the sidelines saying stuff like, "go out and
show us how it's done" and junk like that. b. Since
Bebop still has a tendency to go around stuff, I was telling myself I had to
really concentrate to work EVERY obstacle and give him clear signals so he'd be
confident. I was confident he'd do nice contacts and keep the bars up, so that
helped. c. Word was
running around the trial that the judge for this class had been whistling people
off the course if their dogs ya-yahed at all. In other words, as soon as she
thought your dog had stopped working in the slightest, you were NQ'd. I was
hoping she'd be a little more lenient for Novice dogs, but you never know. Well, I
thought, it might turn out to be just another Fun Match, but we'd give it a go.
Bebop has a perfect wait at the start line, so I lead off around the first jump,
but leaned in to be sure he would see me and take it. From there it was on to
the teeter, no problem, around a curve of tire/jump/broad to the dogwalk, where
he does a gorgeous job of collecting and hitting that up contact. I front
crossed the end of it to get a change of direction for the next jump and the
table, no problem again. Ohmigod, we're halfway and still in the game! Then we
had the chute, where I was able to get in a front cross and get us reorganized
enough for the next part, two tough jumps (panel and double) into the tunnel.
Then came the weaves, so I tried to gather him and line him up as he came out
the tunnel, but he overshot the entrance. Second try got the entrance and one
other pole. Third time was the charm as once he gets his rhythm going, he's
fine. So then we just had the Aframe and one more jump, where I did another
front cross to give him a clear shot at the finish jump and to avoid the off
course jump to the left, which caught a lot of the dogs. So since the weave
poles aren't judged, and we had no other runarounds, yah-yas or booboos, it was
a highly successful event. My young boy did a beautiful job and I couldn't be
more pleased.
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