The Dog of Destiny flies!
Posted: Wed Jul 03, 2019 10:23 am
This is obviously a bird dog forum, but it is summer and there is a lot to be said for cross training, especially if it benefits the dog and owner under all conditions. My noble Wirehair is certainly a bird dog. However, he is also a competition obedience dog at the highest levels.
There are, for the benefit of those who don't know, four levels of AKC obedience competition; BN (Beginner Novice), Novice (CD- Companion Dog title), Open (CDX-Companion Dog Excellent title ) and Utility (UD – Utility Dog title). Each of these has two classes in competition, A for inexperienced dogs trying for the title and B for experienced dogs who already have the title at that level. Exercises to qualify are different for each and obviously are at ascending levels of difficulty.
My wirehair got his UD title six months ago, but because "B" is much more difficult, the competition much much stiffer and because the judges have "sharpened pencils", we quit competing for six months and just trained until I thought we were good enough to compete at this level. We were in four trials the past two weekends, and qualified at two with good scores. NQs (non-qualifying scores) were mostly due-- darn me! – to handle errors or are easily fixable. With improvement on both our parts, we can be competitive at this extreme upper echelon level.
This sort of training -- all levels , not just Utility -- is fun for both handler and dog, greatly improves communication and interaction, is highly useful in normal life and is greatly recommended. If you like your dog and want a fun activity during non-bird season, you ought to give it a try.
Here are a few photos. Two more in the next post. As a sub comment, he is a TPLO surgery survivor (I have posted on this before) and two years ago, could not walk. You can see why competition at this level under these circumstances qualifies-- if not quite as a "brag" --, at least as a "proud of my dog", who is a great guy and a hard worker with a good work ethic.
There are, for the benefit of those who don't know, four levels of AKC obedience competition; BN (Beginner Novice), Novice (CD- Companion Dog title), Open (CDX-Companion Dog Excellent title ) and Utility (UD – Utility Dog title). Each of these has two classes in competition, A for inexperienced dogs trying for the title and B for experienced dogs who already have the title at that level. Exercises to qualify are different for each and obviously are at ascending levels of difficulty.
My wirehair got his UD title six months ago, but because "B" is much more difficult, the competition much much stiffer and because the judges have "sharpened pencils", we quit competing for six months and just trained until I thought we were good enough to compete at this level. We were in four trials the past two weekends, and qualified at two with good scores. NQs (non-qualifying scores) were mostly due-- darn me! – to handle errors or are easily fixable. With improvement on both our parts, we can be competitive at this extreme upper echelon level.
This sort of training -- all levels , not just Utility -- is fun for both handler and dog, greatly improves communication and interaction, is highly useful in normal life and is greatly recommended. If you like your dog and want a fun activity during non-bird season, you ought to give it a try.
Here are a few photos. Two more in the next post. As a sub comment, he is a TPLO surgery survivor (I have posted on this before) and two years ago, could not walk. You can see why competition at this level under these circumstances qualifies-- if not quite as a "brag" --, at least as a "proud of my dog", who is a great guy and a hard worker with a good work ethic.