Have you ever watched a dog show? Remember seeing all those dogs standing in the ring to be judged? When sit happens, it’s not a good thing.
Last week Hope did a bad thing. She taught a show dog to sit in about a minute. Fortunately, the dog’s mom, a friend of ours, laughed about it.
It was sort of an accident
Hope went to see a litter of puppies last week. The breeder has gorgeous dogs, does all the health testing, lives with her dogs in the house – all the things you want from a responsible breeder. Hope really, really thought she was ready to come home with a new puppy. Despite how one little boy tugged at her, it turns out now’s not the right time.
It was disappointing for both Hope and her breeder-friend Sue. But they still enjoyed spending time together and playing with Sue’s dogs.
Starting clicking
When Hope and Sue were talking about their visit, Sue mentioned that she wanted to start training and asked Hope to show her some tips to get her started. There’s a club near where she lives that offers Rally classes. Rally is probably the most fun / least stressful of the performance sports. Rally is the one that lets you talk to your dog, has instructions posted along the way, and speed only matters if there’s a tied score.
So Hope brought Sue a clicker. A clicker isn’t absolutely necessary for training, but it does make it more consistent and easier, once you have the timing. Hope started clicker training Sue’s three dogs – Sharky (darling little boy), Pinch (adorable adult girl), and Alecia (Sue’s gorgeous little show girl).
Teacher’s pet
All three are food-motivated, which always makes training easier. Pinch is a retired show girl and Sue’s pet. She’s not used to having to “do” something to get a treat – she’s a princess and is treated like one. Sharky is a teen-aged boy. His brain is sometimes present. Sometimes not so much.
Alecia is a training superstar! She figured out the “click” in no time.
Click = treat. Got it!
Sit = click. Got it!
And just that fast, sit happens! Alecia learned to sit for just the possibility of a treat.
In a non-showing household, that would have been a wonderful thing. In a show home? It’s not the end of the world, but it’s not great. Show dogs are supposed to stand to be examined by a judge. They’re supposed to show off their physiques. And they can be standing for a while, depending on the number of dogs they’re competing against.
Sorry about that, chief!
Fortunately, Sue was really proud that her girl learned so fast. And understood that “stand” can be a learned (and rewarded!) behavior just like sit. She forgave Hope. Whew!
Oops! I belong to a club and have trained dogs. Lost my ability dog a few years ago. Tried training my next dog, after flunking several classes, they told me to take her home and let her sit around and be beautiful.lol. Training is a bonding experience for both owner and dog. I have gone to shows with a friend who owns show dogs. She does just about every kind of training with her other dogs. It’s all a lot of fun!
You’re so right, Jill! Training is so much fun – but some dogs just aren’t “into” it! And some dogs love the training part, but not the “showing.” Fran’s Tango is like that – absolutely joyous during training, but hates doing “stuff” in public. That’s okay with us – he’s a wonderful dog. We love him and all his little quirks!