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In July 2001
our family
adopted Bailey, a beautiful black Labrador Retriever. We think
Bailey was about a year old when we adopted him. We noticed a
big difference in his temperament from our first lab, Yogi, who
died of canine lymphoma just a month earlier. The main
difference with Bailey was his mellow nature! It took Yogi at
least 5 years before he settled down. Don't get me wrong, Yogi
was a great dog, but he was a "field" lab and very energetic
during the early years. Bailey is closer to the breed standard
in terms of his physical structure and his temperament is laid
back.
In December 2001, my
dad
had to have open heart surgery. During his hospital stay, some
people brought Therapy Dogs to visit and cheer him up. Their
visits provided my dad motivation to work hard in rehab so he
could get home to be with his own dog! We saw first hand how
Therapy Dogs help people. It seemed to us that Bailey had a
similar temperament as the dogs that worked with my dad. It was
this realization that prompted my interest in dog training.
I started
training Bailey in February 2002 to be a Therapy Dog. I signed
up for two different group training classes, one at a big box
pet store, and the other with a well known private trainer. The
classes were diametrically opposed in terms of how they taught
how to train. One used lots of treats while the other used "do
it or else" methods. Having been a U.S. Marine for four years
(1977-1981), the "do it or else" method fit me perfectly!!
However, it didn't fit "mellow" Bailey much at all, little did I
know. We had a practice obedience trial at the end of the "do it
or else" class, which Bailey performed flawlessly, taking 1st
place! The big box pet store class ended with a CGC test, which
he passed with flying colors. Needless to say, I was impressed
with my "training abilities". Right!
Our main
purpose in training Bailey was to take and pass the Therapy Dog
test. So, in July 2002, Diane and I were evaluated with Bailey
and passed easily! This was exciting for us because we had
achieved so much so quickly with sweet Bailey. But, there's
more!
As I
said, the last session in the "do it or else" class was a
practice obedience trial. Because Bailey did so well in this
trial, I had the idea we could be competitive in real AKC
Obedience Trials and possibly earn an obedience title for
Bailey. The only problem was we didn't have any AKC registration
papers for Bailey, he was a rescued stray dog! The AKC has
a program called the
Indefinite Listing Privilege program that provides a way for
purebred dogs from unknown sources to be evaluated by the AKC to
determine if they look like a purebred dog. Well, in July 2002
we received a letter from the AKC granting Bailey his ILP
registration. The first thing I did was enter us in the Santa
Barbara Kennel Club dog show to compete in Novice A Obedience.
So, in August,
Diane and I with Bailey took off for Santa Barbara to compete.
The trial was held on a Saturday and Sunday. I was so excited to
be competing with Bailey, but was I nervous! I watched the other
competitors work through their exercises, and then it was our
turn. Novice Obedience consists of a series of exercises that
tests how well the handler and dog work together. Here's a list
of the order of exercises:
1. Heel
On-Leash - The judge prompts the team to heel forward, making a
series of left and right turns, interrupted with a few halts
that requires the dog to automatically sit for each halt. This
was pretty easy for Bailey.
2.
Figure 8 - This exercise requires the handler and dog (on-leash)
to heel in a figure 8 pattern around two people standing about 8
feet apart. This is done twice with a halt between the first and
second figure 8. Bailey always did great with this
exercise.
3. Stand
for Examination - This is a pretty simple exercise. The leash is
taken off the dog and then the judge cues the handler to "stand
the dog" and then "leave the dog". Bailey, being a friendly dog,
loved this exercise because the judge would come over and run
their hand over him. BUT, Bailey could not move his feet! Bailey
was very good about understanding this, so he would just stand
there wagging his thick "otter" tail.
4. Heel
Free - This is identical to the Heel On-Leash exercise except
the leash is gone! The dog heels "free" walking next to the
handler. Bailey always seemed to be one step behind me on this
exercise, but he usually did well enough to get a good score.
5.
Recall - The recall exercise has a few parts that can really
mess up a trial. The first part is to sit the dog, then cue them
to stay as the handler walks to the far side of the ring. Once
the handler reaches the far side of the ring (about 50 feet)
they turn around and face the dog holding the sit-stay. The
judge signals the handler to recall the dog. The handler cues
the dog to come. The dog should trot to the handler, sitting
squarely in front of the hander. The judge then signals the
handler to "finish" the dog. This is where the dog moves to the
left side of the handler, sitting at the heel position. Sounds
easy, right? Well, with practice this isn't that hard to do.
Bailey was usually really good with all of this. But, on our
first day in the ring, we failed this exercise. It wasn't Bailey
that screwed up, but rather it was me! Most exercises
allow the handler to cue the dog with a word or hand signal, and
sometimes both. But, never shall three cues be used. Well,
because of my nervousness, I cued Bailey to stay with my hand
signal and a verbal cue of "Heel"! As I started to walk toward
the other side of the ring I realized what I just did. To "fix"
the problem I turn around and said, "I mean STAY!" Not too
smart huh? Little did I know but Bailey knew what the exercise
was because he was just sitting there when I turn around to say
stay! That third cue cost us a qualifying score for our
first competition, and it was totally unnecessary. As the
saying goes, "Live and learn".
6. Group Exercises -
After all the competitors finish their individual exercises, the
enter group is brought back into the ring for a 1 minute
sit-stay and a 3 minute down-stay. Bailey did these exercises
with ease.
We competed again the next
day and scored high enough to earn a qualifying score and a 2nd
place Red Ribbon. This was a great way to recover from the
mistake I made the day before. So, I was encouraged that Bailey
really could earn a Companion Dog obedience title (A CD title is
earned for the Novice class). We had one "leg" (a leg is a
qualifying score, and it takes three to earn a title) and
another show in a few weeks.
In early September we
competed the Channel Island Kennel Club dog show in Newberry
Park. Like before, the show was on Saturday and Sunday. On
Saturday we went into the ring and nailed all the individual
exercises. Then the group exercises were next. We did the 1
minute sit-stay, and Bailey did fine. We then started the the 3
minute down-stay. Keep in mind that during these exercises each
handler stands at the far side of ring while the dogs wait, all
sitting or laying down about 4-5 feet apart. During the
down-stay some dogs outside the ring started barking like crazy.
I was cringing inside hoping for the time to end.
With 15 seconds left to go, Bailey decided to sit up to see what
all the commotion was about! Well, that ended that. We walked
away with a DQ for the day.
The next day we came back and
tried again. This turned out to be the best show we ever did!
Bailey earned a 198.5 score (200 is perfect) and was awarded the
High In Trial trophy, beating out even all the Utility and Open
class dogs! WOW! I was so pleased with Bailey. We now had
two legs on a CD title and needed just one more qualifying
score!
A few weeks later we drove
out to Lake Parris for a show. This time the first day was the
charm for us. Bailey did very well, earning 1st place and his
Companion Dog Title! Not bad at all for us to finish his
title in five trials. We did all this in 6 weeks! Having
worked so hard to earn this, I decided we would take the winter
off and then start training for Open class competition in March
2003. Little did I know what was coming.
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