Life Training….A lesson in Obedience

It’s a show morning, a few hours before ring time.  Just for fun let’s step into the shoes of the owner of an up and coming class bitch.  She’s a pretty girl, pointed from the puppy classes and is just starting to come into her own. Her name is PoGo and mom is just pulling into the parking lot. 

OK PoGo, let’s go!

Mom opens the van and starts to unlatch the crate door.  PoGo knows what she’s here for and you can almost translate her barking. .”I’m gonna win, I’m gonna win, hurry up Mom!”  Mom opens the crate door 2 inches and snakes her arm in, attempting to grab the show lead, telling PoGo in her sternest voice to settle down, hold still, stop! stop!  One good push from PoGo sends the door flying open and with one joyous leap PoGo bounds out.  Fortunately Mom has great reflexes and manages to grab the lead and keep from falling at the same time.

Mom grabs her show bag and off they go, PoGo veering to the left and Mom pulling to the right.  Mom sets the show bag down and adjusts the collar so it's up behind PoGo’s ears and they successfully negotiate the show grounds and make it to their handler's set up.  There is an X pen set up so with another adjustment of the collar Mom manages to unlatch the clips but ends up dropping the show bag when PoGo decides to have a quick visit with the dog two pens down.

Back to the pen they go and PoGo pops right in…executes an immediate turn and makes it out before the clips can be refastened.  A friend is able to grab her leash before she gets away and it’s back in the pen she goes.

Mom got to the show a little early so she could have a friend help her trim toenails.  Every thing else she can do at home but PoGo just gets way too silly on her nails and an extra hand to keep her holding still makes the process go faster.  This goes fairly smoothly as the friend feeds her bait to keep her distracted while Mom clips.  Another friend jumps in and helps by holding PoGo so she stops turning around and making Mom crawl all around the ground chasing feet.  With mission accomplished Mom and friends get ready for the show, going and setting up chairs, walking dogs, completing grooming on everyone else’s dogs and just generally enjoying each other's company.  With an hour till ring time it is the perfect time for all the dogs to get a little down time so they are rested for the ring.  Unfortunately the dogs in the next set of pens don’t see it that way and decide that it's really fun to get all the big dogs barking by issuing woof challenges.  Lots of hush-ups and that’s enough barking helps temporarily but a new bark fest starts with each new round of the next-door neighbor's woofs.

Time to head for the ring and things go smoothly until a slip of the collar allows PoGo enough head room to snag someone’s bait off the top of their show bag that's sitting at ringside.  Apologies and bait replacement only take a few moments and there are no hard feelings.  PoGo spies the handler, her best friend in the whole world who always has goodies for her, and greets her with both front feet placed squarely on her shoulders.  Mom is able to pull her off and luckily her feet are not muddy and the footprints brush right off.  Into the ring they go and PoGo is showing splendidly until she spies a piece of bait dropped in the ring.  Down goes her head and an almost successful snatch is foiled by the handlers ability to pull her head back up. PoGo is no dummy and remembers exactly where that tasty morsel is so each time around offers yet another opportunity to play “get the goodie”.  It’s actually kind of a fun game…there it is….go for it…darn, foiled again!  The judge gives PoGo reserve and after all the hugs and kisses are passed out the handler tells Mom that if she had moved just a little better she might have done more.  Mom promises to work more on her movement and they all go home happy to a well-deserved rest.

Now for those who are scratching their heads and saying, “I thought this was an obedience article….did I miss something here?” it’s time to reflect a little.  Exactly what is obedience training?  It's teaching your dog to respond predictably to a set of verbal commands.  For those who show in obedience the parameters are cut and dried.  Sit now, stand now, walk with me now.

People often think advanced obedience training is only for the obedience show ring.  THIS IS NOT THE REASON PEOPLE TRAIN IN ADVANCED OBEDIENCE.  Yes, it's wonderful addition to the training, it offers the opportunity to join in competitions and enjoy all that it has to offer.  It's a way for you and your dog to enjoy the comradery of like-minded folks and share the ups and downs with others that understand what it took to get to where you are now.  But that alone is not what gets people hooked on training.

For those who don't train for obedience I will share with you why we do it.  It’s for the dog. It’s for us.  A dog that clearly understands what you want and will respond to verbal commands is a pleasure to live with, to travel with and just generally be around. If you take a look again at PoGo’s show morning there are at least 10 obedience commands that her Mom could have used.  Each of these would have made the experience better for both of them.  Want to go back and find them?  I’ll even help .  They are: Heel, Sit, Down, Stand, Stay, Come, Quiet, Leave It, Off, and Wait.  Find where each of them could have been used and picture Mom saying the commands in a quiet voice and PoGo doing exactly what was asked of her.

Neither PoGo or her Mom had a bad day.  In fact it turned out to be fairly successful in the end. PoGo minds fairly well and although some of her antics were a little annoying and sometimes inconvenient there is nothing that she did that would stop her from a successful show career.  It’s just that there could be so much more.  If PoGo and her Mom had taken a beginners obedience class they would have been able to minimize or avoid all together the little conflict spots in their day.  All obedience commands are based on every day, real life situations.  If it's helpful maybe you could think of it as life training instead of obedience training because that's what it really is

Many people take their dogs through a beginner’s obedience class and stop there.  The dog walks on a leash and around the house minds fairly well.  This is a great start…which is why it is called a BEGINNERS class.  In it the dog and owners set up a foundation of communication that will last a lifetime.  Just like in real life learning never stops and there is always more to learn. Learning is a good thing!  Treat your dog to an obedience class, it’s one of the best things you could ever do for both of you.

Kathleen Holland
Kennel Kappadane