Competitive Obedience Training for the Small Dog Read online

  Jumps can be made of wood or PVC pipe and panels. PVC jumps are durable, but so lightweight they will blow away in a breeze. You don’t want to give your dog reason to believe the jumps are booby-trapped, so if you only use them for practice outdoors, put sand in the horizontal pipes to weigh them down.

  DUMBBELL

  Many dumbbell training problems can be avoided by buying a dumbbell that fits the dog. For many small dogs that means custom-made. The dog should be able to completely close his mouth around the dowel when he is holding the dumbbell behind his canine teeth. The length of the dowel shouldn’t be more than one-fourth inch longer than the width of the dog’s muzzle. The bells should be large enough to keep the dowel as high as possible off the ground, allowing the dog to make a clean pick up. The bells should also be tapered so the dog won’t pick the dumbbell up by the end, and they should be painted white for maximum visibility.

  GLOVES

  According to the AKC OBEDIENCE REGULATIONS, “…the handler will provide three predominately white, cotton work gloves, which must be open and must be approved by the Judge,” for the Utility Directed Retrieve. A glove has to be small enough that the dog doesn’t feel he has to fold it before he picks it up, nor should he have to trip over the glove as he is bringing it to you.

  The AKC OBEDIENCE REGULATIONS don’t specify men’s work gloves; gardening gloves for women and children are more suitable. J & J Dog Supplies (see Appendix) offers two glove sizes, but you might find that even their “small” is too big. These gloves can, however, be easily altered. Put them through the washer and dryer, then turn them inside out and sew inside every seam. Make three long tucks lengthwise on the palm and back, then fold the cuff half way under and hem.

  If you have a sewing machine, you can always make your own gloves. Material selection can be based on the “heft” of your dog; ribbing for the cuffs can be purchased ready-made at any fabric store.

  For a tiny dog, try the gloves available from Sylvia’s Tack Box. They look just like J & J gloves, but when put through the washer and dryer, shrink to a mere five inches in length.

  SCENT ARTICLES

  Like the dumbbell, scent articles can be custom-made to fit your dog. Single bar articles are easiest for the dog to carry and are most like a dumbbell/retrieve object. Double bar articles tend to be flimsy and have little to recommend them. Triple bar scent articles, however, can be used to advantage by breeds without much length to their muzzles. With the triple bar, a muzzle-less dog doesn’t have to bury his entire face in the grass or floor to scent or pick up the article.

  Order at least two extra leather and metal articles with your set. You will need them for practice and use in back-to-back shows.

  Because leather has such a strong scent of its own, wash new leather articles in hot, soapy water, then let them air out for several weeks. When you can no longer smell leather or leather preservatives, they are ready to use.

  SECTIONS OF BABY GATE AND/OR PLASTIC CHAIN WITH PVC UPRIGHTS

  Find out what a Utility ring looks like in your part of the country so you can duplicate a section of it to use in practice. On the west coast, where most shows are outdoors, ring barriers are usually plastic chains suspended high over the heads of small dogs. You can find the supplies you will need at most hardware stores or garden shops. Expandable wooden baby gates are commonly used throughout the rest of the country; baby gates can be ordered through obedience supply catalogs. Get six gates so that you can have four across the back and one on each side to form the corners of a ring. You can buy tent bags at a camping store to keep your gates in; three gates and four standards will fit in one bag. If you keep your gates and jumps organized and in your car, you are much more likely to use them when you train in new places.

  MATTING

  Rubber matting in a three-foot width can be purchased in most big building supply or hardware stores. It is nice to have a 40 foot length to teach recalls and go outs; it’s essential to have a piece three-foot square for tying down scent articles.

  Do consider the weight of a 3 by 40-foot piece of matting before you buy it. Will you really be willing to haul it around, lift it in and out of your car, roll and unroll it? A clear plastic carpet runner or length of tar paper might just as easily meet your needs.

  Used matting can sometimes be purchased from dog show superintendents (watch out for the shipping cost), and new lightweight matting (portable, but blows away with a breeze) can be ordered through J & J Dog Supplies.

  HULA HOOPS

  The circumference of a hula hoop is exactly the right size for defining your path around the posts in the Figure Eight exercise. Hula hoops come in three different sizes; buy two of the largest size.

  CHICKEN WIRE

  Buy several two by two-foot and two by three-foot squares of small gauge chicken wire…and before you know it, you will have to buy several more. Chicken wire is used to help the dog in several Open and Utility exercises, and when you are practicing in different locations it will be, guaranteed, the one thing you will forget to put back in your car. It’s amazing how it disappears as soon as you set it down. Buy lots.

  CRATE

  A dog who can relax in his crate at a dog show isn’t going to tire as quickly as a dog who must be constantly tended to, held, and toted about. A crate need be only a few inches taller than your dog or, if your dog is still a puppy, a few inches taller than a typical adult dog of his breed.

  If you hope to stay with friends for out-of-town shows, keeping your dog crated in their homes can help keep those friendships intact. If you stay at a hotel or motel, the dog should be left in a crate when you leave the room. And for safety’s sake, of course, your dog should always ride in a secured crate in your car.

  A fiberglass airline crate provides the best protection for your dog from inclement weather and from other dogs. However, a collapsible wire crate is easier to store, fold and carry. For multi show weekends, it is really nice to have an extra crate, one to keep in the motel room and one for the show site.

  To save wear and tear on your arms and back, a small crate and all your show supplies can be moved on a collapsible luggage cart. For a bigger crate and more “stuff,” a crate dolly is a useful investment.

  CLOTHES

  Whether practicing or competing, the clothes you wear when working with your dog make a difference. Your clothing should not interfere with your dog. (Beware of letting the dog define “heel position” as being “under the skirt.” Clever, but not correct.) If your dog has to look around your jacket to make eye contact or get out of the way of your skirt on a fast or a turn, your clothes are creating problems you wouldn’t have to deal with if you just wore slacks and a well-fitting shirt.

  Your shoes should be non-threatening. No hard or slick soles and nothing that might slip off your heel. The shoes should have proper arch support and fit snugly so that you can execute turns without rolling onto the side of your foot. To insure that your balance and footfall doesn’t change, always wear in practice the same shoes you will wear in the ring. This will probably mean owning two identical pairs, one to wear when training and one to keep “polished up” for showing.

  A RELIABLE CAR

  Until they hold that trial in your driveway, you are going to have to drive to different locales to train and to show. Though the dog himself doesn’t take much room, you have to have a car big enough to carry all your ring and training equipment. And the car has to be reliable. For all their wonderful qualities, a small dog can’t provide much realistic protection if you are stranded someplace with a car that won’t go.

  FRIENDS

  Potential friends abound in dog clubs and training classes. And you need “doggy” friends whose judgment you respect and who respect your right to train your dog in the way you feel best. You need friends from whom you can take constructive criticism, and who are creative, innovative and fun.

  If you are new to dogs, don’t worry; you will find lots of friends as you train and show. “Obedien
ce people” are about the nicest people you will ever meet, and among the best friends you will ever have.

  “…neither mastery nor satisfaction can be found in the playing of any game without giving some attention to the relatively neglected skills of the inner game. This is the game that takes place in the mind of the player, and is played against such obstacles as lapses in concentration, nervousness, self-doubt and self-condemnation. It short, it is played to overcome all habits of mind which inhibit excellence in performance.”

  Timothy Gallwey

  THE INNER GAME OF TENNIS

  Chapter 5

  HEELING: THE HANDLER

  Heeling with a small dog is both an art and a science. It is an art because no obedience exercise is more awe-inspiring than dog and handler moving about the ring as one. It is a science because heeling has known precepts and principles that the team can learn, refine and perfect.

  The graceful teamwork seen in the ring doesn’t begin with the “team,” however. It doesn’t even begin with the dog. It begins with the handler – the leading partner in the dance of heeling-who has to learn and perfect his steps first. Only after the handler can respond to heeling commands smoothly and effortlessly, without worrying about which foot goes where, does he begin teaching the dog to heel.

  Handlers of average-sized dogs don’t need to worry this much about themselves; for them, heeling is a 50/50 proposition between handler and dog. Heeling with a small dog, however, is closer to 70/30, handler/dog. Your handling has a proportionately greater effect on your heeling score than anything your dog might do. Is a 70/30 ratio to your advantage? It is entirely up to you.

  POSTURE

  Standing tall, shoulders back and head up, projects an air of self-confidence that travels right down the leash to your dog. So stand up straight! (Your mother was right!) If your dog is in heel position you can see him out of the corner of your eye; stooping, dropping your left shoulder to look down, or leaning to the left over your dog will cause him to lag. Keep your shoulders square and your body relaxed and erect.

  Correct length of stride

  STRIDE

  Heeling with a small dog requires a stride considerably shortened from what would be used with an average-sized dog. You are going to have to concentrate as you practice a shortened stride until it not only looks natural, but feels natural too.

  Stride is the length of your step. Remember, heeling has nothing to do with walking. The length of your heeling stride might be half the length of your regular walking stride. The smaller the dog, the greater the adjustment you will have to make.

  Use a mirrored wall, video camera, or a friend’s practiced eye to help you determine your correct stride length. With the dog on a loose leash by your left side, start with a pace that will keep the dog moving at a trot. Without changing pace, shorten your stride until the distance between your feet on each step is approximately the length of your dog. Though this is hard to gauge from a handler’s perspective, it is easy for someone else to see if he watches you from the side. All your body movement should be straight ahead; don’t compensate for a short stride by bouncing up and down or swaying from side to side.

  Your short stride begins with your first step. Don’t correct the dog for lagging when you are the one who has left him behind! Watch yourself on each “Forward,” and going in and coming out of the changes of pace as well.

  Years ago, while leaving my training building to walk back to my house, I happened to notice my earlier footprints in the snow. Each footprint was pointing out at a 20 degree angle; this was my “normal” walk! It dawned on me (I was training my first little dog at the time) how critical it was going to be to keep my feet pointing straight ahead when we were working together.

  Gerianne

  After helping you with your stride length, have your friend walk behind you and tell you if you are toeing out. Most people do toe out when they walk, and it takes a conscious effort – you will feel as if you’re toeing in – to keep your feet pointed dead ahead. If you toe out while heeling, you will have a dog who sidewinds or weaves in-and-out of position.

  You don’t have to keep your legs close together when you are moving; doing so would make it hard to keep your balance. Just keep your feet straight and out of your dog’s way: underneath the line of your shoulders on the turns and halts, close to the ground as you run on the fast, and on the slow moving straight ahead without swinging out in small half-circles. None of this is easy. It takes concentration, practice without your dog, and a willingness to sacrifice normal knees for success in the obedience ring. (You do have your priorities straight, don’t you?)

  PACE

  When you have your stride and direction under control, start concentrating on your pace. Most handlers move too slowly with a small dog. The AKC OBEDIENCE REGULATIONS require heeling to be at a “brisk pace,” defined as “keenly alive, alert, energetic.”

  While judging a match, I watched a middle-aged man plod through the Heel On Leash. His Corgi simply couldn’t move that slowly, and kept bouncing around in heel position, even nipping his handler on the ankles in an attempt to get him to hustle. I tried to think of a quick fix to help the man before the Heel Off Leash. I just felt sure he didn’t plod along like this in training.

  “You know it might be better if you moved faster,” I offered.

  The man brightened. “That would get it over with quicker, wouldn’t it?” he replied.

  Barbara

  You should move purposefully, as if you have someplace to go. If your pace is too slow, your dog will weave and wander; too fast and he will lose precision.

  To keep your pace steady, try counting a “one-two, one-two” cadence without changing the length of your stride. Maintain your pace on straight line heeling and all turns; double it for the fast and halve it for the slow. It should be so internalized and well-practiced that you could break into your “heeling pace” anywhere, anytime.

  FORWARD AND HALT

  You will give your dog a better chance of staying in heel position on a “Forward” command if you step out on your right foot rather than your left. Starting on your left foot is traditional; it is supposed to be an added cue that tells the dog, “We’re moving.” It is also traditional to step out on your right foot when you leave your dog on stays, thus cuing the dog, “I’m moving; you’re not.”

  Instead of just going with tradition, visualize your dog from the judge’s vantage point as the dog moves forward from a sit. If you command “Heel” and step out on your right foot, your dog has time to get up and move with your left foot. Some judges think if your dog is still sitting there as you move forward, the dog is lagging on step one. While this isn’t true – a small dog, just like his larger relations, has to stay in line with the handler’s left hip – to the eye it looks like a lag if the dog isn’t aligned and moving with the left foot. Once you are moving, most judges can tell whether or not a small dog is maintaining heel position, but it is easy to fool the eye on the “Forward.”

  With time, your dog probably won’t even need a foot cue. If you have your dog’s attention, and you don’t lurch forward on the command, your dog will hear “Heel,” and he will know what he is supposed to do. If you do not have your dog’s attention, it doesn’t matter what foot you start with, the dog won’t be with you. It is as simple as that.

  I used to be guilty of stepping into my dog on the halt. After a judge mentioned this to me, I watched myself on videotape and darn if she wasn’t right! In fact, given my very tiny dog and my natural center of gravity, even a slight step toward my dog is magnified. To correct this, I concentrate on bringing my left foot directly next to my right when stopping, and use a dowel in practice to bring my dog in closer.

  Gerianne

  Coming to a halt as the dog sits in heel position ought to be easy. Anyone can stop walking, right? But heeling is not walking, it is more like dancing, and stopping must be choreographed.

  If your right foot is moving when you hear “Hal
t,” say to yourself, “Left, right, stop.”

  If your left foot is moving when you hear “Halt,” say to yourself, “Right, stop.”

  In both cases, you will stop moving as your left foot comes into place alongside your right foot on the word “Stop.” Teaching this rhythm to the dog is not difficult if you are consistent with your footwork.

  TURNS

  When you are heeling, every left, right and about turn you make must be like every other left, right and about turn. This assurance that the foot cues and foot placement will never change is your only hope of keeping your dog in heel position on the turns!

  The left turn cue to your dog is your left foot turning ever so slightly to the left, followed by your right foot actually making the turn with a 45 degree angle. Do not tilt your body to the left as you turn or your dog will go wide.

  For a right turn, make a 45 degree turn with your left foot, turn your right foot and take a small step in the new direction, then take a normal size step forward with your left foot. This footwork will keep your left foot from swinging out into your dog’s path. Turn your entire body as you pivot – don’t leave your shoulders and head behind – so that you are facing the new direction as you take your first step out of the turn.

  For the about turn, make a “T” with your left foot in front of your right, pick up your right foot and turn it completely around to the new direction, then step out (small step!) with your left. Again, bring your entire body around as you turn.

  FIGURE EIGHT

  Footwork on the Figure Eight with a small dog is unique because you do not single track around the posts as you would with a larger dog. To single track, you would put one foot in front of the other, swinging your feet out in an arc on each step to place them properly. In an effort to stay clear of those swinging feet, a small dog will go wide or lag.