On April 05 2007, peonns wrote:Man I dont think Nemo would pass this test if there is gun shots.As soon as she hears a gun she would be going nuts looking for the birdy!!!She is my grouse dog and She is unreal at it half the time I'm sure she could get them with out me shooting
On January 04 2008, 2:22 PM, TheRedQueen wrote:Since I'm thinking about doing the test in April...I've been looking over the site.
The site says that you must have a slip collar and 6 foot lead.
My guys have never been in a slip collar...they wear flat collars or harnesses...and I'm not sure if they'd be worse if the collar tightened up on them if something happened. Sawyer tends to gag and hack for about 30-60 minutes afterwards if his flat collar pushes on his throat too hard.
I occasionally have them in a martingale...that's the most tightening they've experienced. Is that acceptable for the test, or does it have to be an actual slip collar?
I'd have to borrow one anyways...I don't have one anymore.
TheRedQueen wrote:Since I'm thinking about doing the test in April...I've been looking over the site.
The site says that you must have a slip collar and 6 foot lead.
My guys have never been in a slip collar...they wear flat collars or harnesses...and I'm not sure if they'd be worse if the collar tightened up on them if something happened. Sawyer tends to gag and hack for about 30-60 minutes afterwards if his flat collar pushes on his throat too hard.
I occasionally have them in a martingale...that's the most tightening they've experienced. Is that acceptable for the test, or does it have to be an actual slip collar?
I'd have to borrow one anyways...I don't have one anymore.
dlynne1123 wrote:TheRedQueen wrote:Since I'm thinking about doing the test in April...I've been looking over the site.
The site says that you must have a slip collar and 6 foot lead.
My guys have never been in a slip collar...they wear flat collars or harnesses...and I'm not sure if they'd be worse if the collar tightened up on them if something happened. Sawyer tends to gag and hack for about 30-60 minutes afterwards if his flat collar pushes on his throat too hard.
I occasionally have them in a martingale...that's the most tightening they've experienced. Is that acceptable for the test, or does it have to be an actual slip collar?
I'd have to borrow one anyways...I don't have one anymore.
We simply don't want dogs to back slip and bolt, it has happened before, and our tests are in teh middle of the woods no where, not in a building.
dlynne1123 wrote:I think martingales were allowed at the last course. Just not flats. And they feel the dogs need 6 feet to be able to display things like fear, insecurity, etc. It makes it easier for us to see too. We aren't right there for the most part and in a life like situation we may not be able to see the dog from the other side, hiding behind the person. We need to evaluate lip licking, shaking, avoidance, if the dog is watching the owner, etc. If a growl comes out, and we can't see or hear it, we could grade inappropriately. (Not implying that this dog will growl, but it is really kinda hard to completely evaluate a dog in this setting)
Tests are confidential so I'll share how my dog did. My dog has done CGCs before, we have had her around umbrellas, noises, gun fire(used to apprentice for people that trained police dogs) and I felt my dogs were pretty exposed. Tarps, grated footing, fire escapes, etc. Elevators, automatic doors.
However, at the test, when my dog saw that umbrella pop! It really startled her. She wasn't watching it, she was checking out the scenery when it popped. She almost didnt' pass because it took her 30 seconds to finally check out the umbrella on her own. A shorter leash may have expedited this because she would have to be closer to me, maybe being interpreted as coaxing, which is a slight deduction. Then when coming back through the testing trail, she did a half circle, around the chair where the person was sitting with the umbrella, we obviously needed to work on that in the future! Some dogs may be so startled they may knock the person over! Or show aggression. The only really bad thing is UNPROVOKED aggression, we do expect some dogs to be growly or surprised and bark or lunge for the suspicious person, but unprovoked is automatic fail. As is failing to recover or perform a task (i.e. walking on the weird surfaces or explore a scary noise.)
Hope this helps.
dlynne1123 wrote:NO, you cannot correct your dogs. And no, it is allowed to act defensively considering they are protection trained. Even some breeds are more predisposed than others. A mastiff or a rotti, who should be more suspicious may show a growl or barking, and its higher points b/c its what the breed was supposed to do. If a lab is sketchy and nervous and shows this its average points, b/c we expect some of it. However if any of these dogs act this way with the friendly stranger, its fail. Its unprovoked. We've even seen dogs, happy to see the weird stranger, and if they are overly exuberant, its less points than if they are weary. Its hard to explain but if you let the judges know they have been trained to do this, its ok.
As for the heel, thats great, but no talking to the dog. So you can't correct if you dog is clinging to you or pulling on the leash. You are only the holder of the leash. We are all about the dog, not the owners in this test! We, as testers and volunteers know dogs are allowed to be jumpy, exuberant, happy, and not all will have manners. Its ok though! We like to see goofy, happy dogs for intros and we can appreciate trained dogs doing what they were trained or bred to do in times of threat or gunfire! (the shooter and weird strangers should be far enough away there is no risk of the dogs gettign to the volunteers)
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