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Stories of Spur: Dogging it in competition
Stories of Spur: Dogging it in competition
Spur competes in AKC obedience trials. He is a miniature schnauzer. This will chronicle his life on the "campaign trail" as he and his handler compete against dogs of all breeds for high titles.
Real Name: Michele McCormick Member Since: March 19, 2008 Last Signed In: July 19, 2009 Blog Views: 1576 Send To A Friend Sign Guestbook Add as a Friend
Spur Earns His First UDX Leg
Puppy Tips Trialing Should be Fun Getting Back to Basics Attention is Everything A Lively Campaign Season Launches ClearLake: A Question of Confidence Clearlake Launches Our Campaign Season Let the Campaign Begin . . . . Spur Gets Ready for '09 March 08 April 08 May 08 June 08 July 08 August 08 September 08 October 08 November 08 December 08 January 09 February 09 March 09 April 09 May 09 June 09 July 09 August 09 September 09 October 09 November 09 December 09 January 10 February 10 March 10 
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Location:
Vallejo, CA
The short report is that we failed both classes. There are a series of issues we have been working on, but the bottom line is that they all boil down to the classic issue of dog training: attention. We handlers are often frustrated when our dogs do great in training, and poorly at trials. We blame it on our own nervousness - that tension runs down the leash, is how the saying goes. I'm coming to recognize that the problem may be something different. In Spur's case, it's an award-winning lack of attention. He is fascinated by the stewards who enter and leave the ring. He is fixated on the people or dogs who stroll by the ring during our performance. Once he enters the ring, he is like a goldfish in a bowl yearning deeply for the wide sea outside his curtailed world. What to do? There is much discussion about whether I should pull him from trialing completely. Poor performances are reinforcing, because they teach the dog that when he is in the ring there are neither corrections nor treats, and so, perhaps, no real reason to obey. But we are excited about our first-ever schnauzer specialty, coming up in Long Beach in mid-June. So the immediate plan is to work extra hard for the next month . . . and take a chance. What will we do? We have two workshops on the books, conducted by a judge who has seen us and understands our problems. We have lessons with Mary Vogler who has great ideas and direction. We'll try to get to Alan Miller's weekly whirlwind of an obedience class. And we'll work on figuring out other ways to work around distractions and temptations. If it were easy, every dog would be an Obedience Trial Champion. We may never reach quite that level of glory, but we surely have it in us to do a lot better than our recent results portray. As always, we post other pix and more frequent updates on our Twitter site. In this space: more to come!
The last few weeks have been quite the learning experience for me - and for Spur. As proud as we were to earn our Utility Dog title last fall, we've become prey to a syndrome that is all too common. Perhaps a bit of overconfidence on my part? And on Spur's part - a clear sense that he has too many jobs to do at once.
It became all too apparent at the annual Terrier Association Trials at Cal Expo that Spur's mind was on several things. He did understand that he had a job to do, a series of exercises with which he is completely familiar. That was well demonstrated in the warm-ups, as he heeled beautifully and followed my every move. But once we entered the ring, a second, perhaps more important job took over. That was the job of monitoring the rings around us, the noise in the cavernous building, the motion of every person. The result: we did not do very well. We failed utility classes on both days, and passed open with scores too low to mention here. The experience was dispiriting to say the least. Trainer Mary Vogler told me - it's time to start over. Without Spur's full and complete attention, there's little hope of advancing further. And so we are back to some basics. I am trying to do a much better job of insisting on excellence in heeling during practice. We are visiting Alan Miller's wonderful, tumultuous training class, when Spur must perform his exercises no matter what is going on around us. We are moving in the right direction. At the Mt. Diablo Trials, we failed utility once again - but I took heart from signs of improvement. We passed Open with a score that edged into the 190's, and walked away with a nice prize for high scoring terrier. Next, we'll be out at Vallejo on May 16, and then, in June - I am so excited - we'll travel to Long Beach for our first ever miniature schnauzer obedience specialty show. Visit our Twitter site for the most immediate updates, but we'll also continue to post here. |
