pflakes
Novice
Jul 13, 2009, 11:35 PM
Post #16 of 22
(2701 views)
Shortcut
|
|
Re: [luv_leehom517] obedience and agility training
[In reply to]
|
Can't Post
|
|
Before going for Agility, some basic Obedience needs to be establish first like heeling by side especially the Recall exercise. Also the handler should ensure that own dog is old enough and if possible to train on grass area as training on cemented area proves to be harmful to the dogs’ delicate paws. Imagine if we run without shoes for a period of time on hot, slippery cemented area. It’s torturing isn’t it. Dog have sensitive nose and ear and being that, they are distracted with the presence of food, smell and even slightest sound. Unless if the dog is really very well trained like the K9 police dogs of able to ignore and controlling itself. (which I don’t think my pampered pooch will be able to) I also agreed that if the dog is very well trained, it should not be distracted at all. But come to think of it, most of the so called household handlers like us attend dog trainings during weekend and to come to this level where our dogs don’t get distracted, we should consider our dog really really good.. (also if this includes denying food from strangers). With the confined indoor area with lots of smells and sound, dogs that are not used to the indoor environment will find itself stress, restless and barky.
Agility dog sport had becomes a very normal sport in other foreign countries with owners spend time training their dogs every evening after they reached home so that they can participate in competition every weekend. For us the Asian, we still work our butt off and probably spend time on training our dog only during weekend. And certainly we do not have competition every weekend because the dog sport is still not that popular here in Malaysia.
The Agility dog sport supposed to be fun where both dog and the handler work and enjoy the run together. Some dogs really found thrill and excitement from it. And it also depends hugely on the dog whether it have any interest in it. Some dog can do agility and some can’t. It is not because of the breed, it is because of the dog itself. Size does not matter: There is one dog training school which I came across in Google that concentrate and promote agility for tiny dog like chihuahua. Believed that the obstacles need to be set low based on the wither height of the dog. To add on, dogs that are well trained identify obstacles by familiar name, so it wouldnt be a surprise if the handler just stood there and instruct the dogs to go through obstacles by name.
For competition, if your dog run fast but did lots of faults compared to dog that run slow and steady but no faults. It is the dog that run slow and steady with no fault claim to be the winner. It was assess by least fault and with best time. So it doesn’t mean that JRT can win a Schnauzer any time.
Coming to competition, some audiences are ignorant lots. Children dangling their arms to catch or touch a running dog especially the big one like Malinois or audiences carrying their dogs too near the line are totally dangerous. You may never know if the dog big or small in the ring is good temperament or not. Even some dog excel in obedience does not necessary mean that they are friendly to other dogs or other human. Don’t keep the mindset that top dog with high level of Obedience does not nip or bite. We never know if someday the dog snap too. It might not be on the owner but perhaps strangers like you or me. The organizer were just being careful of the audiences’ welfare and to prevent such unfortunate incident (if) to happen. It is always a safety first to both dog and human inclusive the audiences. Even if you want to touch someone’s dog, you will politely ask if it is fine to touch. You wouldn’t want to risk being bitten.
If you notice the layout for agility competition overseas in youtubes, the audiences were sitted far away and not just a few steps from the competition flagging their arms in hope of touching a fur or two or dangling their kids to have a better view into the ring as what we have here. Have the responsibility to keep ourself safe.
But of course, there will still always be a few kiasu participants around who always blame everything anything but not themselves.
As comparable with a JRT, Schnauzer didn’t lose out because it is a working dog too. Schnauzer are used as rat catcher, yard guard (herding cattles) and even guard dog. In the past, it was used as a messenger dog in time of war, helped Red Cross and been a police dog. It is on how the owner want it to be whether to treat it as a working dog with defined work or as a pet dog. That is all about how willingly the owner wants to spend time on training. Dog is definitely not dumb or a showcase if you train it well.
|
MAIN
FAQ & HELP
PHOTO GALLERY
WHO'S 
So it all depends on the owner and their training methods. 