Puppies first day at school

[Susan Buttivant]

 

Fric and Frac here went to school yesterday. Well, their names are Bear (left) and Lick-Lick (right),  but they are a real tag team and keep my smiling with their antics.  They are 5 months old (almost 6) and since I am home this week from our farm up north I thought I would take them into the "Members only" night at our local dog obedience club. 

 

After unloading them from the car it took about 20 minutes or so of standing around inthe parking lot before moving forward into the actual building.  The pair of them were so excited with this new adventure.  They were trying to deal with all the other dogs coming through the parking lot with lots of barking, lots of correcting as I don't allow it, and lots of patience.  They both bark for different reasons.  Bear is calmer and just quietly woofs the odd time just to let me know that there is something that is concerning him and may need my attention.  Lick-Lick is the alarmist and it doesn't take much to set him off and he enjoys the sound of his own voice, even at home in the yard, so it took him the longest to stop and just watch the comings and goings and not tell me about them.   Of course, there were other dogs that deserved to be barked at so I can't be too harsh in judging.

 

Finally, the pair of them were at the point where they were just bored of watching the people and dogs and were more curious than concerned so I took them into the large training centre building and not a peep or a worry between them.  I guess there were a couple of dozen dogs being worked by their owners.  For the first 10 minutes I just stood around with them so they could take in all the excitement then set up my x-pen for them.  Then I took them back outside to the parking lot, back into the car, fetched another dog, Zigue, and went through the whole process over again but with much less flurry of activity as we'd already done this exercise before so it was pretty much old hat and I'm sure Zigue's laid-back attitude helped as well.  Back inside the building they took up residence in their x-pen and had a good time watching all the people and dogs.  I got out the french fries (since they are french dogs :-)))  and they just thought this was the icing on the cake!  Imagine, all this excitement AND french fries!   I had made some nice chicken treats for them but had left them sitting on the kitchen table so I stopped at Wendy's and we were junkin' it for the night. 

 

I took Bear into a ring first to do a little work.  He is a handsome fellow and my 'rising star' for the show ring.  His conformation is good with lovely looooooooong stifles, low hocks, great topline, great movement, excellent natural tail and ears, nice expression (albiet a little covered with is puppy hair at the moment), beautiful dark, dark eyes and the shiniest white teeth against the black background that you've ever seen!   In my head I can see him 4-5 years down the road with a beautiful black corded coat just having a great time in the show ring.  Anyway, he is entered in his first dog show next week so it was helpful to get him out to a similar venue and see how he would behave, before throwing him to the lions :-)))  

WELL, it was an OMG moment for me. 

In "his" element he was so, so comfortable.  He trotted around that ring like a veteran.  Not a concern in the world except how to look beautiful and to stare at me--maybe get a french fry!  Every time I stopped he stood perfectly 4-square and just watched my hand.  I could manipulate his head or a foot with just a movement of my hand or step back and he just stood perfectly still.   He never attempted to sit down (which didn't surprise me as he never has done the automatic 'sit down' for a treat and when I hand out treats at home and say "sit" everybody else sits down but him and he always got the treat anyway :-)))  and there isn't much call for "sitting" in the showring anyway).  So, you couldn't have wiped the smile off my face I was so pleased.  Of course, there are other elements to showing so I did have to bend down to touch him, stack him manually, check his bite and his bits.  He didn't quite know what I was up to but as long as a judge can see his teeth and bite at this point I'll be happy.  So that was the extent of his "learning curve".  I know, pretty flat for some of you but for my purposes it peaked.  I don't know that I actually even said anything to him?  Maybe "stand, stay" when we stopped but there was nothing that needed to be said!

 

Bear was put away back in the x-pen and he did not like that one bit.  Up next was goofy guy Lick-Lick.  First he didn't want to go into the ring onto the mats.  It only took him a few seconds to  get over that but he just notices everything -- cement floor > black mats>strange dog in ring>strange dog barking in next ring>strange dog barking outside of ring>people throwing toys>people throwing food............and it goes on and on.  He isn't worried about it and didn't bark at all but just that he has to stop and notice it.  Finally after 15 minutes or so I had his full attention.  I practiced his sits and downs, a little trotting and healing.  As they all are--he is very clever.  He quickly picked up on new commands and tricks.  He had a few admirers that were in the ring with us and he met a few other dogs, got fed real dog treats from other people.  We had a little playtime in the ring as well.   There were some ill-behaved dogs in the ring beside us and he noticed them but gave them no notice after a few seconds.  It is hard for the puppies at these clubs when they spot and obviously out-of-control dog (because the owner cannot control their dog)  and we humans are asking our puppies to ignore it.  That really goes against their self-preservation instincts and that is when it is really important for their owner to step up to the plate and show the puppy that not only are you working with him in his best interests but that you are also aware of these dangers and that he can trust you tp take control of the situation.  You want to place yourself between your puppy and the out-of-control dog and try to control the situation as best as you can.  Walking away, or retreating, is not showing your puppy that he can count on you to control his environment.   

 

Last up was Zigue and he has had some ring experience, is laid-back about everything so we just played in the ring, taught him some formal obedience stuff, and ate french fries.  He had a great time.

 

Susan Buttivant
Chaparral Kennels, est. 1985
Petits Bassets Griffons Vendeens & Bergers des Pyrenees
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