Journey and I have had a very busy spring. We have attended so many classes and spent a lot of time practicing. It will be nice to relax a little more now and maybe have a lazy summer.
Journey was in his first UKC Conformation show in April 2011 on the 9th and 10th. Rhonda McMahon, his breeder helped me work with him and showed him for me in his first show. It was in St. Helens, Oregon. Over the two days - in four shows, he got 3 First Place, 3 Best Male, 1 Second. 1 Reserve Winner and 1 Best of Winners. His total points were 85. It was very exciting for us.
At the same time we were working on his obedience training. I was concerned that I had not been able to work with him as much as I should have due to my pesky pinched sciatic nerve problem. Then on April 23, we lost our most wonderful lead dog, Spirit, at the age of 14. We are still missing our boy so much - most of all Quest and I have some very hard times dealing with our loss.
On June 4th and 5th Journey was in his second show in Chehalis Washington. Once again he got 3 First place; 3 Best Male; 1 Second place with 1 Reserve. What an exciting weekend! They tell us that his points now total 160, so although we have not yet received Journey's Certificate, everyone tells us he is a Champion now.
On Tuesday the 7th Journey had his CGC Test. That is the AKC (American Kennel Club) Canine Good Citizen test. We arrived at the training facility at about 8:45 AM. There were about 12 dogs being tested. They were from several different classes. A few of the dogs were from our class. Journey was excited, but he knew what he was supposed to do and I had high hopes.
There were 10 tests. (1) Allow a friendly stranger to approach and speak to the handler in a natural, everyday situation. No problem.
(2) Allow a friendly stranger to pet the dog. No problem.
(3) The dog will welcome being groomed and examined and will allow someone to do so. This is so that a veterinarian, groomer or friend of the owner is able to handle the dog. No problem.
(4) Out for a walk, walking on a loose lead. I can't really say "no problem" on this one, but with a little verbal reminding, we managed to do this. I attribute our success in this to abandoning all the various chain collars and using the "Easy Walker" harness. It is a wonderful and kind tool. It has worked like a charm on Journey. Since the lead attachment link is on his chest, if he tried to pull ahead of me, it turned him around facing me so I could remind him where he belonged. I do not need to worry about damage to his throat, which according to many veterinarians, is not that uncommon. I have used choke chains and even a prong collar on other dogs and have never had such quick success as with this harness. AKC allows the use of this harness in the CGC test.
(5) Walking through a crowd. No problem.
(6) Sit and down on command and stay in place as the handler walks away, about 20 feet.. No problem, Journey is very strong on this one!
(7) Coming when called. The dog will come when called by the handler. The handler will walk 10 feet from the dog, turn to face the dog, and call the dog. No problem!
(8) Reaction to another dog. To demonstrate that the dog can behave politely around other dogs, two handlers and their dogs approach each other from a distance of about 20 feet, stop, shake hands and exchange pleasantries, and continue on for about 10 feet. I was not feeling real secure on this one as Journey was likely to want to play. However, since the other dog was a "no nonsence" kind of dog, that he didn't know, it went fine.
(9) Reaction to distraction - to demonstrate the dog is confident when faced with common distracting situations. The evaluator dropped a box near us. Then someone rolled a crate dolly past us. Someone passed us on crutches. Journey looked at each of them, but he was not disturbed.
(10) Supervised separation. This test demonstrates that a dog can be left with a trusted person, if necessary, and will maintain training and good manners. The evaluator will say something like, "Would you like me to watch your dog?" You hand them the leash and then you leave, going out of sight for three minutes. HE DID IT and I am very proud of him. He did jump up to greet me when I first came back in sight, but the evaluator told me to go back a few feet, remind him to sit, and approach once more. I did so, and he remained sitting this time.
Yippee! That's my boy and he did it all in four days. He is 9 months old:
Champion Surefire Far & Away of Highland Myst, CGC (Journey)
Now we are just concentrating on our Nose Sport class. All three dogs are doing that class and it sure is fun. Our dogs find several different scents: most recently we are using vanilla and anise. It really doesn't matter what we use though. We just give them a whiff of it and tell them to find it. They go right to it. It was funny, last Saturday we tried just laying the article in plain sight, on a table and that was the most difficult. They are so used to the item being hidden, it surprised them to have it in sight. They are wise to us now though. We also started using gloves. We each had a set and first we handled them, then the instructor hid one glove. We let them smell the other one and they took off looking for the hidden one. This hide really seemed fun to them. Quest especially liked it. He nosed the glove when he found it, but when I asked him for a better "alert", he grabbed the glove and threw it at me. What a character!
We also introduced them to finding and retrieving the phone for us. Some people were also teaching the TV remote. I decided to wait a while on that one as Journey already chewed on my remote a little - not that long ago. We are doing outdoor hunts and car searches.
In our class we have a couple mixed breed dogs, an Irish Setter, a Mastiff and 5 Shepherds. The dogs are all good at this. Mainly it is a matter of them not being distracted, so on that basis, some are better than others. But as far as finding the scents, it is easy for any of them.
When we first began the other Nose work class it was really dragged it out and took forever to progress from one thing to the next. We have not found one dog that needed that much time to pick up on it. Even the puppies catch up in no time. Also, we have all the dogs in the back part of the big room and there is no issue with the dog that is working. We don't even have them in crates. They all love this sport so much they are totally focused on what they are doing. Initially we dropped out of the K9 Nosework class because of the odor they were using (Birch). Our veterinarians, (five of them) told us it was a dangerous substance to handle and not healthy for our dogs to inhale. The classes were also very expensive. This class suits us better as we have found more practical uses for what the dogs are learning. I really can use the help finding the phone, or my keys and maybe someday even the remote (once I learn to trust Journey with it). We also appreciate the opportunity to have our dogs in a learning environment that is teaching them more about socialization and working with distractions. We will not be trialing or titling but the worry over the dangers with the scent that they were using was just too much of a concern with our group. So if anyone wants to do nose sports and there is not a club or class near you, just form your own. It is fun! Our group is always thinking of new things we want to try.
We are looking forward to a happy summer of camping, hiking and swimming.
"Oh boy, it's summer, let's go swimming.".
