Trust your dog

Trusting your dog is an important rule in the field.  You may think you know where the bird is, but your dog knows where the bird is.  You may think you must guide the dog to cover the field, but the intelligent dog will understand where the birds most likely are and will give those places multiple looks from different angles.

Trust extends also to how you approach your dog when he's in repose.  Here's an example of a handler who hoovered over her dog.  She thought the little guy would break and race to the downed bird.  With a little urging, she stood up straight, and guess what?  The dog (who's been participating in Rally events, and so is no tyro when it comes to obedience) sat.  Good boy!

Don't you trust me?

Handler grasps the collar and looms over the dog.   

Ok, already.  I'll stay!

Doesn't this look better?  A handler standing straight, trusting her dog.  Her posture says  I'm in control.  Pup is eager and attentive.  

Rally 3

I signed Larsen up for Rally. He's now entering into Rally Excellent. The requirements include a bit more polish and also some advanced things like a moving halt. A moving halt begins with the dog walking at heel. You command "halt" while you maintain your pace. The dog stops and you keep walking.

Another more advanced item, which is a bit gimmacky, is walking backwards. I will teach that to Larsen since that is part of the requirements, but it is not high on our obedience list.

The main purpose for the additional rally classes is simply to keep the discipline of our training going during the hot summer months.

Excellent!

Statesman's Tiz Now Tiz Then CGC RN RA and now RE, or Rally Excellent.

MaryAnne and Chance (the aforementioned TNT) went to Myrtle Beach, SC for this one. The duo joined up with Jamie and Archer, who also added a Rally Advanced leg under his belt.

Rally Excellent is off-lead, of course. The dog zig-zags with the handler through at least 15 stations. The handler can give verbal commands but may not pat his or her leg or clap or give non-oral encouragement.

The course will have two jumps (broad jump, high jump, or bar jump), which is not a challenge but a treat for a Welshie, and the dog has to "honor" another dog that has been placed inside the course for that very purpose. The dog must also serve as an honor dog and stay in the down position while another dog runs the course.

Chance is a happy, smart, and biddable dog and MaryAnne has paid her dues with him as well. MaryAnne said that Chance is a more interested in agility and the field than in Rally, but that being as kind-hearted as he is, he knows that MaryAnne likes Rally and he does his best.

Congratulations to our new RE, TNT Chance.




This is my new ribbon.





So what if it is a rainbow?



Me and MaryAnne got this together and it's ours.

Beam me up

Stufield's Captain of the Enterprise ("Archer") earned his Champion ("CH") and Rally Advance ("RA") titles on Sunday, April 11.

Archer earned a yellow ribbon by placing 3rd in his RA, which is a fine accomplishment. In Rally Advance, exercises are performed off-leash; there are 12-17 stations with no more than seven stationary exercises; and there is a jump and calling your dog to the front (rather than to the traditional heel position).

Archer won his ribbon by demonstrating off-lead obedience and control. He also demonstrated "a sense of teamwork between the dog and handler both during the numbered exercises and between the exercise signs." (AKC 2011)

In earning his Champion conformation designation, and over his career, Archer has won two "Major" events (which are determined by the number of dogs that he beats in the show ring) and accumulated at least 15 points (also determined by the number of dogs that he beats, even if he himself ultimately finishes behind some other dog in the breed).

Larsen and Archer are 1/2 brothers, with Mazie (Idlewild's Mazie Morning Dew) as the dam for both dogs. Archer's sire is Bentcroft Statesman's Emblem ("Felix").

Jamie handled Archer in the Rally ring. Congratulations to the team.

Archer focuses on Jamie during his third-place run for his Rally Advanced title.

Sometimes ok is good enough

Larsen squeaked through to his Rally Advanced title by posting a score of 72. The minimum passing score is 70, so the way he looked at it, he left two points on the table.

He was a normal happy spaniel walking into the ring, but as soon as our turn started, he dropped his nose and started to quarter. I'm so very sorry to interrupt your self-hunting escapade, little prince, but if it is not too terribly much of an inconvenience, would you mind hupping beside me?

We went around the course and I pulled out every trick I could to get him to pay attention to me with little success. But, we ultimately finished, got criticized by Elaine the ring steward for something (no day at Rally would be complete without it) and got our green qualifying ribbon.


Guess which one is our registration number.



I told you it was in the bag.

Weekend plan

Saturday, Larsen and I go for a Rally Advanced title. If I'm calm and clear, the little dog will follow my lead and we'll walk off with that one. On Sunday, a reward of sorts, with some hunting practice at JL Lester WMA. I've got six chukar with Larsen's name on them. It will be cold, wet, but mostly sunny and should be a rewarding day.

Rally and Hunting

Larsen is set for his try at a Rally Advanced title on Saturday. We've also signed up for Rally on Sunday. Instead, we will go to a hunt-test training day at JL Lester, hopefully with an RA ribbon in hand.

The little dog has not been feeling well. Some sort of GI upset. I've kept him quiet and crated this week. We will take a day-by-day review as to whether anything happens this weekend. Larsen is young and fundamentally healthy so he should be fine. All of this has cut into our Rally practice time, but with the little that he has done, he is performing nicely.

I've taken some time this week to look at the Rally Advanced stations to make sure we understand how they work. We will limit our exercises to those that we are not used to. It's more important for me to understand how the stations work and to get my own timing down, since he gears his actions off of me.

Why Rally

Years ago I poo-poo'd the idea of rally, but I really believe it is an excellent intro to communicating/developing a language with your dog.

Susan R., an accomplished trainer, breeder, and owner of WSSs.

I thought I'd give a novice's insight as to the value of Rally. 

Compared to many of the other activities - - conformation, obedience, agility, tracking, HT - - Rally seems to have a more forgiving on-ramp for someone new.  The difficulty levels may be non-linear.  Entry is easy but finishing a "Rally Excellent" is a genuine accomplishment.

By giving the novice handler a forgiving on-ramp, Rally gets dog & handler into the ring and in a "competition" without the looming prospect of an automatic and discouraging NQ waiting at the finish, as would be the case with some of the other activities. 

In RN and RA, you get used to working with your dog in front of people and under a type of competitive pressure.  You get through the feeling of complete amnesia that you can get the moment you step into the ring in a real, non-practice situation. 

Rally gives you a chance to learn focus and timing in a competitive situation, which I guess is communication, since you have to give a command when the dog is ready for it.

There's also the matter of practice, since nothing gets you into the back yard for some work around the orange cones faster than thinking about an upcoming event you've signed up for. 

As for the HT crossover, I'll sometimes take 2 of my Rally cones to the field near the house.  We stand at one cone.  I flip the dummy toward the other, which is all of six feet away.  Then I tell Larsen  to fetch.  The cones are there for nothing.  But I think Larsen thinks "I know how to do this" since it is just another cone-type exercise.  He is able to fetch the dummy without getting distracted by what is going on in the big field.  

Those of you who breed WSSs may find families asking for suggestions of what to do with the little dog.  Rally is a wonderful entry point for a kid who wants to do something with his or her new dog.

Wirehaired Viszla

Gundog breeds are among the most popular in America.  But that popularity is misleading because it is almost strictly limited to the Labrador Retriever (rank #1 in 2009) and Golden Retriever (#4).  The Lab has held the #1 position for the past 19 years.  English Springer Spaniels (#29), Brittanys (#30), Weimaraners (#31) and Vizslas (#42) form a nice mid-range cluster, but other gundogs start to move into the "rare breed" category. 

The rarity of many types of gundogs in American households is our national loss.  These breeds have wonderful class and elan, intelligence and friendliness and they deserve greater popularity.

One rarer breed that deserves some attention is the wirehaired Vizsla.

A Vizsla is a hunting dog of eastern European (Hungary) origins.  The Vizsla's wirehaired cousin is of recent vintage - - about the 1930s.  According to the AKC, the wirehaired Vizsla was developed as a cross between the Vizsla and the German Wirehaired Pointer.  (AKC WV)  The goal was go breed the great hunting traits of the Vizsla with the tougher and bristlier coat of the GWP (an equally fine hunting dog).  The AKC said that by 1944 60 WVs were registered in the Vizsla Klub Stud book.  By 2008, only somewhat more than 500 WVs had ever been registered in the aggregate with NAVDHA (an organization in the U.S. for pointing dogs) since 1986.

We ran across one of these creatures at a recent Rally and Conformation competition in Atlanta recently.  We can report that the little female pictured below is a handsome blonde and about as sweet, gentle, and affectionate as any dog at show, and possibly on the planet as well. 

This little girl is named "Tipsy."  According to her owners, she is the first WV ever entered in Rally in the U.S.  Tipsy looks to be about 20 inches at the whithers and maybe 45 or so pounds.  A nice handy-sized dog with an intelligent and honest face.  And did we mention her sweet dispostion? 

Let's hope to see more of these dogs around.

UKC Ch Palomia's Bahama Mama CGC ("Tipsy")

Owners, Susan Wilson & Nancy Edmunds.  Handler, Susan Wilson.

Rally at the WSSCA Regionals

The Dogwood chapter of WSSCA is sponsoring WSS Regionals in Atlanta this weekend.  Larsen and I are participating in Rally, as is Larsen's breeder, Susan W. and many others.  There are over 70 dogs entered in conformation on Saturday and Sunday of this weekend.

Today, Larsen got his first leg in a Rally Advanced title, scoring an 82, and basically being a good little dog throughout the obstacle course.

Friends MaryAnne, Jamie, and Susan also locked on some qualifying scores, with MaryAnne's Chance copping a 96 or something along those lines in Rally Excellent.

Tatum shares Susan's pleasure with her performance in Rally  Novice.

Donna and Logan finished with qualifying scores in Rally Advanced and Rally Excellent.  Logan earned a Rally Championship title for his work.

 
MaryAnne and Chance engage in a little horseplay before their turn.  Chance earned a Rally Excellent leg with a score of 96.

Larsen seems to be studying the scoreboard as he waits his turn in the Rally competition.  Larsen earned an 83 and his first qualifying leg in Rally Advanced.
 

Back to school

Larsen is BDOC.

 
We cut out of work and hot-footed it to Rally Class.

Nothing new for Larsen, really.  Just signed him up to get him ino the hustle and bustle of other dogs, smells, and commands.  We both really enjoy it.  He likes getting commanded hither and yon.  It makes him concentrate.  He has to puzzle a few things out.  What do they say about Welshies?  They need a job?  Boy is that ever true.

Rally novice title

Larsen earned three legs and his Rally Novice title in the Cherokee Rose Cluster on August 27-29.  I was able to update his profile on the Pedigree Engine.  He did a nice job that weekend. 

Scenes from the weekend

This must be the place.

Meghen prepares one of her charges.

Showtime.

Over at Rally, contestants step off the course.

MaryAnne and Chance wait patiently.

It's our turn!

Chance scores a passing grade and earns an advanced Rally leg.

Kim enjoys a lighter moment in the Boykin ring.

Back to business.

A fun, but long weekend.

Surprising finish

Larsen placed 3rd in Rally Novice A to earn his third leg and his RN title.

I had to grab my reading glasses to be sure that the score, 83, was a qualifier, and not a 63, a non-qualifier. 

Larsen did pretty well along the whole course until the figure 8 near the end.  At that point, he became interested in something far away.  I rolled a hand grenade into the middle of his head by asking "is that Aki"?  Larsen came right back from wherever he was and looked around with great interest to see if he could locate Aki.  Of course, he could not, but it got his attention back to me, we completed the figure 8, and went about our merry way on the course.

It wasn't just Larsen with his head in the clouds. The judge took a minute to explain to me several missteps that I had made that brought Larsen's score down.  Sorry Larsen!

Due to the timing of the Rally competition, I missed the WSS conformation.  I caught the Boykins, though.  Here is Susan W. in the ring with Ritz.

 

Susan fusses over Ritz in the conformation competition.

Gentleman's C

Larsen earned his second Rally Novice A leg on Saturday, scoring a gentleman's C of 74 (a 70 is required to qualify). 

In my opinion, he did fine until we got to the far end of the room, near the gallery.  Larsen broke away a few steps, put his nose over the fence and started air scenting.  What he was after, I haven't the faintest idea.   It wasn't fried chicken or other food, he's smelled that before.  Sue R. thought it may have been a bitch in heat.  Another contested later said that someone popped open one of the doors to the arena and he may have been smelling the outdoor air that wafted in.  Whatever it was, it left me flat-footed and unprepared and made him seem like a disobedient dog.

We finally got back on track, finished a very tricky course, and earned the green qualifying ribbon. 

We are heading back today, Sunday, for our try at the third and final leg.

The Dogwood WSS club members prepare their dogs for the ring.

Got a leg

Larsen finished in 4th place in Rally Novice this morning to earn his first leg (of 3) toward a Rally Novice title.  He might have finished higher but for operator error.  It turns out I let the leash drag, which looks sloppy (according to the judge) and so nicks you a point.

Larsen was his usual happy self, and of course beside himself when he saw Susan W.  But when he went into the ring his head and tail droopped, which the judge pointed out to me.  Was he nervous?  But once we got going, both of us forgot all about it.  He basically stuck next to me when I told him to heel and sat near me when I told him to sit.  That is all there really is to Rally Novice.

MaryAnne and Chance earned another leg in their quest for the more advanced Rally Excellent title.  Chance was totally distracted in the ring for some reason, but he did what MaryAnne asked and looked good doing it.  Little Chance has filled out and is a nice looking dog.

Larsen relaxes in the hallway after returning home from his Rally outing.

 
Chance earns another leg toward his Rally Excellent title.

Rally-O this weekend

Tomorrow and this weekend Larsen and I will participate in Rally Novice A.

Rally is a watered-down version of Obedience. In Rally, dog & handler complete an enclosed obstacle course.  (In the Atlanta show, the course is indoors and marked off by a low gate.)  The obstacles are traffic cones with road signs that tell you and the dog to do something.

In the sign below, the handler and dog are asked to (1) come to a halt; (2) hup or sit; (3) go into a down position; and then (4) get up, come to heal heel and proceed to the next station.

I have a sneaking suspicion that the Novice A level will have lots of wiggly little puppies, but, what the heck, that is where we belong, really.  We are doing our best and will go for a passing score.

Larsen knows how to zig-zag around the pylons.  He knows how to hup and heal heel.  He's not that great on the "stand" command because we haven't practiced it much.  So it will boil down to whether he gets distracted and whether there are some difficult requests - -  asking him to play the piano, for example - - in the field.

A wonderful update to the day

Little Chance got a 96, a win (that is, a first-place finish), and the completion of his Rally Novice A.  It's not entirely clear at this time who else earned a Rally leg, and we will be congratulating those winners, but right now, this is Chance's day in the sun - - and on the couch.  MaryAnne says that Chance is absolutely conked out from the stress.

This Chance is a sure thing

Chance surveys the garden on a snowy Atlanta morning.

On the first day of the Atlanta dog show, Chance B. pulled in a 2nd place finish in his first-ever Rally (Novice A). His 2nd-place run gave the little scamp his first leg in a Rally title. According to his sidekick, MaryAnne, Chance has taken a moment to admire his trophy, a bone-shaped squeaky toy.