Thursday, July 31, 2008

Handling

Bug and I went to Handling class last night and it was GREAT!! Yes, it’s true. Kerry (the instructor) is awesome. There were more than 10 dogs there last night and Kerry really kept everyone moving as well as giving everyone individual pointers that were helpful.

Bug was MUCH happier last night than the previous time we attended. Is this because I was less stressed about class? or because there were many other handler/dogs, including some other novice people? Who knows.

Kerry told me that with herding dogs it is mostly about the head and ears so to try and get Bug all big eared and full of expression. Bug was up on the table 3 or 4 times and by the 2nd time Kerry had trained *me* well enough that I was able to set Bug up to succeed. Yay!

Kerry made class fun enough that I will definitely attend again. Blue mentioned a while ago that she is teaching Iris an “ears” cue for photos – this would come in SO handy in the show ring. Holly and Traci – have you ever considered putting lovely pricked ears on cue for your cardis?

3 comments:

Cat, Tessie, & Strata said...

Told youuuu! ;)

We typically don't teach the Shelties to do ears on cue, but we DO reward lavishly for putting their ears up at strange sounds we make. That way when we make a little kissy noise in the ring they perk right up, because "the game is on"!

manymuddypaws said...

I had to train Wicca to hold her tail properly :o) She has a bit of a husky tail (to add to her slightly roached topline) I clickered her to lower her tail- worked great. I imagine it would be pretty straight forward to clicker an "alert" Have fun!

Traci said...

I usually just say something to them... their name, or make a noise, and I can *generally* get them to pick their ears up... but I've seen some that you'd need a crane to pick them up! :( I've heard people say "ears" too... I think it's pretty much whatever your comfortable with....