Entering Your Collie Into An Obedience Competition



Posted: Wednesday, July 01, 2009

by
GreatDogSite.com

If you would like to participate in any type of dog competition with your Collie, obedience competitions are one of the best areas to consider. Collies are oftentimes excellent at obedience trials because of their intelligent and eager to please nature.

If you wish to enter your Collie into an obedience trail, start basic obedience training and socialization in the beginning, while the dog is still young. While a Collie will usually master commands with relative ease, it is very important that you consider their natural fears and temperament tendencies prior to putting them into a ring.

Collies do not like sudden, loud noises and can exhibit a skittishness around strangers. To curb these things, you need to make sure the dog is prepared before you enter them into a competition. Begin with early socialization, bring your Collie around other dogs and people to help him or her gain a sense of comfort, this will help the dog know how to act in a show environment. It is also a good idea to get your Collie used to noisy situations, though it might seem a show is a quiet event, another dog might bark or act out of hand. As a responsible owner, you want to ensure your dog will behave in an appropriate manner in these types of circumstances.

During an obedience competition, your Collie will be competing in one of three different categories: novice, open or utility. According to the American Kennel Club guidelines and regulations, there will be the following expected at each level:

Novice: For a dog just beginning in obedience competitions:

Heel on a lead and the figure eight: this will show whether your dog has learned to watch you and adjust to stay in pace with you.

Heel Free: this portion is done off a lead.

Stand for Examining: this is of great benefit for dogs who need hands-on care from a veterinarian.

Recalling: this gives the owner/handler the ability to call a dog and to make sure to illicit an immediate response at all times.

The Long Sit: a 1-minute event that allows handlers to showcase control over the dog when a visitor comes to their home.

The Long Down: a 3-minute trail in which the dog must remain in a laying down or down position.

Open: This is a second-level competition which contains more complicated exercises and some commands are given through hand signals. These exercises include the following:

Heel free and the figure eight: the same as with the novice level, but done off lead.

Drop on recall: this can be a lifesaving command since it provides the handler control in a potentially dangerous occurrence.

Retrieve on flat: throwing a dumbbell for the dog to retrieve, present at your feet and give up on command, and finish on command.

Retrieve over high jump: jumping over an obstacle equal in height to the dog.

The broad jump: the dog is required to jump an area equal to two times the height of the high jump.

The long sit: (3 minutes) similar to the Novice, but position must be held for a longer length of time with owner/handler out of sight.

The long down: (5 minutes) dog must remain in a down position for a period of 5 minutes.

Utility: third and highest level in dog obedience competition. Exercises in this competition include:

The signal exercise: this showcases the dogs ability to interpret and correctly respond to the owners commands of sit, come, stay and lie down. No voice commands are allowed, only hand signaling is used.

Scent discrimination: this shows off the dogs ability to find the handlers scent when an article of clothing or material is hidden among a pile of things.

The moving stand and examination: the Collie must heel, stand still and stay as instructed by the handler, as the handler moves away. The dog must sit and stay, allow a judge to examine it and then return to handler upon command.

The directed jumping exercise: the dog must be directed to go away from the owner/handler, turn and sit down. Then, the Collie must clear the jumps the handler directs and return quickly to the trainer.

This article was written by John Jackson and has been contributed by http://www.greatdogsite.com. For more information on the Collie, please visit our page http://www.greatdogsite.com/breeds/details/Collie/.
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