go backThe end. Craziness in May: Shows, Training and Exams
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22.05.2006
Has my little Wolfdog lady been tamed? Well, she has never been wild. I have never had too much trouble with her so I really cannot say anything bad about her. Our main point has been achieved. My doggy is now a friendly lady, socialized and even social. She is pretty obedient (although not completely;) and a little spoiled. I think she has always been treated a little more leniently. How can you scold such delicate being? There are some things that have to be corrected. Beti runs to other dogs and eats pooh in the forest. But these are only little sins.:)
Generally, I let her do many more things than I do to Amber, but…I can do that because I know that everything is always under control. Everyone has their own way of handling a Wolfdog. Whose is the best? There are no universal rules. Everything depends on the character, temperament and both, the handler’s and the dog’s, consistence. I make my rules clear – no destroying, no chance to learn bad habits. I reward my dogs for their good behavior as often as possible, make them depend on me always, I work on their skills and steer their intelligence. All that requires that I am really consistent and definite, but... it really pays off! I don’t have too much problems with my Wolfdogs. They never run away, they are neither cowardly nor aggressive, they cannot live without me and they live the real dog life.:)
With this short summary and Beti’s passed exam I am closing this chapter. My work is done.
It has to be said that Czech Wolfdogs are not special dogs
for Theraphy. If you really want to work at the best way and safety - just work with a Retiever.
21.05.2006
Beti still works very well I would say...;) We went to Bydgoszcz to take an exam. It was the first exam in Beti’s short life and… it went great. This was our first and the most important exam. It says whether your dog is presupposed to be a Therapeutic Dog. Beti passed the exam for grade perfect in puppy class!!! She got 69 out of 72 points. I will write about exercises in details in Beti’s training chapter. To sum it up, there were some easy obedience exercises, two special exercises for example a dog’s reaction to a disabled person and two tricks were to be presented. The relationship between a dog and a handler and how they react in different situations were also graded.
Despite the fact that there were many new dogs Beti established a good contact with me and worked really well. She focused on given tasks, did her tricks perfectly, and got maximal score for obedience. The thing we got fewer points for was reaction to a preson with crutches. As long as he walked or stood everything was fine, but Beti got scared when he started waving with a crutch above his head. Well, we know what we have to work on…
I am proud of Beti. She showed class on her level – the tasks were not too difficult. My dog’s day was really nice, both before and after the exam. She played with dogs and at the end of the day we visited Basta.:)))
20.05.2006
We spent the morning...at school! Oh, no don’t think that Beti went back to her baby dog school. We went to children school. The Children’s Day is already over and now there will be even more parties. This was the first time Beti was in such a big group of children. There were also loud speakers, balloons and other attractions… Everything went well, fortunately. Beti was calm and was happy even when people patted her all the time. She also joyfully ate food of children’s hands. But she was really pleased when her friends, Ciacho and Ax, came. The dogs made a boxing show on a lawn.:)
Beti learnt to walk in a tunnel at the party. I can tell you that she simply is crazy about walking in a tunnel! She wasn’t interested in anything else!
In the evening we went to swim in a lake. A quick swim and we went to sleep before an exam.
16.05.2006
A riot again.;) Is it because of the weather, flies or is my dog broken? She is awfully moody and the exams are very soon… Beti doesn’t want to retrieve any more, she doesn’t heel. She simply wants nothing. OK, we shall see…
14.05.2006
For our Sunday class we went to a kennel. Amber and Beti visited…Amon! Our dog got impressive and large, but he still behaves like a puppy. He is a big brown kid.:) He still gets on well with Amber, and plays joyfully with Beti. Amon doesn’t fight with other dogs, because they still consider him a puppy.
Amon will be a YEAR OLD this month!!!
The young guy prepared very well to the heat and left his coat in a closet. During the walk Amber, Beti and Amon didn’t play as they used to when Amon lived with us. Amon did run and play, but he belonged to another pack. I guess it’s time he visited us again for longer.:)
Being with the two pranksters Beti seemed to be an amazingly calm dog. You were able to see her delicacy and friendly character (friendly in a Wolfodg way;) at a first glance. It’s so good to have a she dog…:)))
13.05.2006
Another meeting and we go to Bydgoszcz again.:) This time because of the high temperature Amber was in a classroom with us all the time. Usually, he was in a car most of the time so that Beti could cope with new situations on her own. Beti was happy at first to see the whole pack together. But she quickly ran to her mates.:)
If a person who doesn’t know Wolfdogs sees them at classes they may think that the breed is absolutely quiet not to say lazy.;) What else could one think seeing two dogs sleeping the whole weekend (5 to 11 hours!) with breaks of course… The only way to let people see the real Wolfdog behavior is to invite them for a walk.
On Saturday we had a perfect break. We took Fredi, a Labrador retriever, for a swim.:))) There was a beautiful pond almost downtown. The dogs were able to cool down, but were not allowed to run loose.:( But even on a leash Beti and Fredi had a World Championship in retrieving. Beti won.:) Fredi was exhausted unlike Beti! Amber didn’t play in the stupid puppy games.;) At the end Fredi showed what a gentleman he was and let Beti get out of the water on his back. You will soon see in a gallery.
There was an amazingly beautiful stone on the shore so we took some great pictures of our dogs at the stone.:)
In the evenings my little cousins attacked the dogs, this time Beti was the main object. For Beti the year of constantly meeting the little cousins is a great thing. The kids have a lot of fun, but they also break some barriers and fears. For Beti it’s great education she will remember her whole life. This time Beti was a little hungry (you should remember – she eats as much as she works for) so she worked with little Aga fantastically. Changing positions, calling, barking – all demanded by a 5-year old girl.:)))
In the end the usual picture taking. Aga, our Little Red Ridding Hood, with sleeping Wolfdogs.
11.05.2006
We met a new friend – a black Flat Coated Retriever. We will go to school with him until the end of the year. A class with two dogs was amazing. The dog is an adult, but he conformed to Beti right away and imitated her in everything.:) Beti lay down, he did too. Beti drank, so did he. It was really funny. At the beginning the dogs made a short show, playing and pushing. Everybody liked it very much. Then they worked separately, but still looked at each other. If one of them got something good the other one wanted too.
As far as learning at home I don’t introduce new things for now. We now still work on the old tricks so that Beti doesn’t confuse them. I try to make sets of tasks, for example open the cupboard, give me the bowl, and close the cupboard.
Amber and Beti are becoming more and more coordinated couple. You should see them play! Now that Beti is older Amber plays with her more willingly. They play chasing (of course!), tug of war and digging races, but Beti’s favorite game is…walking Amber.:)))
Beti takes a leash in her mouth and walks her dog.;) (when Amber is on a leash) And the poor little Amber has to listen to her.:)
It still seems to me that Beti knows so little and we will have 3 exams within a month… How will we make it?!
10.05.2006
We started the day from relaxing w little bit in...water.:) We went to swim in a lake for an hour. This is where Beti feels really well. She had a lot of fun in the water! She simply loves it! She is amazingly happy. She twirls in water and retrieves sticks from the water (but she doesn’t always give them back) so many times that I am already bored. She even starts making Amber like it. I can’t even believe it. They play like two crazy puppies.
Amber swam again!!! I think he is beginning to like it.:) It is wonderful to watch Amber discover his new passion, a new game. Beti loves water because she plays with Labradors a lot.;) Whenever she sees water she runs into it quickly and…jumps into it right away.
I try to use this situation, as any other, to teach Beti something. The most obvious thing is retrieving from water. Beti absolutely loves it, I don’t even have to teach her. But I have to work so that she brings the sticks back. Beti is usually no longer interested when a stick is on the shore. This is where my part begins. I have to make her interested in the stick at a certain moment so that she comes to me with it. Food works here, but another stick is not too good because she leaves the first one.
We trained a little after the fun. It’s good to go to a different place to train from time to time. Dogs work in a different way, they are more distracted, but they need such practice before competitions or exams. Why do you train if not to check what your dog can do? And how can you know whether your dog really knows all that you taught it or it does it only when it is in a familiar place?
After the swim the dogs trained much better. Amber has so much energy as if he was a puppy. Beti had some exercise too. We had to run away because there were a lot of flies.
09.05.2006
The rebellion is still on! The awful flies don’t help me. They only make training more difficult.:( The PT class was a tragedy. Beti kept running away from a circle in order to lie down in grass. She heeled really slow and when she stayed the flies bit her… She wasn’t too interested in retrieving. Everything was wrong. We soon gave up. When such things happen I usually feed the dogs during walks and training. No bowl in the house!
08.05.2006
My dog had a bad day today.;) She didn’t want anything. She was completely deaf during walk. It was even worse at training. I was completely broken when I saw her heel. To make me a little happier she did a square beautifully from the distance of 10 meters! Well, well, we are slowly beginning class 1, really.:)
Amber was not moody at all and trained beautifully.:) We have been working on the rules of class 2 of Obedience. What’s new here? First of all, little square has to be done from the distance of 25 meters (not 15) and with a “stop” on the way. Next, “come” with “lie down” on the way. Directed retrieve – there are two objects and the dog has to retrieve the one that you tell it to, the left or the right one. We have a problem with this exercise. Probably we have practiced too short and I think Amber will not do it well at a competition. High retrieve is Amber’s favorite exercise.:) These are all the difficult things.
We have been training all that for a month. We still have one more month left. It’s not too long, but there will be another competition and we can always improve our score.;) I was supposed to write about Beti and I did write about Amber.:) Maybe Beti will show her best at PT training tomorrow.
06.05.2006
On a show in Czech there are always some new Wolfdogs to look at. This time almost all Wolfdogs were grey and my dogs looked as if they came from the Moon.;) Daphne and her family came too.:) Beti and Daphne don’t get on well. Beti now shows her moodiness, I will not like everybody! But Amber made up for all that.:)))
Beti feels very well in a ring and at shows.:) She got used to the ring, focused on her task very nicely and stood still. Standing still used to be a problem for her. I have always taught her to sit if she wants to get food. So she knows that when she comes she has to sit and suddenly she is supposed to stand! It was a little complicated, but we are getting better…;) This was Beti’s another Exceptionally Promising grade. The second from a Czech judge.:)
05.05.2006
Recently if it’s the weekend it means we are going somewhere.;) One more time a long way to Czech with a stop for a swim in Twardogóra.:) This time Beti didn’t think too much. One big jump and there she was in the water.:))) She swam to get sticks with Pirat. She even made Amber swim once. I was shocked!;)
The relationships in our pack are a little tense. Trejsi is having her difficult days and everything bothers her. The young Pirat defends her. However, they played a little and ran together…
When we drive my dogs either sleep or look around. Amber watches more, Beti generally sleeps. In a hotel Beti was toady to a bar tender. She hoped she would be able to beg for something good…
03.05.2006
After a long rainy weekend at the beginning of May in Poznań we ran away to Bydgoszcz. As every year we began May at a dog show in Bydgoszcz. The weather was gorgeous (at least the first part of the day;). Crowds of people, noise, loud music, but nothing could distract my doggie. She was perfectly calm. She only cried when Amber went to the ring. In the ring Beti also behaved as she should. She showed her teeth and licked the hands of the judge for which she heard “What a nice puppy”.:) I think that Beti got to like shows.:)))
There were a lot of Wolfdogs. There was a big group from Polski Dwór and Peronówka kennels. It was time to sit and talk a little longer. We found a place where our dogs could run (I wonder why others didn’t think about it). The best was at the end: pouring rain and a storm! Beti didn’t care too much. It was just a little storm…