'crawl'

[IliamnasQuest]

I agree that the behavior of crawling and the behavior of staying are separate behaviors - but a person really can't know what their dog will do under the stress of competition. Testing what your dog will do under normal circumstances during an out of sight stay and knowing what they will do after being at a busy, noisy show site are not at all the same. Going through all the individual open exercises .. and then having to be in a ring with strange people around, noises that you can't imitate in training sessions, heightened stress that is there both for you and the dog, strange dogs within a few feet on both side of your dog, being on a stay in a place that smells like LOTS of dogs (and sometimes in a ring where there has been conformation competition earlier and so there is a good possibility bait will be scattered throughout the grass as well as scent from females in heat) .. and leaving your dog there to deal with it as you walk out of the ring with a group of strangers and go completely out of sight for five minutes ... well, that's nothing like training on your own or even in a class situation, and you can't really compare what a dog will do in a trial setting to what they will do other places.

I had a dog that would lay down on the open sit-stay. In practice she could hold it without any problem. I could leave her on a stay outside the mall and go indoors where I could peek at her through the windows and leave her for ten minutes and she NEVER broke a stay. She didn't break stays at home, at the training facility, or anywhere else I took her to train. But in the competition ring she laid down pretty consistently. We did eventually work through it but the stress was very real to her and I could not imitate that stress under any other circumstances. Even fun matches didn't do it because I wasn't under the stress I felt during real competition.

Yes, there are dogs that won't crawl during an out of sight stay. Maybe mine wouldn't either. I spend a lot of time reinforcing behaviors like the stay, but I can't ever proclaim that my dog absolutely won't do something like crawl on a stay - because I've been there and know how hard competition is on our dogs. Granted, some dogs are more consistent than others, and some breeds are very easy compared to others (as a generality). With the easier dogs/breeds, you're probably going to be able to count on more predictability.

After putting nearly 30 performance titles on my dogs I know how hard competitive stress is on both human and canine .. *L* .. I'm no longer glib about how my dogs will never flunk an exercise because I know better. Been there too many times! So I just don't teach a crawl to my dogs these days .. I *think* that they wouldn't do a crawl, but I'm still not going to do it. As it is, I've been working Khana in freestyle and now I fully expect she'll back completely around me on a left turn one of these days .. *LOL* .. the judge will find it hilarious and we'll lose points, and it won't be anyone's fault but mine.

Now let's talk about how my Aussie did a "play-bow" instead of a down on the utility signal exercise .. and held the bow as the judge and I waited to see if her butt would FINALLY drop .. *LOL* .. it didn't, we flunked, lesson learned! She never liked the down anyhow. She DID earn her UD, but I have to laugh when I look back at her scores. She got a 56.5 one day (looked like she'd never done utility exercises before), and two weeks later earned a 193 and a first place! She was a character .. got her as a rescue when she was a year old and she had some major dominance issues. I wish I'd known more about training back then because she could have been brilliant.

Melanie and the gang in Alaska

 

[IliamnasQuest]

The good thing is you don't loose points for "talking".

In AKC you can (and do) lose points if your dog is vocal in obedience or rally competitions. A tiny bit of barking or grumbling is probably not going to be noticed, but if it's consistent or a bit more than the judge wants then you will lose points (even if it's between exercises). You can also lose some major points for a dog that's too exuberant between exercises or after the last exercise. For example, if your dog leaps on you and barks excitedly, judges can take off points.

Obedience is to show control and talking/whining/barking is considered a lack of control. I've seen dogs flunk for making noise in the ring, even something as minor as whining during the stays.

Dogs can bark in agility .. but those barking dogs drive me crazy! I hate watching a run where a dog is barking all the time. There are so many shelties in agility up here and some of them NEVER shut up! *L*

Melanie and the gang in Alaska

 

[RedyreRottweilers]

I wish I'd known more about training back then because she could have been brilliant.

Melanie and the gang in Alaska

This is an important statement, I think.

I honestly thought my first several dogs each was smarter than the last one. It eventually dawned on me that altho, yes, dogs are different, and some are quicker than others, the difference was ME.

My understanding of how dogs learn, and how to groom and shape a puppy from day ONE for attention, focus, position, recall, etc, has made a HUGE difference in how my dog turns out.

Penny's excellent focus and attention has been layered, reinforced, and built since she was 10 weeks old. She has been taught where heel is since a very early age. I knew when I got her I wanted to go to the advanced levels with her, so I've been very careful about really getting the basic building blocks of obedience (focus, attention, heel position, front position) really ingrained in her muscle memory, while at the same time keeping these things FUN, INTERESTING, and REWARDING for her.

All our play/work is really paying off now. It is incredible fun to take her out and watch people's heads spin around when they see us working!!