As you know, Freya and I are preparing for our first APDT Rally Obedience trial coming up on Sunday. Since Freya is not ready to trial off leash, or maybe that is me that is not ready, I’ve decided to do the novice level titles for all of the organizations that regularly offer trials in our area — UKC, APDT, and AKC — with her before attempting any organization’s advanced level title.
In APDT trials, you can use food rewards after any of the stationary exercises. This differs from AKC and UKC, where you cannot have food in the ring at all. At first I thought this would be a great thing, and it might well be. Except that I am the klutziest handler on the planet, and there are point deductions for dropping food, which sad to say, I do all the time in training. We get a lot of practice on “leave it.” Food rewards also have to be hidden in the handler’s pockets. You cannot use a bait pouch or hold food in your hands or mouth. That alone is a huge adjustment for me, since I always use a bait pouch and hold food in my mouth.
I have probably lost some of you already when I talk about holding dog treats in your mouth. I always feel like I have to apologize to new people in our group class, because I’m always holding treats in my mouth to get Freya’s attention on my face. My dog treats for training classes are all “people food” with the favorite choices for both me and dogs being string cheese and Jewel store brand Homestyle Frozen Meatballs (the President’s Choice meatballs taste better, but they have a higher fat content and don’t hold up as well for a one-hour class). I also use hot dogs, nuked with or without a dash of soy sauce (yes, that would be teriyaki hot dog treats). See? All of that is stuff that you wouldn’t mind holding in your mouth, right?
The one thing that I am not klutzy at is spitting food to my dogs. Most of them have been great at catching treats, either spit or thrown, and only a couple of them have let the food bounce off their faces. I will admit that if a class runs a full hour or longer, I do end up eating some of the string cheese myself.
(NaBloPoMo | January ’10: 19 of 31)
Denora says
When Mia was a puppy and in training classes, I also used the food in mouth technique to get her to look at me, since she was constantly staring at the ground waiting for her reward to appear (my dog is the strangest dog ever and will not take a treat from your hand. She just looks at it until you put it down and then she’ll take it). The problem I had after that is that she wouldn’t look away from me at all. Like when I gave her the “lie down” command, she just stood there until I physically put my finger on the ground. Then the lightbulb went on and she realized what she needed to do. And when we tried hand signals, she would ignore them because she was staring at the food. If I hid the food in my pocket, she went back to staring at the ground. I guess it’s good that I never planned for her to get any sort of certifications, because it would just never happen.
.-= Denora´s last blog ..My Friends =-.
kathi says
I have a friend who has titled her pug in obedience and agility, but I don’t know if that is a breed I would pick specifically to do any dog sports with. But I am glad that I didn’t gross you and Mia out with the food in the mouth thing 🙂
jon says
Mingle******
Rottweilers are nifty. My cat, Wilson made friends with Brutus, a huge Rotty. (Is their any other kind?) They can be very protective.
.-= jon´s last blog ..Colt Brandisher, Detective….problem solver! =-.
kathi says
My younger cat Oliver loves both of our Rottweilers, and they love him. Freya used to “wrestle” with Oliver regularly when they were younger. Axel and Oliver chase each other in slow motion through the house.