Saturday, March 31, 2012
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Perception
Yesterday I went with my brother to look at Aussie puppies. The woman who owned the litter is a member of the Australian Shepard Club of America and she is also a breeder judge. ASCA is not a member of the AKC.
She has been breeding Aussies for more than 8 generations so she could be considered "a crazy dog person" as my brother so affectionately calls me.
While we were driving in the car my brother mentioned that she allots 2 hours to each potential puppy person. He confided in me that he couldn't imagine it would take 2 hours to look at puppies. Boy was he wrong!
The breeder was a wealth of information and discussed with us the mentoring process she had been through, what she put the most importance on when she was judging( the first thing she asks herself could this dog herd) and described in detail each personality and why this puppy would or wouldn't be a good fit.
As we discussed the standard of the Aussies I made a comment that both standards had a lot of similarities and she corrected me by saying, "oh no the Aussie has a very nice layback of shoulder , never a straight front like the dalmatian."
For a minute I was taken a back and then explained that the Dalmatian should have a nice layback of shoulder with the upper arm almost as long as the shoulder blade. Her next comment was well that's not what I am seeing in the ring when I attend AKC shows. and I had to admit she was right.
We have way too many dogs being shown with bad fronts, whether they have short upper arms resulting in straight fronts, elbowing out, or narrow fronts more and more of them are being seen in the show ring and this is creating the perception that the front should be straight because so many of the dogs have a straight front.
The Dalmatian Club of America has a illustrated explanation of the standard. I suggest everyone check it out.
I would be the first person to admit that there is no perfect dog but every responsible breeder should be reading the standard and asking themselves can this puppy I want to show do the job it was bred for? Can it coach for 20 miles a day? and the answer is, if it is straight in the front or heavy in bone NO.
She has been breeding Aussies for more than 8 generations so she could be considered "a crazy dog person" as my brother so affectionately calls me.
While we were driving in the car my brother mentioned that she allots 2 hours to each potential puppy person. He confided in me that he couldn't imagine it would take 2 hours to look at puppies. Boy was he wrong!
The breeder was a wealth of information and discussed with us the mentoring process she had been through, what she put the most importance on when she was judging( the first thing she asks herself could this dog herd) and described in detail each personality and why this puppy would or wouldn't be a good fit.
For a minute I was taken a back and then explained that the Dalmatian should have a nice layback of shoulder with the upper arm almost as long as the shoulder blade. Her next comment was well that's not what I am seeing in the ring when I attend AKC shows. and I had to admit she was right.
We have way too many dogs being shown with bad fronts, whether they have short upper arms resulting in straight fronts, elbowing out, or narrow fronts more and more of them are being seen in the show ring and this is creating the perception that the front should be straight because so many of the dogs have a straight front.
The Dalmatian Club of America has a illustrated explanation of the standard. I suggest everyone check it out.
I would be the first person to admit that there is no perfect dog but every responsible breeder should be reading the standard and asking themselves can this puppy I want to show do the job it was bred for? Can it coach for 20 miles a day? and the answer is, if it is straight in the front or heavy in bone NO.
Friday, March 2, 2012
Attention
Many of us struggle with our dogs and attention. Years ago at a puppy class the instructor taught us watch me! It was a very simple exercise. You put a treat in your hand touched the side of the dogs nose with your finger, raised that finger up to your eye and spoke the command "watch me". And there you had it.Today if your dog is clicker trained, it is a much easier feat but it does require you to pick the clicker up off the shelf and use it. If your clicker is charged up, meaning your dog is instantly reacting to the sound of the clicker then you are ready to get their attention. Click and they will look at you, when they look you treat, bring the treat up towards your face and cue them with a look at me. Practice makes perfect.
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