SUCCESS IN THE OBEDIENCE RING STARTS WITH ATTENTION TRAINING

by Karen R Scheiner

“Are you ready?” the judge will prompt, as you slip into the obedience ring with your new doxy competitor. The judge is expecting a positive answer, but as you peer down at your dog, he is standing by your side, sniffing the floor with total lack of attention on you. You think, this is not at all how we trained. Will we ever really be “ready?”

In order to supply a positive answer to the judge’s inquiry, you realize that your dog must, at the very least, show some scintilla of attention to you. One of the definitions of “attention,” supplied by the internet dictionary is: “concentrated direction of the mind, especially to a problem or task.” So, the question is, actually two-fold: Is your dog focusing on you and is he waiting for instructions for the job at hand? In other words, more bluntly, does he have concentrated direction of the mind on you, rather than on the floor?

Training your dog for the obedience ring involves much more than the dog knowing the exercises. The paramount, basic exercise that should be mastered, above all, is ATTENTION. As I spend a lot of time at obedience trials, and I get to watch all sorts of breeds enter the ring. I find that, particularly in Beginner Novice and Novice, all too often the dogs lack attention or

Attention any clue as to why they are there. This results in the handler being in the ring with no working dog on the other end of the leash. If you are thinking about competing in obedience, rally or even agility, then first and foremost, teach attention with fun games so the dog will enjoy working. Furthermore, he will want to watch you.

One basic attention game that dogs enjoy is one where you hold a small piece of a favorite treat (such as a cut up hot dog), near your eyes and say the dog’s name ONE TIME. (If you keep repeating the dog’s name, then he will wait for multiple commands, which defeats the purpose of the exercise.) For dachshunds, you can sit on a chair, or even on the floor to play this game. When you hold the food near your eye, say the dog’s name and let him figure out that when he finally looks in your eye, you click (or say “yes!”) and feed. After a few weeks with this activity, try holding the food out to the side, using both hands. If the dog looks at your hands, then no treat. If the dog looks in your eyes, even for a moment, then bingo, “yes!” its treat time! Practice this exercise – in the beginning –every week, for months! Once the dog is watching from a position in front of you, this game can be extended to heel position. Start in a sedentary position at first. If you start heeling too soon, the dog will lose focus. If that happens, go back to the start line and do it over until he watches you, even for just a few steps.

A fun exercise is to place a small treat on the continued on page 36...