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Dates & News:

ZimDog News, can be accessed from: www.vanerp.net.

Working Trials Association of Zimbabwe Held their Obedience shows on 5 & 6 June as well as dog jumping and Working Trials on 12 June.

GSD Club of Bulawayo Have postponed their show end May to end of August.

Combined clubs will have 5 breed shows at the end of June.

Novice handlers and the Down Stay

On Saturday 5 June it was the Utility Champion Obedience show. Only two dogs qualified, one in Beginners E Mangwira with Trust and one in Novice Heather Armstrong with Eli. Marks were quite good, but a lot of dogs could have been better focused towards their handlers. On Sunday 6 June it was Working Trials Association Champion Obedience and overall marks seem to be higher than the day before. Five dogs qualified. Beginners again E Mangwira with Trust, which makes him not eligible for beginners anymore. I watched him and his footwork is magnificent and at all times he keeps his turns on the correct foot.

       

Novice had three qualifiers, Pauline Antrobus with Mackie, John Armstrong with Cozac and Ted Bates with Fraggle. Paul Rust with Tamar qualified and won A test, which makes him no more eligible to go back into Novice. Well done all. Sectra is always very well presented and their handlers are getting better, the dog in C test had 92,5%, which is really good! What was amazing was that there were about four dogs which were looking like German Shepherds, but not registered with Zimbabwe Kennel club on thebreed register [they are registered on the obedience register]. Only one German Shepherd was a registered breed dog [see next picture], all other dogs were Border Collies, Labradors, Swiss White Shepherds and a few others. “Where have all the German Shepherds gone, where have they gone”?

Sam and her Calib ‘Focussed’

To Sit or not to Sit.

The sit is an unnatural exercise for a dog, as most dogs prefer lying down or stand. To top that the nerves during a competition does not help either as well as the place in the pack [dog/handler] might not be as great and so the dog will take up the normal position [not the sit] and this will now cost double the marks with the new rules which came into being this year. Also when a dog is high in drive the sit might give problems, but with consequent training  this sit must also be done correctly. Another problem might be the same sounding command of sit and stand and the dog must learn to understand the difference and I would suggest using a definite articulated “zzzzzit” and an “up” instead of “sit” and “stand”.

Then we have the next difficulty in giving the command at the right time at the correct foot. Give it when you stand on your right foot, you then will drag the dog forward with your left foot, so the correct time to give the command will be on your left foot. Do not start on another exercise, till the dog knows the one you are teaching. Consequent training not only today, but tomorrow, at home or at the club is essential. Training should also be done at different venues, so that the dog will get used to that and accepts different places to do the same exercise correctly.

If you have started with teaching the dog with food to sit, this then has to proceed by giving the command sit and finally to leave out the food and only use the command. A long procedure, but well worth it to get a perfect sit.

Today [12 June 2004] I went out to watch the Working Trials run by Working Trials Association of Zimbabwe. There were 4 competitors in CD, one in TD 2 and one in TD 3. Today the performance of most dogs was not sufficient. Some were good in the control, others were good in the Agility and only three did the area search. Heather with Eli did the area search in 10 seconds [time allowed is 2 minutes] and also came first in CD. The grounds were excellent at the Polofields where most of the work was done. Catering was in ful swing, lovely buns were served with egg, bacon and coffee or tea available. All competitors had worked so hard to achieve the best with their dogs and at the end of the day we all had to go back to the Kennel club to do the last of the excercises: The Agility. Everyone had a chance to practice this and it all looked OK, till it came to the actual performance for the show. One dog failed, the other four did get marks. TD 3 does not have Agility in the test.

Paul and dog in action, who would have jumped better?  

I was there to take many pictures of the Agility and having a new camera with the ability to take pictures on the move, I used that on the hurdle and the long jump. Never had the ability to take those of dogs and handler in action and getting it so clear. Many pictures were lovely to look at, but I am afraid the two with Paul and Tamar beat the action of all the pictures taken today. Result: this team came second in CD! The saying goes: “Owner looks like his dog”, would like to change this in: “ Owner does like his dog”! I bet Paul could have jumped the hurdle even higher? It certainly paid off Paul, getting nearly full marks for the Agility. Perhaps the others could try it too?

NOTICE TO PEOPLE WHO VISIT MY HOME

1. The dog lives here. You don't.

2. If you don't want dog hair on your clothes, stay off the furniture.

3. Yes, he has some disgusting habits. So do I and so do you. What's your point?

4. OF COURSE he smells like a dog.

5. It's his nature to try to sniff your crotch. Please feel free to sniff his.

6. I like him a lot better than I like most people.

7. To you he is a dog. To me he is an adopted child who is hairy, walks on all fours and does not speak clearly. I have no problem with any of these things.

8. Dogs are better than kids. They eat less, don't ask for money all the time, are easier to train, usually come when called, never drive your car, don't smoke or drink, don't worry about whether they have the latest fashions, don't wear your clothes, don't need a gazillion dollars for college, and if they get pregnant you can sell the pups.

9. The same applies for the cats, except they will ignore you...until you're asleep.

ALL ABOUT DOGS  

"The reason a dog has so many friends is that he wags his tail instead of his tongue."

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