Jhagman

I've been in obedience, Schutzhund, agility, Flyball classes with Khaleesi in her year and a half with us. All have been fun, with an eager-to-learn attitude.

Until we tried a conformation show class! This dog does not appreciate standing still one bit.

Any tips?

The picture below was taken by Ashley at a past SCH class and Khaleesi was keenly interested in something and pulled away. So it's what they call a "free stack".

I'm a complete novice at this show ring business, I expect to get eaten alive!

[IMG][/IMG]

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Delmira Arya Khaleesi Dragon Queen, Dexter the Doberman, Connelley James the Cavalier King James Spaniel[SIGPIC]

dobebug

Teaching a dog to stack sometimes involves also knowing what venue they will be showing under.

The free stack you show her in is FCI type of stack so if you are showing UDC one of the ways they train that is with a person not on the leash getting her excited with a toy or food so that she is leaning heavily into the leash. Most easily trained by teaching a "stand" and "stay" first.

If you are planning on training AKC there is no double handling and you usually teach by teaching a "stand" and "stay" first and then holding a high value treat slightly in front of her nose while telling her to stay.

I teach puppies AKC show manners from the time they come home to me--10 - 12 weeks usually. I teach the beginning elements as "kitchen training". All that means is that I will stop what I'm doing if the puppy is around and quickly stand them with their feet planted four square--I don't spend more than five or ten seconds at it in the beginning and I don't spend a lot of time arranging feet or pulling up tails and heads but for whatever I can do in that very short period of time I treat lavishly.

For most puppies the lavish treating makes them willing participants fairly quickly. As they learn what the stand and stay command means I start moving their feet and having them stand longer.

Once they are solid in standing and holding that stand on a command I start to teach them to walk into a stand on their own.

If you do this with the puppy in front of a mirror you can see when the puppy is in an acceptable stance and treat them. You can also teach them to hold still to have their mouth and teeth examined for for male puppies to have their testicles touched.

If you plan on showing a dog you really want them to hold still for judges running their hands all over their body and sometimes moving their feet, looking in their mouths--in short--touching them all over.

The biggest mistake I see novices make is to try to make an untrained puppy hold still for long periods of time. You need to work up to that.

ApolloVanderMack

dobebug - good stuff!!! Thanks for that...I am not showing but still good stuff

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Apollo's mommy
xoxoxoxoxoxo

Jhagman

Dobebug thank you so very much. Some great advice!

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Delmira Arya Khaleesi Dragon Queen, Dexter the Doberman, Connelley James the Cavalier King James Spaniel[SIGPIC]

Fitzmar Dobermans

I really can't say it any better than Dobebug! So just "Ditto" to her post!

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CH Cha-Rish A Moment Like This RN WAC CGC "Louise"
AKC GRCH/UKC CH Fitzmar's Command A Minute CGC "Harvard"
Fitzmar's Victory Hop Devil "Jezebel"

Adara

Make it a game and make it fun. It's a "simple" (ha so to speak) stay exercise. You can play and be silly just like with any other training.

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Colleen
Flirt, ADAMAS All the Girls Do It, OA, NAJ, CL2-F, CL2-H
Gabby, Ch Gold Run's Token of Rumor, JH, NA, OAJ, NF, NJP, CL2,CL3-H, CL3-F Vizsla
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