[flyballmom]

Originally Posted by mwaters

Now what have you seen / experienced for the temperament test part?

My experience with the BST is our own, so 1, or 2, if you count that I watched the dog that went before us. But here goes. The gunshots came when we were about 20 paces or so down field...1, a second or 2 delay, then another. My understanding was that had a dog shown a reaction, there would have been another. We did have a group, and per request of the judge (Wayne Simanovich) it was people the dog was not familiar with. The group closed in, then out, then circled, much like the TT part of the BH. I was told the leash walking "could" be formal heeling, but didn't have to be. Once that was done I was asked to take the leash off and do some off leash obedience. We did some formal heeling and a moving sit, then reported back to the judge. That was about it. I was expecting all that, I knew about the temperament testing, teeth showing, measuring etc etc. What was a complete surprise was that the BST dogs had to be gaited around the ring and baited for a conformation critique. If I hadn't had Lucy Ang and Marlene Ferguson yelling "faster, she's pacing" "no now slower, she's galloping" I'd probably still be out there running in circles. I've never shown in conformation in any venue, and since it's not really an interest, I've never practiced gaiting. If I'd known...I'd have worked on it a bit