Stand for exam

[ACERSMOM]

When the instructors at my club go over Hattie for the novice stand she cowers slightly like she has been beaten. She knows the exercise well, does not move and is doing this with people she really likes and knows. She did not give this response at the only match that I had taken her to, but on Sat we are doing another.....

She has only ever been corrected with my voice, really wants to please and rarely does anything wrong, so it is not that we have ever been rought with her. She has not ever cowered in the breed ring or any other situation, and has always been a very confident girl.

Does not make any sense to me... Any suggestions or comments.

[flyballmom]

Please take this from the knowledge base (or lack of ) of someone who has never set foot in an obedience ring. (Rally yes, ob. no.) I've been working a TON on the SFE with Blitz. While she's not at all lacking in confidence, she has a REALLY hard time standing still and letting someone come in and touch her. She thinks everyone is her friend, and works REALLY HARD to stay in place. She gets that ears plastered to the head, "look" that to me says "mmmmommmm....I can't DO this, I want to but..." But she really wants to do what I ask, so she stands there. And yeah, this is with people she really likes and knows well. Maybe your girl too?

[MontanaRott]

We had the same issue with Guerin, and took him to as many matches as we could and had everyone do the SFE with him. We also practiced it in classes, and he soon realized he had to do it and that it really was not that big a deal after all.
His SFE is fine now, I wonder if it is a phase Hattie is going through, and that if you keep practicing she will decide it is not a big deal after all.

[ACERSMOM]

I think you two are both right!

She tries so hard to be correct, but yet it is so hard for her to stand still when she wants to meet and greet everyone with her abundance of enthusiasm. I do not want the judges to think that I have beat her into submission, when it is just that she loves everyone! (maybe too much)

I will have to ask as many other club members to go over her as I can.

Will let you know how the match goes with strangers coming up to her, as it might just be with her friends that she gets mushy.

[RottsNScotts]

Another trick you can use is for you to stand immediately in front of her as she is standing. In one hand, have a soft, long treat like a hot dog or string cheese that is mostly held in your hand with just a little poking out from the circle of your thumb and finger. Have just enough showing so that she can scrape it off with her front teeth. Start allowing her to scrape away as a person goes over her; regular SFE touching at first but work up to a show style go over. As long as she is standing upright, she gets to scrape. If she slinks down, at all, the treat leaves until she comes back up to it. (Obviously, if the treat is right at her nose, if she slinks down, she will take herself away from it!)

If she slinks down, hold your treat hand motionless so the reward is RIGHT THERE when she comes back up. Have your "tester" freeze in whatever position they were in when she lowered herself. And just wait for her to work it out herself. When she does come back up, tell her GOOD GIRL and let her scrape the treat!

Once you have worked up to a show go over with constant treat scraping, then move the treat just out of her reach and have your tester go back to a regular SFE touching. If she has trouble with that, let her start scraping and, as the tester touches her, just barely start moving the treat away so that she just barely can't reach it, even if she makes with the long neck! You can see how far down you can break this until she is successful!

You want to get her to a place where she is ignoring the tester in expectation of getting that treat!

[Ilovemypuppy]

I am just wondering .....do you practice the stand for exam with the examiner carrying a clip board ? Some judges carry clip boards....so practice with the examiner carrying all manner of things. Judges wear scraves, ties and things that move around..like skirts or jackets.

Also use your focus training "Watch Me!" and use your voice when training to get her to focus ONLY on you .

[ACERSMOM]

Originally Posted by RottsNScotts

Once you have worked up to a show go over with constant treat scraping, then move the treat just out of her reach and have your tester go back to a regular SFE touching. If she has trouble with that, let her start scraping and, as the tester touches her, just barely start moving the treat away so that she just barely can't reach it, even if she makes with the long neck! You can see how far down you can break this until she is successful!

She is fine in the breed ring and has no problems with the judges, except for the occasional but wiggle! It is only with the SFE in OB that we have problems. Hat is obsesed with food so in some cases it works for you and in others it makes her too crazy.


Distractions are not a problem as we train with lots of them.

I think it might be that she is just trying so hard to be good and she is worried she may fail!

[Ilovemypuppy]

A trainer friend of mine said something to me that really made a difference...she said "Trust your dog!..Trust that she will be there in position or do as asked"...it works because your confidence projects to your dog :o)

[RottsNScotts]

Then this will be even easier to fix as you will be relating it to something she knows how to do! By going from what she knows, you will be showing her how not to fail!

My police dog taught me to also teach the SFE with a towel briefly over the dog's face; we had a point deduction when the judge's coat covered his head and he took a step to the side to maintain eye contact with me. :-(

[ACERSMOM]

Thanks for all of the response that I received!

Will let you know how the match goes tomorrow.