Preparation for tests

[TrishB]

Hi all,

I was curious about how you all felt about preparing for certificates. A CGN / CGC I understand - as there's some basic obedience involved.

However, what about preparing for a TT or a HIC? Isn't the test supposed to represent the dogs basic reactions / temperament? I didn't prepare Parker for his TT. No walking on fences, no shaking of rocks in buckets, etc. He passed and I was very proud of it.

Does preparing negate the results?

[laurlitt]

Here are my opinions:

An HIC is testing the instinct and if it's there, it will exist with our without some training. If you have trained a dog to a herding title and then get the HIC, it should go without saying that the dog had the instinct required to do the training/title...

As for TT, the training begins at 8 weeks old when the puppy comes home and is exposed to sounds, surfaces, strange people, gun shots, etc... So I guess you can say that the dog has been training all along for a TT. I doubt that a dog who didn't have this socialization could pass a TT...

So in both cases I don't think 'training' changes/negates the results.

I wouldn't prepare for either of the above or a CGC (these are all part of our dogs normal growing up and at the right time the dog should be able to walk into any of these 'tests' and pass.

[Judi W]

Atts strongly encourages people to educate their dogs and have them experience as much as possible. If you choose to consider this preparing for a test as opposed to preparing for life - well your choice of words, but that is not how the organization looks at it. As a tester for many many years, I can tell you that a dog that is basically weak does not improve with repetition. A dog that is uneducated will improve. No fault no foul.

[Mick Trainer]

Originally Posted by TrishB

Does preparing negate the results?

Basically Yes. If a dog is exposed over many intervals to the same stimulus they will be exposed to in the test environment then it will be able to pass a test that without the training it could not have passed. I don't know how to fix this but it definatly is why so many people do not see these titles as anything worth worrying about when they are looking at a dog for breeding.

Mick.