Lurcher obedience.

[sandymere 8,261]

Summer time so thought we might have a discussion on peoples expectations about obedience or tricks what’s it all about, as a youngster I trained my dogs to a high degree in every aspect of life till they were almost clockwork but as the years have passed, I’ve eased my expectations to a more needs led approach but do occasionally wonder if I have gone too far the other way. To put this into a context I was at a local show a couple of weeks ago with the two kids, Connie 10 and Louis 6 and a brace of Galgos.

Connie is a great one for shows and had already gained a couple of rosettes in the family dog show although Louis had become a little disinterested due to not getting any when we heard the call for the working class in the lurchers. I’d already gotten the go ahead from the judge for the kids to enter the galgos so Connie grabbed her dog whilst my better half set off in pursuit of Louis to take his. Of course, he was ½ a mile away down the bottom of the field with a couple of other young lads poking about the hedges, most likely terrorising chicky-pigs or such like, so I followed Connie into the ring as substitute until his arrival.

At the same time a gentleman wearing the full regalia of show dress entered the ring with his little lurcher, removed the lead and stood by the gate, we shall call him camo-man. Alas in the hot summer sun in the middle of a show ring dressed in my shorts, T-shirt and trainers I felt utterly unprepared and very badly equipped. Non the less Connie and I continued around the ring until we arrived behind camo man followed by a couple of other entrants. Thankfully the judge had excellent eyesight and was able to locate the well camouflaged gentleman and approached to examine his dog, then requested if he would walk it in a triangle to see its movement, all well and good. But gentleman felt more was required and enquired if he should undertake any obedience such as down and stay? The judge said yes if you want and so we saw the camo man with dog at heel walk 10 yards, stopped, give the down order and walk back 5 yards, then called it in to heel before returning to the line. I was next and glad Louis hadn’t arrived as he’d have had a field day playing with his dog getting it to lie down as it’s not something they’re trained to do… the judge had a look at mine then asked if i would like to do the same as camo man, I declined explaining mine wasn’t trained to lie down, so i just walked the triangle, Connie did the same and in general those down the line choose their own actions.

Once all was examined, we were instructed to walk around the ring, Camo man set off with his dog at heel so a little tongue in cheek I also removed the lead from my hound and with her at heel set off behind him. All was well until we got to the end of the ring when I was aghast to see, camo man’s doyenne of obedience dash out of the ring and jump into the back of his car! He shouted to no avail so dashed out to retrieve his reluctant hound in good style. Thankfully the judge was chatting to someone and didn’t notice what was going on and soon afterwards awarded camo man his red rosette.

As I left the ring Louis arrived and having been dragged from his mates and the mischief, he was less than pleased with my efforts, having failed to gain a rosette of any ilk. So, I got to thinking, mine wouldn’t embarrass me by fecking off but neither would they do tricks so what’s obedience and what’s tricks. The Galgos return to call, use their brains to find their way around the countryside and work game independently but will wait if I tell them if I’m climbing a gate or hold if hunting ahead and I want them to stop, and they’d not break heel without something dramatic, ie game leaping out right in front of us but they won’t sit and stay or give a paw etc. So, my question, who’s going wrong?

 

Ps, also was i wrong to gently chuckle at camo-mans dogs pissed off out of the ring?  

Edited July 15, 2022 by sandymere

[Shefflad69 212]

3 minutes ago, sandymere said:

Summer time so thought we might have a discussion on peoples expectations about obedience or tricks what’s it all about, as a youngster I trained my dogs to a high degree in every aspect of life till they were almost clockwork but as the years have passed, I’ve eased my expectations to a more needs led approach but do occasionally wonder if I have gone too far the other way. To put this into a context I was at a local show a couple of weeks ago with the two kids, Connie 10 and Louis 6 and a brace of Galgos.

Connie is a great one for shows and had already gained a couple of rosettes in the family dog show although Louis had become a little disinterested due to not getting any when we heard the call for the working class in the lurchers. I’d already gotten the go ahead from the judge for the kids to enter the galgos so Connie grabbed her dog whilst my better half set off in pursuit of Louis to take his. Of course, he was ½ a mile away down the bottom of the field with a couple of other young lads poking about the hedges, most likely terrorising chicky-pigs or such like, so I followed Connie into the ring as substitute until his arrival.

At the same time a gentleman wearing the full regalia of show dress entered the ring with his little lurcher, removed the lead and stood by the gate, we shall call him camo-man. Alas in the hot summer sun in the middle of a show ring dressed in my shorts, T-shirt and trainers I felt utterly unprepared and very badly equipped. Non the less Connie and I continued around the ring until we arrived behind camo man followed by a couple of other entrants. Thankfully the judge had excellent eyesight and was able to locate the well camouflaged gentleman and approached to examine his dog, then requested if he would walk it in a triangle to see its movement, all well and good. But gentleman felt more was required and enquired if he should undertake any obedience such as down and stay? The judge said yes if you want and so we saw the camo man with dog at heel walk 10 yards, stopped, give the down order and walk back 5 yards, then called it in to heel before returning to the line. I was next and glad Louis hadn’t arrived as he’d have had a field day playing with his dog getting it to lie down as it’s not something they’re trained to do… the judge had a look at mine then asked if i would like to do the same as camo man, I declined explaining mine wasn’t trained to lie down, so i just walked the triangle, Connie did the same and in general those down the line choose their own actions.

Once all was examined, we were instructed to walk around the ring, Camo man set off with his dog at heel so a little tongue in cheek I also removed the lead from my hound and with her at heel set off behind him. All was well until we got to the end of the ring when I was aghast to see, camo man’s doyenne of obedience dash out of the ring and jump into the back of his car! He shouted to no avail so dashed out to retrieve his reluctant hound in good style. Thankfully the judge was chatting to someone and didn’t notice what was going on and soon afterwards awarded camo man his red rosette.

As I left the ring Louis arrived and having been dragged from his mates and the mischief, he was less than pleased with my efforts, having failed to gain a rosette of any ilk. So, I got to thinking, mine wouldn’t embarrass me by fecking off but neither would they do tricks so what’s obedience and what’s tricks. The Galgos return to call, use their brains to find their way around the countryside and work game independently but will wait if I tell them if I’m climbing a gate or hold if hunting ahead and I want them to stop, and they’d not break heel without something dramatic, ie game leaping out right in front of us but they won’t sit and stay or give a paw etc. So, my question, who’s going wrong?

 

Ps, also was i wrong to gently chuckle at camo-mans dogs pissed off out of the ring?  

Camo man was a bellend the Muppet 

[Gypsydog94 4,329]

He’s at all the local shows. Was that at bratton? Some judges must laugh at him at his party tricks. 

[Shefflad69 212]

7 minutes ago, Shefflad69 said:

Camo man was a bellend the Muppet 

Also the judge was a Jaffa

[mackem 23,799]

36 minutes ago, sandymere said:

camo-mans 

Whatever happened to Camo-man? Keep em peeled

[Borr 4,499]

Obviously watching someone else's dog misbehaving or embarrassing the owner is something of great glee.

You've been about my bitch she has recall will sit, chases at a sound and the word "sheep" means pain of death. That's it really , I've had dogs do hand signals , jump on command nothing to write home about. My bitch would be eyeing up an ideal dog to course. Tricks are the last thing on my mind tbh...

I like the fact my bitch will jump in a car happily, sit , heal, get a drink (go in water) she'll still chase cats, dogs . b*****d. Lol

[mackem 23,799]

 

[Neal 1,787]

I've become a lot less insistent on immediate obedience as I've got older too. Maybe that just because I've moved from collie crosses to kelpies.

I once had a collie x whippet which was extremely obedient. I decided to write a list of all the commands she'd obey, either visual or spoken, and there were over sixty! However, (probably because of this) she had virtually zero initiative and had to be told what to do before she'd do anything. 

Like you I sometimes wonder if I've gone too far down the opposite route. I think of mine as only doing "down," "stay," and recall, though I expect there are probably a lot more instructions that I don't realise I've taught them (e.g. aahh!, sshhh and tut) and all the other noises and words we use without realising the dogs are picking up on them.

I think it was Jackie Drakeford who said that the best test for a lurcher is the pub test. What you're aiming for is the kind of dogs which will lie down under the table, not make a noise, stay there when you go up to the bar and then, when you leave the pub, everybody says, "I didn't realise he had a dog with him."   

[Black neck 15,162]

1 hour ago, sandymere said:

Summer time so thought we might have a discussion on peoples expectations about obedience or tricks what’s it all about, as a youngster I trained my dogs to a high degree in every aspect of life till they were almost clockwork but as the years have passed, I’ve eased my expectations to a more needs led approach but do occasionally wonder if I have gone too far the other way. To put this into a context I was at a local show a couple of weeks ago with the two kids, Connie 10 and Louis 6 and a brace of Galgos.

Connie is a great one for shows and had already gained a couple of rosettes in the family dog show although Louis had become a little disinterested due to not getting any when we heard the call for the working class in the lurchers. I’d already gotten the go ahead from the judge for the kids to enter the galgos so Connie grabbed her dog whilst my better half set off in pursuit of Louis to take his. Of course, he was ½ a mile away down the bottom of the field with a couple of other young lads poking about the hedges, most likely terrorising chicky-pigs or such like, so I followed Connie into the ring as substitute until his arrival.

At the same time a gentleman wearing the full regalia of show dress entered the ring with his little lurcher, removed the lead and stood by the gate, we shall call him camo-man. Alas in the hot summer sun in the middle of a show ring dressed in my shorts, T-shirt and trainers I felt utterly unprepared and very badly equipped. Non the less Connie and I continued around the ring until we arrived behind camo man followed by a couple of other entrants. Thankfully the judge had excellent eyesight and was able to locate the well camouflaged gentleman and approached to examine his dog, then requested if he would walk it in a triangle to see its movement, all well and good. But gentleman felt more was required and enquired if he should undertake any obedience such as down and stay? The judge said yes if you want and so we saw the camo man with dog at heel walk 10 yards, stopped, give the down order and walk back 5 yards, then called it in to heel before returning to the line. I was next and glad Louis hadn’t arrived as he’d have had a field day playing with his dog getting it to lie down as it’s not something they’re trained to do… the judge had a look at mine then asked if i would like to do the same as camo man, I declined explaining mine wasn’t trained to lie down, so i just walked the triangle, Connie did the same and in general those down the line choose their own actions.

Once all was examined, we were instructed to walk around the ring, Camo man set off with his dog at heel so a little tongue in cheek I also removed the lead from my hound and with her at heel set off behind him. All was well until we got to the end of the ring when I was aghast to see, camo man’s doyenne of obedience dash out of the ring and jump into the back of his car! He shouted to no avail so dashed out to retrieve his reluctant hound in good style. Thankfully the judge was chatting to someone and didn’t notice what was going on and soon afterwards awarded camo man his red rosette.

As I left the ring Louis arrived and having been dragged from his mates and the mischief, he was less than pleased with my efforts, having failed to gain a rosette of any ilk. So, I got to thinking, mine wouldn’t embarrass me by fecking off but neither would they do tricks so what’s obedience and what’s tricks. The Galgos return to call, use their brains to find their way around the countryside and work game independently but will wait if I tell them if I’m climbing a gate or hold if hunting ahead and I want them to stop, and they’d not break heel without something dramatic, ie game leaping out right in front of us but they won’t sit and stay or give a paw etc. So, my question, who’s going wrong?

 

Ps, also was i wrong to gently chuckle at camo-mans dogs pissed off out of the ring?  

U should of took my old fawn bitch she lays down if u stop walking for more than 2 seconds ,well more like like collapse in a heap ,the black bitch is very good at waiting for me 2 climb halfway over a fence jump over the lot using my shoulders and head for leverage ,so yes impeccable really 

[sandymere 8,261]

i was at work on Sunday whilst the Mrs took kids to a local show, she got beat by another kid in child handler who took two dogs in , she was not impressed. So now she's come up with me having to teach a bit of old obedience/trick so she can take two in together.  She wants to be able to walk to the judge with both on leads at heel, then when asked to walk them, to be able to down and stay one whilst she walks the other than change them over. Muggins hear will have to teach em then get her managing them, make her put a bit of time in will teach her as much as the dogs, be like old times, i'll do some hand signals as well...................the older one will hate being ordered down, bit submissive so initial getting her down will need to be gently, gently and the youngster will take a fair bit of work to get her to wait reliably when Connie walks away with the older one, bit flighty so the hand signals from the side of the ring will come into play,  what we do for our kids 

[Black neck 15,162]

1 hour ago, sandymere said:

i was at work on Sunday whilst the Mrs took kids to a local show, she got beat by another kid in child handler who took two dogs in , she was not impressed. So now she's come up with me having to teach a bit of old obedience/trick so she can take two in together.  She wants to be able to walk to the judge with both on leads at heel, then when asked to walk them, to be able to down and stay one whilst she walks the other than change them over. Muggins hear will have to teach em then get her managing them, make her put a bit of time in will teach her as much as the dogs, be like old times, i'll do some hand signals as well...................the older one will hate being ordered down, bit submissive so initial getting her down will need to be gently, gently and the youngster will take a fair bit of work to get her to wait reliably when Connie walks away with the older one, bit flighty so the hand signals from the side of the ring will come into play,  what we do for our kids 

I teach mine from a young age a series o bodybuilding poses ,but the beddy looks abit like the bloke off the Mr muscle advert 

[bird 9,594]

well for me, its just good recall, and good with sheep, and re call  deff a must regards  around stock. one thing that i never really trained Buck to do was go down, i dont know why  i didnt , as i know it good thing to have. one night was out lamping with black 1/4 pit 3/4 grey, when the keeper was coming down the lane, he must have seen my lamp in the field, so rushed quick in to the thick hedgerow, got my bullx to lie down between my legs, i crouched over him put my hands over his eyes , so keeper didnt pick them out in his lamp, and  i looked to the floor. well he scanned the feild few times, i kept  rock steady , and he moved off after about 7 mins, so down for a dog deff saved my bacon that night lol. Now fookin Buck just wont do a down, everything else is spot on deff, but that big twat, wont go down, and you carnt make him either , you just carnt press him down, he to strong , he do the stay, and wait, his recall spot on, great retriever if get another lurcher, more so a pup, i deff learn it the down  lol.

[Black neck 15,162]

15 minutes ago, bird said:

well for me, its just good recall, and good with sheep, and re call  deff a must regards  around stock. one thing that i never really trained Buck to do was go down, i dont know why  i didnt , as i know it good thing to have. one night was out lamping with black 1/4 pit 3/4 grey, when the keeper was coming down the lane, he must have seen my lamp in the field, so rushed quick in to the thick hedgerow, got my bullx to lie down between my legs, i crouched over him put my hands over his eyes , so keeper didnt pick them out in his lamp, and  i looked to the floor. well he scanned the feild few times, i kept  rock steady , and he moved off after about 7 mins, so down for a dog deff saved my bacon that night lol. Now fookin Buck just wont do a down, everything else is spot on deff, but that big twat, wont go down, and you carnt make him either , you just carnt press him down, he to strong , he do the stay, and wait, his recall spot on, great retriever if get another lurcher, more so a pup, i deff learn it the down  lol.

I sometimes have hell of a job getting the misses 2 go down Ray any advice

[bird 9,594]

16 minutes ago, Black neck said:

I sometimes have hell of a job getting the misses 2 go down Ray any advice

haha  , yeh tell her  sister did great blow job, she either  suck it , or  teck a bite out of it     lol

[Daniel cain 42,889]

if they come back after a course/hunt...that will do me