Training and titles

[Linda Shipman <Linda.Shipman@chezor.alaska.com>]

Hi again:

Gina asked me to talk about some of Iris' titles, in hopes, I think that
some of you might consider training for them.  Having spent time
with Gina's dogs, I'm fairly certain that most of these Brier pups would
do well in any performance area.

One thing before I get started.....you will spend a lot of time one on
one with your golden when you train.  You will learn tons about them
by presenting thinking challenges to them.  You will be repaid a 1000-
fold in devotion and enthusiasm from your golden for the time you invest.

That is the reason we train.  The competition is secondary.  We have
had so much fun and learned so much by exploring the worlds of
tracking, obedience, hunting, conformation, and agility.  I really
encourage you to find those activities you and your new golden enjoy
and then find a training club or mentor that will give you the tools you
need.

That said...

I believe most of these Brier pups could earn their CGC (Canine Good
Citizen) award after a puppy kindergarten and/or basic obedience class.
It's a test of their social skills (like not jumping up on people, allowing
a person to touch their feet, coming when called, etc).  Both our girls
have CGC's.

You can find more info about it at:

http://www.akc.org/love/cgc/index.cfm

Another area is obedience.  We've competed in three registries...the American
Kennel Club (AKC), the United Kennel Club (UKC), and the Canadian Kennel
Club (CKC).  All these registries have three levels.

Novice (heeling, standing for an exam, coming on command, sits and downs)
Open  (heeling, retrieving a dumbbell over a high jump, broad jump, doing a
	down stay on a recall, and sits and stays).
Utility (scent discrimination, silent hand signals, directed retrieving and 
jumps)

Iris is being trained now in Utility.  It is a very complex task and can 
take up
to 2-3 years to train, even if a dog and handler are very good.  It's also 
known
as the Futility ring ;-)))

You can find more about these activities at:

http://www.akc.org/dic/events/obedtrack/index.cfm
http://www.akc.org/dic/events/obedtrack/obedreg.cfm

Another activity many goldens are good at and enjoy is tracking.  Some people
are involved in Search and Rescue.  This is a little different.  At the 
Tracking
Dog level (TD), a golden would track a half hour - 2 hour old human scent 
through
a field on a 400-500 yard track with three corners, retrieving a glove at 
the end.

This is probably our favorite activity with our girls.  This is when the 
handler
has to give up control of the situation and trust the dog to know what it 
is doing.
The human must learn as much as they can about what affects the scent
environment (humidity, time, wind, etc) and how to not get either of them
tangled up in the leash.

At the TDX  (Tracking Dog Excellent) level, the dogs track around 900-1000
yards, on a 3-5 hour old trail, over obstacles and changes of ground cover,
with up to nine corners and four scent articles (I think I've got this right
though I haven't checked the rules before writing this).  This is what Iris 
has
been training for for the past two years.

A more difficult test is the VST... variable surface tracking, where dogs 
will go
from grass to pavement to inside buildings to asphalt, recovering scent 
articles
along the way.

You can find out more about these activities at:

http://www.akc.org/dic/events/obedtrack/index.cfm
http://www.akc.org/dic/events/obedtrack/trackreg.cfm

Iris has her Canadian and International show titles, but because she is
on the small side of the golden retriever standard, does not have a well-
constructed front, and is not enamored with flying, we have not pursued
an AKC show title.  She does enjoy showing in the conformation ring
though, the little hussy <vbg>  She flirts with the judges, shows with
incredible heart and a sparkling personality, and with her gorgeous coat
and sweet face, she usually earns a placement. I think those of you
with show puppies have already shown goldens so I'm not going to
explain more about the conformation ring.

We're also taking an agility class through our local club and train
privately with a hunting mentor.  Remember that Gina is a JH (Junior
Hunter) judge and is a very good resource for questions about field
work.

More information on these two areas can be found at:

http://www.akc.org/dic/events/agility/index.cfm
http://www.dogpatch.org/agility/

http://www.grca.org/wcwcx.htm
http://www.akc.org/dic/events/perform/rehunt.cfm

I also hope that Deb McFail, a fellow Alaskan and member
of this list, will come out of lurking and talk a little about
training for some of these areas, since she has obedience
and tracking titles on her girls, and has shown in conformation.

Happy training!

Linda
U-CDX, UCI-Intl & CAN CH Goodtimes Flower Power,
	Am-Can CDX, Am-Can TD, CGC    (Iris)
Mariner Aces High at Chezor, CGC	   (Angel)
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Linda Shipman
Juneau, Alaska
Linda.Shipman@chezor.alaska.com
http://www.chezor.alaska.com
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