Dogs in Motion

Outdoors rules

Last weekend (April Fool’s day) we went to a trial hosted by a GSD club down in Indy. It was a typical “nice” spring day in Indiana - chilly, cloudy, breezy, threatening rain… and the trial was outdoors. Yeah, they actually still do some of those around here.

Of course most people avoid outdoor trials. Either they are top handlers who don’t want to risk a lower score or can’t be bothered for such tiny trials, or they are less skilled trainers who don’t train outside and can’t believe that their dogs can work outdoors. And I guess a lot of people only train indoors.

Well, as it happens, I train outdoors the vast majority of the time. Summer, winter, whenever, most of my training time ends up being outside, usually on my lunch hour at school, since Molly goes to school with me every day anyway.

So you would think we would have an advantage at an outdoor trial. You would think so, and for once that would be right. Molly turned in what was arguably her best ever Utility run and won Utility B with a 192. Of course there was only one other dog entered, so we got no points, but still it was an eye-opener. Now, to look for more outdoor trials.

The AKC “Steals” My Idea…

About a month ago I wrote my Front and Finish article for April. My suggestion then was that moaning about the lack of television coverage for obedience was pointless, since the entertainment industry mainly goes with things that have been proven.

I suggested that we needed to break out our video cameras and tape events and post them on the web as a way to build interest in the sport.

Great minds must think alike, because guess what has just shown up on the AKC’s web site… 22 QuickTime video clips of the international competition at Crufts. And the look like they were taken by an amateur with a personal video camera.

If they would have just waited until F&F was actually published I could have claimed they stole my idea. But as it is, it’s a start. So get yourself over there and start downloading.

Starting on the Judging Road

I am now officially a UKC apprentice judge for all classes of obedience. I started the process in January and took the written test three weeks ago. The first part of the process was a lengthy resume of my life in dogs, which took a while to pull together. After they accepted that they sent me their written test.

The written test is 25 multiple choice and true/false questions and is open book. That sounds easy, but the questions are worded to be tricky and they cover the whole spectrum of the rules fairly well. I spent about two hours on it, working through all the possibilities with the rulebook, and ended up getting all 25 right.

The next step is to apprentice judge three times. An apprentice follows a licensed judge in the ring at a trial, and at the end the apprentice’s score sheets are compared to the judge and the judge decides whether or not the apprentice judged according to the rules.

All of this sounds like a bit of a hassle, but it’s a far easier process than the AKC’s and I think the UKC can use the support.

So if you see me following a judge in the next year or so….