Shepherd Sight

Happy Birthday to Johnny and Jane, Johnny gets BN obedience title, and the beach

Yesterday was a long day! We went to Hampton, Virginia and participated in two dog obedience trials in one day. This was towards the last two legs to get the Beginner Novice title for Johnny. It was also his 9th birthday along with his sister Jane.

The morning trial. Exercises are: Heel on lead, Figure 8, Sit for exam, Sit-stay with walk around, and Recall. He scored 193.5 out of a possible 200 forfirst place! Points off for going around behind me on the recall, and some lagging at heel.

Between the two shows, Johnny and I went to Virginia Beach.

Sit-stay comes in handy for a video

Johnny and me at the beach on his 9th birthday

The second trial, same exercises. He scored 195 out of 200 for first place! Points off for slightly crooked sit on recall and a little crowding and lagging at heel.

Getting the ribbons and new title from Judge Betsy Horn Humer who was exceptionally nice!

The Portsmouth Chesapeake Obedience Training Club (PCOTC) gives prizes for first place, so I got $20 and a nice new 6 ft leather lead in addition to the ribbons. Thank you, PCOTC!

Johnny’s ribbons from 10/30/2022. Thank you to Judge Betsy Horn Humer for excellent directions, tips, and kindness in the ring!

I was gone for 11 hours. I am happy to report that the five dogs i left at home were able to hold it! I was very surprised that even See See (females take longer to develop those “holding it” muscles) did not make a mess! Needless to say, I don’t make a habit of leaving them that long without being able to go outside. I only fed them half rations that morning.

See See, Clyde, and Winston, not making a mess! This pic was taken AFTER they did go out!

Nellie, age 12 and a half, who never, ever, makes a mess. She once held it for 19 hours when my dad was in the hospital. She was 6 weeks pregnant with 11 puppies, including Jane and Johnny, at the time.

Jane and Johnny age 9 years and 1 day

See See at Crump Park in Glen Allen and a spell check

See See saw a sheep! She was on a leash though, and then there is that whole fence thing, but I think I saw a spark of herding instinct!

In case anyone can’t spell German shepherd, remember that they are sheep herders. So it’s not Shephard, Shepard or Sheperd, it’s shepherd. Shephard, Shepard, or Sheperd can be someone’s last name though, which is why this text auto-corrects to capitalize. German is always capitalized because it is a nationality but shepherd need not be capitalized. Can you tell this is one of my pet peeves?

Dog class and Tiger Woods

Just another day in dog class. Thank you Michael, for the pics! Today we “rotated” dogs, “judges”, and handlers, so that after each dog was examined, that “judge” then took the dog as the handler to the end of the line, and so on. So I got a fresh perspective as a “judge”. The first thing I noticed was that when the handler brought the dog back on the down and back, if I couldn’t see it’s face, it was a detraction from the overall quality of the dog. So, I learned the importance of teaching the dog to look at the judge after the down and back.

Here I am being the judge for a Hamiltonstovare, a new AKC breed. Rosie is a sweet friendly dog. She belongs to Ashley Silver.

The second thing I noticed is, I am dressed like Tiger Woods on a Sunday. And when I think of Tiger Woods, I think about my dad. He loved Tiger. He really wanted him to succeed. He felt the same way about Barack Obama, and lived to see them both become very successful. He was so happy, he cried when Obama was elected, both times. My dad died 9 years ago yesterday at the age of 94, and I still miss him very much.

Here are Clyde and See See free stacking. Thank you Liz, for helping me handle again today!

VKC dog handling class with AKC breeder, judge, and professional handler Tom Dowell

The VKC https://m.facebook.com/Virginiakennelclub has handling classes on Wednesday nights in Goochland, and it is worth the drive! Last night we had Tom Dowell teaching the class, and lots of attendees. (The smaller dogs attend in a separate class at 6:30, with the big dogs at 7:15.) It was great to have a new perspective and a man going over the dogs, just to make sure they are accustomed to both male and female judges.

Here are some videos of Clyde and See See. They are 20 months old today. Liz, a club member, is handling one if them (we switched back and forth). She often teaches the class and has handled many breeds professionally.

Thank you Allison, for shooting the videos!

Me with Clyde

Liz with Clyde and me with See See

Liz and See See

It’s Official!!!

Winston is now Ch. Sir Winston Churchill Out of Sight BCAT CD! The CD replaces the BN because it is a higher obedience title. It stands for Companion Dog.

Winston on the futon, not caring if he has an AKC CD title

Winston got his required 3 qualifying scores in three consecutive shows in two days. I am proud! He is so smart and easy to train.

See See’s Win Pics and the Chesterfield County Fair

I got the professional win pics back from the Doswell shows where See See got her first points!

See See at 18 months getting Best of Winners for her first point!

The following day, we beat out a champion female for another point!

I was so happy I went to the Fair and rode a camel!

Totally worth the 10 bucks. However, my back was killing me. My pelvis does not tilt that way!

Then of course I had to go to the children’s petting zoo. There were lots of domestic farm animals of unusual breeds. I was pleasantly surprised to note that, like the camel I rode, they all appeared to be clean, healthy, and content. Way to go, Chesterfield County Fair!

Adorable baby camel

I’ve never seen a goat do this

Feeding time

My dogs don’t wolf down their food. They also don’t fight over it, or their toys. So, I’m able to feed Winston, Clyde and See See together. This stimulates them all to eat a little better. Sometimes I have to watch it with Winston as he will eat a little too much.

Not many intact adult male German Shepherds will eat calmly together alongside an intact female. Obviously, I don’t do this when See See is in heat!

This video starts out with Clyde on the left, See See in the middle and Winston on the right.

How did See See and Johnny do at Doswell? Pics and videos!

In addition to See See’s first point on Wednesday, she got an additional point on Thursday, and even went best of opposite sex over another female who was already a champion!

I am so happy, and See See does not care about the win, she just wants to be loved, which is not a problem!

See See was entered Friday, and won her class, but did not win points. Saturday, Johnny was entered in Beginner Novice obedience. This was his first entry ever in obedience, and he is nearly 9 years old.

Johnny doing the heel on leash with figure eight. Not so good, really. Notice how many times there was tension in the leash. Points off for that.

Johnny did the sit for exam perfectly.

The sit stay as I walked around the ring was perfect too.

The recall was not perfect! I had to use a second command because he went past me to explore something that smelled good. Points off, and allowed only in Beginner Novice.

Johnny got a qualifying score of 190 out of 200, which I thought was generous. That is the first leg towards the Beginner Novice title.

Here’s Johnny after the obedience competition. I didn’t do the precise grooming as in the pic below. I wish that car tire didn’t make his back look humped up! Otherwise a good pic. He has a very solid top line if you look closely.

Here is the pro pic of Johnny a couple of weeks ago when he got Select. Grooming makes a huge difference!

We didn’t enter Sunday, and no more conformation shows until November. At least not close enough for me. I will be working on the next level of obedience with Winston, and taking Clyde and See See to dog class.

See See gets her first point!

I only showed See See today. I’m trying to focus on her because she does so much better with individual attention, and I’m not having to switch back and forth between her and Clyde. She is also entered on Thursday and Friday.

Thank you Kyle, for the videos!

See See being judged individually in class

See See’s sire, Cash, being judged for Best of Breed

In the next video you first see the two winners go around together. Ahead of me is the winning male. (The female always follows the male.) As we go around together the judge is selecting Best of Winners. All the other dogs in the ring are already Champions and they are competing for Best of Breed. The first four in line are males, and the fifth dog is a female. Cash gets Best of Breed, and See See gets Best of Winners, the champion female gets Best of Opposite Sex, and another male gets Select.

Cash winning Best of Breed, and See See getting Best of Winners

Vera, Cash’s owner, took this wonderful pic of See See after the show

Winston gets CD title in 3 shows in 2 days!

In AKC obedience, CD stands for Companion Dog. It means the dog has gotten a qualifying score three times in Novice exercises. Click here to go to the AKC website for precise information. It’s on page 43 of the rulebook:

https://images.akc.org/pdf/rulebooks/RO2999.pdf

Winston was entered in the Tidelands Poodle Club obedience trials on Saturday and Sunday. There was one show on Saturday and two on Sunday. It was a long, hot weekend, but Winston held up great. I was so proud of him for getting his title in one weekend, and in our first attempt. It has been so hot, we hadn’t been working much on heel off leash. I was worried about that part, and sure enough, that was not his best exercise. But overall he still did quite well and scored in the 180s with each try, out of a possible 200 points.

Here, Winston is doing the figure eight heeling pattern and the stand for exam.

This video shows the sit stay and down stay.