Ch. Calliope Rhapsody CD

It is a long time since Rhapsody has been out for a walk.

Barbados is now in the rainy season, and we are thankful that the storms and hurricanes usually pass North of us but we have had lots of rain, and some thunder storms some evenings.

We did have a very dry first quarter so we should be thankful of the rains now.

I am now recovering from a sprained ankle. I stepped in a hole, covered by grass, and twisted my left ankle in the area of the mango trees. It did not hurt much at first. But after a few days it was too painful to walk on and I went to a doctor and also had x-rays taken to be sure nothing was broken. Annoying thing is that the guy who cuts the grass here, when I told him I had a sprained ankle, could tell me where the hole was as he has also stepped into it but because he was wearing boots, I guess his ankle had better protection then mine as I had on sandals. And he did not think about filling in the hole nor warning me about it either.

It felt great to be back in the country side walking and enjoying the sunshine and breezes again.

I suspect Rhapsody was rather glad when I stopped and set her up for the above photo, as although dogs may live on grounds where they could exercise themselves, they don’t usually. Puppies will play together, and chase and romp, but I have found adult Bouviers don’t usually create exercise for themselves.

When any of my Bouviers see a leash and choke chain, they do a Bouvier bounce with delight as they love going anywhere. Amazingly, although they very seldom visit the vet, they even seem to enjoy that outing.

Wayne Nicholls discussing dog obedience judging

Wayne Nicholls, I believe, is the chief judge in Barbados for the open (CDX) and as Wayne told me this morning, he has been judging dog obedience for a long time. He started training in 1972 and in 1976 was judging on his own. He also used to judge obedience in the nearby island of Trinidad.

There are very few judges available, especially when the main judges and trainers of The Barbados Dog Training Club have puppies or young dogs which are themselves entering the trials.

Even if a dog is trained outside of The B’dos. Dog Training Club, it still has to successfully pass the obedience trials under The B’dos. Dog Training Club’s judging to achieve the CD and/or CDX titles.

Thinking ahead, this morning’s session was held to try and attract newer judges to the ring. Some of the people attending the session were already judging obedience trials for the club and some of these judges are also trainers.

The Club uses the American Kennel Club regulations.

And it is not as easy as it looks. The judge needs to watch the dog and yet record the scores deducted according to the sheet and the categories. And, of course, judging can be subjective. You might like to see a dog do a quick, fast recall, but how quick is quick? And for areas like sniffing, lagging, the points deducted can vary.

Wayne made the point to always watch the dog and don’t be fooled by the handler. Handlers might try tricks like running on the spot when the dog is supposed to be on “fast” and Wayne, I have noticed, walks behind the handlers so he can see the handler’s hands are not touching the dog.

And I know from the results of trials, there will always be surprises and disappointments, and judges are taken for granted.

New judges will need to be in the ring to watch and record trials with the more experienced judges before they are on their own. Of course, it is probably easier to judge the beginners as I believe the marking is relatively friendly and there is lots of encouragement for participants to go on further. The Novice and Open are a big jump ahead and the marking then become tight.

Obedience is good for all dogs whether they are entering competitions or not as it makes them more controllable and easier to have around.

Mid September will be the start for agility classes, beginners’ obedience training as well as the Novice and Open Obedience classes.

So far I have not seen any surfing dogs in Barbados but in the above video, some of the dogs certainly look as if they are enjoying the ride and look cute in their colorful life jackets.

Maybe one of these days, Bathsheba or one of our other surfing areas, will have a dog or two enjoying themselves.

Some of these overseas competitions, involving dogs, are done to help raise funds for other dogs, the “rescue” type which need to be rehomed. So, besides being a fun loving idea, it is also a constructive action.

Of course, some dogs appear to enjoy it more than others but it is like agility and other sports, it becomes more fun when the dog gets more familiar with it. And with training and practice, there could be some real competitive dogs and owners enjoying the surf.

I have not, as far as I am aware, come into any contact with the Pit Bulls which are trained and used for dog fighting and have the reputation as being unsafe around other dogs.

And the breed does have a reputation but I believe it is how the dogs are trained and I know several stories where these dogs have been rescued and have adopted well to their new families.

The story below is where a Pit Bull in Alabama was abused by a 20 year old man who took revenge on the dog because he was not permitted to drive the family car owned by the dog’s owner. The dog was dosed with lighter fuel and set on fire after being beaten by a shovel. Over sixty percent of the dog’s body had severve burns.

The dog survived and was adopted by the medical people who helped him with loving care and skin grafts.

And through his pain, he still tried to show his gratitude by wagging his tail and licking the humans who aided him.

His abuser did plead guilty to the felony and although a lot of cases of animal abuse do not carry stiff fines and/or jail sentences, this abuser was sentenced to nine years and six months for his crime. Now, in Barbados, a sentence like that would be in keeping with a crime like manslaughter.

More on the story is Here

Years ago, one of the vets I go to with my dogs, was talking about one of his dogs with the unusual name “Face” and I asked him about the name. It was a Pit Bull whom someone had found, his face ripped open and his body torn and battered from a dog fight. The vet took him, treated him and stitched up his cuts and then said that the dog was so ugly as parts of his ear had been torn out and he was really battered, that he did not think he could find a home for him. And he kept the dog at his home and said the dog was docile with him and his family and always appeared grateful.

I think it is cute and of course, there are so many different methods of training a dog

WHY DID THE CHICKEN CROSS THE ROAD?
(Dog Trainer’s Version)

Pavlov: we fed the chicken on the opposite side of the road each day at 4 p.m. until the chicken’s autonomic system actually began causing the chicken to cross the road at 4 p.m. without even questioning the “why.

B.F. Skinner: on prior occasions when the chicken voluntarily crossed the road, this behavior was followed immediately by a reinforcing consequence.

Cesar Milan: I bullied, chased, poked, and intimidated the chicken until it raced across the road because I am a strong leader.

Barbara Woodhouse: You just say, “Walkies” with the right accent and place a crumpet on the other side of the road.

Karen Pryor: by associating R+ with road crossing and P+ with standing still, with a VR schedule, and offering a reward in keeping with the Premack principal, we increased the intensity and frequency of the road crossing behavior.

Bill Koehler: a few well-timed pops on the choke chain and the chicken was happy to cross the road.

Nicholas Dodman: I gave the chicken fluoxetine, sertraline, paroxetine, carbamazepine, and azapirone and then it was happy to cross the road.

Patti Ruzzo: I crossed the road, pausing every step to spit a treat out of my mouth  like a human pez dispenser and the chicken followed along catching the treats.

Electric Collar Advocate: whenever the chicken does not cross the road I give it an electric shock. But do not worry, the shock is no more than you would feel if you walked on a carpet wearing socks and it does not bother the chicken at all. The feathers standing up and the smell of burning flesh mean nothing. In fact, they are happier having nice clear communication than they would be otherwise.

Yuppie: chickens are just like little people in feather jackets, and if you love them and give them diamonds and feel sorry for them all the time, they would be happy to cross the road for you.

Paris Hilton: Because I put it in a Gucci bag and carried it.

Shelter director: Any chickens that do not cross the road will be euthanized  for their own good, and the others we will “adopt” out tomorrow for only$200 each. Please send us money so we can keep doing more of this important work.

HSUS member: I do not know anything about animals, I have never been around animals and am not really fond of animals, but we passed a law mandating that chickens be kept without cages because animals belong only in the wild and cannot be happy coexisting with man, so now they are walking wherever they want.

PETA member: chickens have the right to live in world without roads. Any chicken that lives within a hundred miles of a road is suffering an inhumane existence and might eventually be hit by a car so we should kill it today to ensure it does not die tomorrow.

And, of course, there is always a simple solution that you don’t need a trainer or anyone to tell you and it is simply this:

The chicken wanted to get to the other side of the road

Puppies enjoying their meal

The above puppies are a cross between a German Shepherd dog and a Belgium Shepherd dog (Malinois).

The puppies’ parents were on the Novice Obedience Class with one of my Bouviers and they both have achieved the CD title and are involved in Schutzhound training.

Interested persons can contact Trevor O’Neale at 231-7676 ©, or 428-5722 (h) for more information such as their price or e-mail him at jimboallstars@hotmail.com

For many years now, dogs have been used to detect drugs and explosives at airports and other areas. We know they are also used to assist in finding lost humans and also used in the recovery process to locate dead bodies.

It is fascinating to read about the therapy dogs which are trained to go into hospitals and nursing homes and socialize and bring cheer and comfort to the residents of those organizations. I am sure that the dogs sense that they are dealing with humans who are not as strong as average and they are extra gentle with these people.

Children with autism have also been shown to respond well to therapy dogs.

There are dogs which are used as “seeing eyes” for the blind and also dogs used for the hearing impaired.

Even people with mobility problems can be assisted by trained dogs, who can assist by fetching things, opening doors and other household tasks.

Now in some prisons, dogs are used to help prisoners have a better sense of self esteem through training and programmes offer the prisoners a period of comfort, once they like dogs, and the sense of unconditional love and loyalty which dogs give so willingly.

There are dogs which are trained to alert people with epilepsy – these are known as seizure alert dogs – and these dogs when they alert the person, give the person a chance to call for help or even get themselves to a safer place. It is not known how dogs can sense these things which humans can not, but it may be a subtle change in chemical levels, maybe in sweat glands and/or the person’s breath.

Dogs used their powerful powers of scent to alert also for some types of cancer.

I recently learnt that there are Diabetic Alert Dogs known as DAD or hypoglycemia alert dogs. These are dogs which are trained to detect abnormal glucose levels in humans. These dogs, when they detect an abnormal level, then signal to the person, or the person’s family by barking, pawing or licking the person.

So although, diabetics can control their blood sugar levels through proper medication, the trained dog is a very valuable aid as it can identify when action needs to be taken. And this includes, even when a diabetic is sleeping, and the trained dog is in the room, the dog can wake and alert the person or the person’s family to the problem.

There are lots of real examples of dogs helping people who are diabetic.

These dogs are not easy to obtain and they can be expensive to buy because of their training. Golden Retrievers and Labradors and/or crosses of these breeds seem to be popular for use as Diabetic Alert Dogs.

It comes down to selecting the correct dog with the correct temperament and ability to do a task. Then a trainer needs to be skillful enough to develop the natural instincts and train the dog for the intended purpose.

Rita finally passed leg C of the CD trials and was the most difficult Bouvier I have ever had in the obedience ring.

Rita can move extremely fast when she wishes to chase after anything but in the obedience ring, once she knows there is no longer a leash attached to her collar or choke chain, she returns to being a terrible lagger.

So here is how we managed to pass:-

Understanding that dogs work with positive and/or negative reinforcement, I tried to make the exercise more fun for Rita. I tried to make it a game; I tried treats for close and fast heels. But when Rita sensed the treats were not forthcoming, she reverted to lagging and I could sense she was bored.

Then I tried a prong collar but Rita realized when the leash was not attached, she could do as she pleased again.

And as the off leash exercise was 45 points out of the total of 200, we had to pass and do well in the off leash exercise.

There are little tricks a handler can try in the ring to get a lagging dog to catch up. Beware, however, that these little tricks can cost the handler points but it is better to lose a few points than to fail the exercise.

A lagging dog might come in to a better heel with the handler calling the dog’s name, slapping his/her thigh for attention.

Touching the dog, or attempting to pull the dog by the collar will cost substantial points and so should not be done in an off leash heel exercise.

Another helpful tip, might be when you start the off leash heel exercise to alert the dog by saying heel before you step off as opposed to your starting to heel and then hoping the dog will follow.

Try not to look back at the dog, or accommodate your speed to the dog’s speed, and try always to do brisk heeling. You are not allowed to praise the dog during an exercise.

I had seen a few dogs and trainers using e-collars. One of these was Adrian Ward of BGI (a link is on my site) who is a Schutzhound trainer and some of the dogs he trained were on my class doing the CD title and these dogs all did good off leash heeling. So I spent an evening on the B’dos. Dog Training Club’s class with Linda Pearson using an e-collar on Rita.

When Rita lagged, she got a zap, and I had a very thin leash on her which was hanging so as to appear she was free, and I pulled her in close to me after the zap. Whenever she fell behind, she got a zap and after a few minutes, she realized that if she did not want the zap, she had better stay close to me. Rita learnt in one session to heel close to me.

To prevent her from being collar wise which I saw happen to another dog in the trials, I borrowed an e-collar (which was not working for some reason) from one of the other participants on the course and put the collar on her sometimes. So that she did not associate the collar at a training session with being zapped. And I did no heel work with her outside of the training grounds so she did not get the opportunity to do poor off leash heeling again and get away with it.

After only one session, although a working e-collar was placed on Rita on the training grounds for a second session, Rita was heeling and doing the about turns, left and right turns at a fast speed and was a different dog in the obedience ring.

So to people saying an e-collar should never be used, I don’t agree. It is a correction tool and I believe dogs need to be corrected from time to time. I think it should be used by experienced people and the dog should only get a zap when absolutely necessary and only at the exact time when it is exhibiting the behavior which needs to be changed.

There are a lot of factors in play when training for obedience. For instance, breeds like Golden Retrievers love to please and do well in obedience. Breeds like Border Collies excel in agility and obedience as they love to have “work” to do.

Dogs which come from kennels and are let out might regard the obedience exercises as fun. In contrast to dogs like Rita who are never kenneled and have their freedom and might therefore find the repetitive exercises very boring.

And for temperament, Rita was the ringleader of the litter of puppies she came from. She would march her litter mates down to the mango trees and break of a stem of young mangoes and everyone would chase her. And she would also be the last to get back inside the puppies’ enclosure and was the first to get out of the litter box and wander around.

So Rita is a very independent dog which has made her training more challenging. Unlike some parts the world, e-collars are not illegal in Barbados and I would recommend them being used for lagging dogs once the e-collars are used by experienced trainers.

Of course, I would always recommend using motivational methods such as praise, and rewards first on a lagging dog.

Here’s a video showing what a Novice trial looks like. In Barbados, the area is not fenced in. There is a ring which has ropes (and some dogs doing an off leash exercise do decide when they have had enough and exit the ring by going under the ropes )

Rita and Prince

A disappointing night for several handlers.

Highest mark in the CD trials went to a Golden Retriever who was handled by Jean Ray and this is the successful completion of the first leg of the trials.
In second place was a Labrador Retriever handled by Zoe Marshall who has now also passed the first leg of the CD trial.

In third place of the trials was my Bouvier Des Flandres who has now passed the third and final leg of the trials and so has achieved the CD title. Rita scored 180 out of a possible 200 points.

Passing leg A was the Pitbull Prince who is in the above photo and passing leg B was the Boxer.

Some handlers cancelled and some dogs which normally performed well had an off evening and so got scored under the required 170 points for a passing score.

Rhodeshian Ridgebacks at trials

There were no passing scores in the CDX trials.

And I will post later in the week, tips on passing the Novice Obedience Trials, especially with a lagging dog as I had that challenge with Rita.

Wednesday next week should have the largest amount of dogs on record doing a CD trial through The Barbados Dog Training Club.

The dogs are at different levels and I believe a dog doing leg C will be marked harder than a dog doing leg A.

The CD title consists of legs A, B and C.

The judge is Wayne Nicholls.

The trainer is Linda Pearson.

Doing leg C is Dahlia, who is a mixed breed and is actually what we call here a “cane” dog who was rescued by her owners. It is really nice to see the change in Dahlia since she started training as she was rather shy and nervous but now seems comfortable and happy among other dogs. If Dahlia passes leg C on Wednesday, she will go on to the first leg of the CDX.

And Rita, the free spirted Bouvier, who likes to clown around the ring. We passed legs A and B ages ago. I think Rita is bored by the repetition in obedience and she is an extremely independant dog – if she passes this time, I promise to reveal what I did to get her there. I also do no training with her at home.

Then we have Topaz, a German Shepherd dog who, like Rita, has scored high in one of the trials but has been stuck on leg C for a while.

Also doing leg C, is their friend Jack, a Golden Retriever.

Doing leg B is a Boxer, Kia and a German Shepherd dog, Leo.

Leg A has 10 dogs and these include a Pitbull, a Belgium Malinois, 2 Rhodesian Ridgebacks, 2 Golden Retrievers, 2 Labrador Retrievers, a German Shepherd dog, and an Irish Setter.

There are at least 2 dogs entered for the CDX, Cash, a Flatcoated Retriever and Lily a Rhodesian Ridgeback.

In the ring on Wednesday with their dogs will be several very experienced handlers, who are also trainers and some of them are also obedience judges.

I have no doubt that some of these dogs will sense the ring, the lights, and a different atmosphere and will be entertaining, especially when the leash comes off and they know that they are free

At this level none of these dogs should move from a stay position and so if one dog gets up and wanders among, I expect most will remain in the stay position.

The handlers do not select the order in which they go in the ring, for instance Rita goes in second and she will have Dahlia and Topaz on either side for the sits, downs, and stays exercise. Rita is very well liked and is not dog agressive and is friendly with both of these dogs. I would have no problems if Rita were placed between any of the other dogs. Always at trials, handlers hope to get their dog by dogs which will do reliable sits and downs so it does not affect their own dog.

This is a good group to watch as some of the dogs are from working lines and would be regarded as tough dogs. And some of the dogs, like the Golden Retrievers, which tend to be excellent at obedience trials, are very gentle.

E-collars are not illegal in Barbados. I would not advocate using them on the soft type breeds which are naturally subservient and different handlers will use different methods on their dogs and it is up to them to decide which method to use.

Quite a few of the dogs doing the CD trials are very motivated by food, some are motivated to work and no food is given to them with training. Some are motivated by toys.

At trials, no training aids are allowed in the ring.

For the CDX, which involves, the retrival of a dumb bell, it can become even more challenging for all breeds do not naturally retrieve. For those that don’t, a forced method of retrieve can be taught.

A group of us are hoping when we finally complete the CDX to go on to the Utility and I believe that would also be a first for The Barbados Dog Training Club and Barbados.

I am hoping to post pix. here and some results next week. Barbados is now in its rainy season and these trials were postponed from Wednesday this week because of the weather.

The trials start at 6 pm. and the Club always requests all handers, friends etc. to be there before 6 pm. Dogs should perform with distractions but it is very easy for dogs to fail if they get distracted in the ring for any reason, especially in the off leash heeling where the handler should lose substantial points if the dog is touched to bring it back to a heel position.

.