Recalls and shyness

[BARTASBORDERS]

Belle,when she does recalls comes trotting straight in but about halfway or so she starts to act timid and slows down.Then sits about 1 foot away(out of my reach).She absolutely does not take any treats,so that won't work.Yesterday I noticed she has responded really good at shorter distances and I clap my hands.Then she really comes running in and sits practically with her nose in my crotch.This is good but of course at shows I won't be able to clap my hands.And I have 2 weeks before the next one to keep working at it.Any suggestions? Also she has always been good at stand for exam and this last show,both days she decided to sit after the exam.The first day the judge only knocked 3 points off and told me she still qualified because "the exam was over".The next day we had a mean judge who said we didn't qualify because we blew it in the stand for exam.I personally think we got robbed of our 3rd leg because he placed other dogs over her who really screwed up.He was pretty nasty in the end and didn't want to go over our scoresheet with us.Oh well,we'll keep trying

[Guest Kat]

Do you always make her sit in front when you are practicing your recalls? When practicing recalls I do not make my dogs sit in front every time, I alternate it with throwing a toy or treat thru my legs and then I want the dog to go between my legs. When doing this you wait until they are almost to you before you would throw the toy between your legs and then sometimes make her sit in front of you. This way she never knows if you are going to throw the toy or make her sit and it's a guessing game for her. She needs to come in all the way each time because she doesn't know when you may or may not throw the toy/food. Remember no matter how long they have been doing any exercise, to keep it fun and don't always practice every thing as a formal excersise like in the ring. Keep training fun and interesting and keep her thinking. You always need to be one step ahead of a Border Collie, which isn't always easy.

 

As for the sitting on the stand for exam, I understood the excersise to not be over until you had returned all the way up to the dog's shoulder. If you are not back to the shoulder than it is a NQ.

 

Good luck,

Kathy

[BARTASBORDERS]

Oh my golly,no wonder the board was down for a few days.Look at all the neat icons I can play with.Anyway you talked about making recall fun.Belle is weird and doesn'tgo after toys or balls or treats.I did find she goes nuts with me clapping my hands real fast. We have been working with that.I also took a break from school for a week or two.If I work on one exercize at home we do it for 3-5 min. and that's it.But your idea makes sense whch I'll use with Crystal later since she does go after toys.Thanks Kat

[Guest Kat]

Opps- I "stand" corrected on my comment in an earlier post about when you NQ on the stand for exam. I went back and reread the regulations.

 

"Minor or substantial deductions, depending on circumstance, shall be made for a dog that moves its feet at any time, OR SITS, or moves away after the examination has been completed."

 

I read that as meaning that if your dogs sits after the exam has been completed that you should still qualify and that you should only be penalized.

 

It always helps to read the regs(insturctions) before saying too much.

 

Kathy