Let me just say – admit if you will – that there’s been a couple of times, and yes, a couple of wild, crazy (and fun) dogs that I’ve shown for myself and others, who’ve caused my life to flash before my eyes while my brain screamed “…going down” as I wildly attempted to steer a sixty pound mass of muscle covered in black and tan fur into a left turn as the dog lunged full speed ahead, and headlong toward the corner of the ring showing absolutely no sign of braking for any kind of turn. Look out spectators, look out ring-fence, look out world I’m about to get slammed into a three foot fence that I know these old legs can’t jump! No people, my hair didn’t get this gray primping around the ring with well-behaved little girlie puff-ball.

I wasn’t planning to name any names, but I’m sort of on a roll here, thoughts are moving far too fast in my head from the memory of those racing seconds of insanity so I simply have to throw out a couple of names that are bouncing around my brain like kids on a trampoline screaming for attention. First to mind is Isaac, many thanks to Mary Ann for that Mr. Toad’s wild ride! Then there was Julie. As a pup she not only raced around the ring but also loved to stop in front of the judge with a jump to my chest that landed her paw deep in my pocket – more than once. Removing dog’s foot from your pocket standing in front of judge – priceless? Nope, it’s as bad as removing one’s foot from one’s own mouth.  And one more jumps to mind from long ago, a favorite puppy named Hyatt who I’m thinking might have reincarnated as Isaac because their naughtiness was so similar I often forgot it was Isaac and not Hyatt on the end of my leash.

Old stories aside, I guess maybe we ought to get back to the learning part of this blog article. For those of you who don’t fancy yourselves as race car drivers on a leash maybe you’ll want to read these handling articles by Peter Frost who shares his techniques on how to communicate with your dog by sending the right signals. If racing around the ring at the speed of light with your dog out in front headed for the finish line more than a nose ahead of you simply isn’t your style, Peter may have some answers you’ll like. Obviously from from the stories I just told I’m not the answer lady, nope, no Ann Landers sitting behind this keyboard.  So, the links are all set up below, all you have to do is point and click. I promise not to drag you along at warp speeds.

Part 1 – Speaking dog – use signals your dog understands

Part 2 – Speaking dog – use signals your dog understands

Part 3 – Speaking dog – use signals your dog understands

Here’s another good training article for show dogs from The Whole Dog Journal titled How to Train Show Dogs by Vicki Ronchette

And another more good place to learn some tricks is will be found by pointing your cursor and clicking on these links:

How to Show Train Your Dog by Karon  Pryor – Part  1  Shaping for the Show Ring

How to Show Train Your Dog by Karon  Pryor – Part  2  Shaping for the Show Ring

How to Show Train Your Dog by Karon  Pryor – Part  3  Shaping for the Show Ring

How to Show Train Your Dog by Karon  Pryor – Part  4  The Extended Trot

Photos by Bob Segal

Sally Gift, Mesa AZ