Dottie's BH

Dottie passed her BH on Saturday. The BH is an obedience and temperament test all dogs who wish to participate in Schutzhund must pass before they can go on to earn other titles. I decided to enter Dottie for her BH when I decided to buy the trailer. I knew I had to travel over 300 miles to pick it up, and didn't want to waste a weekend driving with no dog events to participate in. There were no obedience or agility trials in the vicinity of Northern CA that weekend, but there was a SchH trial. I began working extra hard on Dottie's obedience and sent our entry in. She didn't know how to "finish" (go from the front position after a recall into the heel position) and everything else needed polishing. Your obedience for the BH does not have to be perfect, you just have to get enough points to pass (it is pass/fail) then you go onto the "traffic" portion which tests to make sure the dog is safe for society.

After working hard to get more ready, I was disappointed when the club holding the trial called me to say I was on the wait list. I relayed my disappointment to a member of my SchH club who told me the San Diego Club was holding a trial on the same weekend, and our helper/ decoy was judging. Unlike AKC, anyone can show under anyone else, unless you are in the same household as the judge. Even though the club was in San Diego, 3 hours in the opposite direction that I would be headed to pick up the trailer, I decided to go. I had missed the first closing date, but the club was nice enough to let me in anyway. Also something that wouldn't be able to happen in AKC.

The show started in the afternoon, so I had plenty of time to drive down. Which was good since it was raining very, very hard. It rained so hard I had to creep along because I couldn't see through my windshield. It rained for just about the entire 3 hrs. Complicating matters was the fact that I didn't know where I was going. I did not receive directions on how to get to the club, and they do not have a website! I did not have a number for the club. I called a few different people as I drove and got some directions which got me there.

I arrived at the field and walked Dottie around a bit. The judge (who I know) showed up and had me walk Dottie on the field and do a down in the long down spot so she could eyeball her surroundings. The other dogs present at the time had been to the field before and were familiar with the surroundings, or, they had already helped themselves to practice. It is good he had us check out the long down spot because the location is marked with a small flag, which Dottie was convinced was a tracking flag. Down went her nose and "Sniff, sniff, SNIFF!" could be heard, probably back at my house. If it had been in the trial, hauling her away from the flag by her leash probably would have been frowned on. After chilling awhile in the down spot, we left the field a did a little warm up since we were the first team. A few days before the trial Dottie had started giving me "poop face" while heeling. This is when she squints her eyes and puts her ears back and does not have the nice forward, interested expression/ attitude that is so important in SchH. Yet another difference from AKC- attitude is judged. If your dog trots on the retrieve, you have a big problem. If your dog flinches on the down in motion, you get points off. Compulsion is used by the majority of SchH trainers, and yet the best trainers still have dogs who are happy workers, because if they are unhappy workers, they will not score well. Back to the poop face- maybe it came up because I had been working her too much or for some other unknown reason, but it was not present at our club's field the Thursday before the trial, and it was not present at our BH either, I am happy to report.

The first part of the BH is a very general temperament test. You shake the judge's hand and he checks a tattoo or microchip. No problem. Then we went onto the field. Dottie had to do the Long Down Under Distraction first, while the other dog did his routine. I should have spent more time training this. I was very nervous she would break, but somehow she made it through, albeit with some wiggling and turning sideways. After the other dog was done, I returned to Dottie and it was our turn.

We started off our 50 paces down field and I could see out of the corner of my eye Dottie was projecting the picture I worked hard to get. Head up, ears up, looking at my face. Our about turn could have been a bit better (it is a turn to the left.) I thought our fast to the slow was pretty good. Into the group and she got really distracted and the leash was tight, but then she caught back up. Leash off for off leash heeling, back into the group. Dottie nosed one man in the rear end and he turned around to see what was going on. Maybe I thought I was poking him?

Our next trouble spot was on the right turn near the end of the heeling off leash. I completely lost sight of Dottie out of the corner of my eye. Where was she? I lost count of my paces (the judge does not call the heeling pattern) and had to make something up. She eventually caught up and we finished. I heeled her over to set up for the moving sit and the judge told me - praise her. It's not that I forget, just that sometimes I can't figure out when you are allowed to do it and went you can't.

On the sit in motion she did a down- pretty common mistake but I know she can do a very nice sit. I know we'll get it during our SchH 1 routine. Her down in motion was nice with a fast recall and good finish. Then we reported out and were done with the obedience portion. The judge knows Dottie is young and called her slight lapses of attention "young dog moments." I call them "shinny penny moments" (as in - Look! A penny!) or maybe I should call them Orange Moments-I'll have to relay that story another time. We had some good feedback- he said her drive and desire for the work is very good. There was one exercise we got an Excellent on, but I can't remember which one. Except for the sit (insufficient) we got all High Very Goods and Very Good. Maybe the long down was only a Good. I wish I got a copy of our sheet so I could report more accurately and not be accused of inflating our ratings, but they don't do that.

After the critique, I gave Dottie a proper reward, then put her away. Then I put my Gortex rain gear on because it started pouring. ALL the other teams got soaked. I'm not sure Dottie would have held her long down in a downpour, as some of the other dogs did not. So, we were lucky!

Most of the other BH teams passed obedience. One GSD was very silly and had some very good moments but also broke the long down and did not do the sit or down in motion so could not be passed.

The protection dogs did their Obedience routines which adds retrieves and a really long go out. Then it was onto the traffic portion. The rain had mostly stopped but now it was really muddy. I had to be careful not to slip. Dottie didn't have a problem with anything, even though the judge is the person she gets to bite every week. She knows when it is time for biting and when it is not time. Mostly the presence of the bite sleeve tells her when it is time.

After passing the traffic portion, Dottie now had her BH. Her first title! Introducing Dottie von V(my last name removed) BH!!

I watched the protection routines before heading home. A 2 year old female GSD got a 90 going for her SchH2 (but she failed OB so no title this time) and a big male GSD was excused for being out of control while trying for his 3. He kept biting the helper when it was not time, such as during the set up for the escape or during the back transport. It was a small trial- those were the only 2 dogs entered.

We headed home to get some rest before the trip North to get the trailer. Even though the first trial didn't work out, I'm glad it was suggested I go to San Diego. The drive was long and the rain was wet, but it was worth it. I am looking forward to showing Dottie in her obedience for the SchH 1 (need work on the retrieves) and in AKC obedience. She is the first dog I put so much time into getting a certain style of heeling. And also really focusing on attention. Pie is sadly lacking in attention. I wish I had trained her correctly. But I didn't know how to get what I wanted. Now I (mostly) do, thanks to the trainer in the SchH club!

No pictures because it was dark and raining. Wait! I found this:

http://k9fundamentals.com/blog/2010/11/san-diego-diensthund-club/

And this! http://picasaweb.google.com/lodestar.shepherds/SanDiegoDiensthundClub#