"Stand for Exam" Story

The below is a post I wrote for an obedience email list after some people were mentioning different ways to train dogs for the stand for exam exercise. I was thinking about the various methods I used and thought my general experience might be useful for people to read. After posting it a reader asked my permission to post it on her website. It seems she felt it was a worthwhile story. I have not said yes or no yet because I need to check out her website first and make sure she is not promoting anything I disagree with.

And the story...

My first obedience dog was a 11 year old guy who had a hard life physically but still had a nice solid little temperament. (Adopted at 10, no obedience or training or house manners before that.) He was neither excitable or timid. The novice stand for exam (SFE) was very easy for us. He didn't resent the judge nor was he inclined to get all silly when pet. He just stood there. We always got full points. We did not go past novice due to his increasing deafness, which when combined with his dimming sight, made retrieves impossible. (A side note: perhaps my proudest training moment- a 12 year old dog doing a full length retrieve for the first time in his life. Took us a full year to get there. No play drive, no chase drive. Did it twice then when I tried it the next day he couldn't find the dumbbell. But he tried. I didn't ask him again. What a nice little dog he was.)

Around the time I started showing him, I found a score sheet from my childhood Rottweiler. At the conclusion of her obedience class, the instructor ran them through a pre-novice routine and the score sheet indicated our pet dog (handled by my mom) had failed the SFE. Having only the experience of my solid old man, I asked my mom, "What kind of dog fails the stand for exam?" Well, those fateful words laid a curse on me, and I have no one to blame but myself!

My next dog was shy when I got her, and even snapped at the very first stranger who tried to pet her. That was the day I pulled her from the shelter. (Now I know better- don't let people pet your brand new rescue dog until you know the dog better!) Before ever starting her in ob I had friends give her cookies, and she watched the old guy get pets, and figured people aren't so bad after all. She was always fine on the novice SFE. But when we got to utility she had problems. I was 10 feet away, and the stranger was being very intrusive on the bending over and petting all over. She did not like it. We got through it by me proofing all kinds of weird things like dragging a large branch under her and doing an exam with a pay phone hand set still attached to the pay phone. But she never liked the exam and for a dog of her temperament, I understand. We got the UD but did not go on. She felt abandoned and insecure with a stranger feeling her up while I was some distance away. I trained her to endure it, but did not want to subject her to it after the UD. She has come so far from that first day, though. She happily goes up to strangers for pets, but I am with her, and she controls the situation by approaching the stranger, not them approaching her. The SFE is a good way to show your dog is trained, but a very artificial exercise that goes againstthe dog's nature.

Onto dog number 3. A Malinois. Big. Scary. Sometimes have iffy temperaments? Ummm.... no. Pie cannot contain her excitement at the thought of a stranger petting her. The stranger you are, the more she loves you. Her even most best favorite? Very, very, large men. A new training challenge. Going from a shy dog who resents the exam to a dog who loves it so much she wants to come towards the judge as they approach, or follow the judge as they leave for more pets, and if she is able to contain those impulses, wiggle so much while being pet the feet move quite a bit. We've had many comments about her being the friendliest Malinois examined. There are other Mals out there who are very friendly, but Pie is just the most demonstrative. She has her UD and a few UDX legs, but I still do not have a solid STF. It has gotten better over time, but not perfect by any means.

And my newest dog. Another Mal. Just 17 months. Haven't been working AKC obedience and there is no SFE in SchH. But I will do AKC eventually. Dottie is friendly also, but not nearly as wiggly as Pie. I think if I train it carefully she will have a nice solid stand. Maybe I have gone full circle, back to my first dog, and will have a nice fat Zero under point deductions for SFE, but never again will I ask the fateful question, "What kind of dog fails the stand for exam?" Because I know only too well- lots of kinds fail, and I've had all of them!


Bloom: "I was the best Stand for Exam dog ever!"



Blossom: "I did not get to do SFE, but I probably would have been good. And if not as good as Bloom, just as cute!"


Fancy: "Stand for exam was not my favorite. Sorry."



Pie: "Pet me. Please? See, I even have three antenna and pretty beautiful butterfly wings to make me more petable and less scary. And petable is a real word because it describes me most truly. I am the most petable Malinois ever. Pet me and find out. You'll see. Just do it." (Wiggle, ears back, wiggle....)



Dottie:"I promise not to do this to the judge during the stand for exam when I finally do AKC obedience. Unless he has a padded sleeve, and a stick that he waves at me. And if that happens, it probably isn't AKC obedience, so then it is ok, right?"