We got our AKC title and high in trial! - Page 5

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"One question.  I noticed the handler had her left hand locked to her body.  In Sch often a handler will be dinged for this as 'handler help'.  Is that not the case with AKC?"

KCjaza's right.  Also, the animated Schutzhund arm movement a lot of SchH people use while heeling would wipe you out in AKC as handler help.  If you're heeling along swinging those arms you're losing points with every step, as it's considered cuing.  If that left arm is swinging as opposed to hanging at your side, you're getting deductions.  AKC's version of "swinging" is pretty minor movement, and if you leave your left arm down, the SchH dog is probably going to be touching it simply because of their size, and that's a deduction every single time as well, so it's better to keep that arm out of dog-touching, dog-cuing range.

The other thing is the group sits and downs - the dogs are not alone out in the middle of a field, but are lined up in a row right next to each other.  Judges give as much space as possible.  In a small class the dogs might be 3-4 feet apart, but sometimes it's only 2 feet or so, so your dog must absolutely be stable around strange dogs who may be eyeballing them during the stays, or even leaning towards them sniffing.  Novice Sit is 1 minute, Down is 3 minutes, with handlers in the ring, standing at the other end of the ring in a row opposite their own dogs.  In the Open Class the Sit is 3 minutes, the Down is 5 minutes, and the handlers leave completely and go out of sight so the dogs are alone (the judge and 2 stewards are in the ring and if a dog breaks and approaches another dog the steward will take it by the collar and not allow that.  But as happened to my dog a couple weeks ago, the dog next to him fell in love with him and spent the 3 and 5 minute stays leaning as FAR as she could towards him, stretching out her neck like a giraffe (the judge's words) and sniffing sniffing sniffing.  Thank goodness (and training!) he ignored her).

Let me see if I understand hand placement now for AKC, it is better to hold both hands similar to the left hand in this video then let either swing free?    I did a bit of fun AKC type OB with one of my dogs years ago.  My left hand was locked like in the video,  I actually don't remember now what I did with my right hand.

BTW, that was a very nice OB routine.  Thanks for posting it.

That was a nice video. Thanks for posting.

How do people get their dogs to be calm while doing this routine ? My Mal acts like she's walking on broken glass, her feet are prancin' a mile a minute the whole time.

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Tess,

That's an interesting difference, as in Sch having your hand locked up like in the video would be considered cueing or helping.

It's neat to note the differences but regardless the video is of a very well trained dog!

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" Would it be accurate to say most any of us with real working dogs ought to be able to walk into most any AKC OB event and win without trying? Isn't this normal and expected OB?"

Depends.  I do Schutzhund and the "other" stuff (rally, obedience, dock diving, agility, etc) and one of the main differences is being indoors in a super chaotic environment, VERY small rings.  To be honest sometimes I feel like our Schutzhund obedience is a breeze when we have this huge, open field all to ourselves besides the judge and the long down dog (in rally you have an "honor" dog and the last trial I was in, the dog was ON the course, which was in a very small ring).  Most of the work for me and my shepherds has really been the environment.  My male already knows all the skills for all levels of Rally and Novice and Open obedience (haven't done scent descrinimation yet) and he is still a puppy but I am not trialing him because he's not ready for the chaos and I intend to win with him, not just qualify.  He will probably do his SchH1 before I take him into the UKC ring for rally and obedience.

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 From MickeyD the real story on results:

http://www.akc.org/events/search/index_results.cfm?action=plan&event_number=2010127601&cde_comp_group=OBED&cde_comp_type=&NEW_END_DATE1=&key_stkhldr_event=

San Antonio Dog Training Club, Inc.
Saturday, March 6, 2010 -
Held at Hill Country Youth Exhibition Center
Kerrville, TX

Highest Scoring Dog in Regular Classes
Open B, OTCH Winddance Black Avenger UDX7 OM3 AX AXJ AXP OJP OFP Shetland Sheepdog B Barnes

Highest Combined Score in OB and UA/UB
Mystic Mtn Moonlight Jasmine UD RAE Pomeranian P Cantwell/D Cantwell

(The High combined and High in Trial awards are the only "high in trial" designations that AKC officially recognizes and reports/keeps in its records).

Open B
Mrs. H Smith (25t) 25 total dogs
1st OTCH Winddance Black Avenger UDX7 OM3 AX AXJ AXP OJP OFP, Shetland Sheepdog B Barnes pts 198.0

Novice A
Mr. B L Roland (6t)
1st Uno Vom Klausener Grund, German Shepherd Dog W Pool pts 175.5

Number of qualifying scores earned in this trial: 29
Lowest qualifying score in this trial: 175.5

200-170=30
198-175.5=22.5 points between HIT and Novice "A" winner
Minimum score required to qualify in AKC sanctioned obedience trials - 170 out of 200 points.