Addicted to her ball - Page 1

Star, my show line girl, often sleeps with her ball in her mouth. (Actually, it's a much-abused Bad Cuz toy.) It's very hard to get a picture of her doing it, as she wakes at the slightest noise, hoping I will actually PLAY with her. The camera beeps when I turn it on, and that is enough to wake her up.

BIIIG stretch, after the beep woke her: 



Settles back down but still has one eye open, just in case...




OHHH, the guilt pangs she causes! Have to get off this dang computer and give her some attention! 

Hmmm....showline that actually has some ball drive....ya think??


 

Sunsilver, there are SL with drive, just like there are WL with VA conformation,......all knowledgable breed people know this, keep up work with your girl.

Oh, I know that, Gustav!  Just doing a bit of teasing! 

This isn't the rescue girl, BTW, but my 6 year old American/German cross (Ursus/Dallas lines). Ursus produced a lot of SL with good work ethic, and Jimmy claims he did some schutzhund with Dallas, so she comes by that drive naturally.

The trainer at our club was skeptical when I first brought her to training. He changed his tune after she really got excited about the tug I was using to get her into drive.

"I'm seeing two different dogs here!" he confessed.

Her tracking is A1. She shows good promise for protection.

Now, if ONLY we can nail that focused heel. That's the hardest thing to do, after all those years of AKC style heeling! 

She sounds like fun.  Oddly enough, Rose is just now getting a ball drive (she'll be 4 in July).  I keep the ball put up and she goes nuts as soon as I go any where near it.

My Showline bred male (very Uran) has tons of ball drive, still even
@ 10 years.
On walks we HAVE to play two-ball at EVERY opportunity,
always have.  Never tried him with bitework,  but given his interest
in streaking after thrown balls over & over again, and his degree
of possession and his hold on the ball if we have a 'tug' game with
it, i'd say he stood a fair chance of being okay at grip etc if he had
been put through SchHund.  For a (euro)S/L, anyway !!    

she looks ready to have a go at playing with you!

Sunsilver, are you wanting to just title her in SchH, or are you aiming for a podium? 

If it's the former, screw the 'focused heel' crap.  It's completely unnatural as a sustained position while moving, and if the dog already has a good natural  heeling style why mess that up for a few extra points?  I submit that a dog that is able to be aware enough of the handler to be precise and 'on-a-dime' on 90 degree and about-turns is giving plenty of focus and attention to the handler without having it's head cocked to it's right and up at a 45 degree angle [which I doubt it very comfortable, either]. Personally, I prefer my dog be watchful of what's happening all around us, instead of staring at my face.  Just some encouragement to NOT obsess over trying to 'fix' your girl's heeling style if the only thing that's broken about it that she looks straight ahead.

 

Thanks, Hexe! I think a big part of the problem is my extreme dislike of that stupid, unnatural focused heel!

Star is 6 already. I will be quite happy to just put an IPO 1 on her before she's too old to work!

A fervent 'Amen' to Hexe's post.

I have three AKC people that I am working with that want IPO 1 on their dogs and they are doing the regular obedience. As long as the dog is in the right position in all phases of the obedience they will pass. The heeling looks similar to the heeling you see on the dog when heeling behind the decoy except for the forging....they feel this is more correct, and I personally agree with them. These people are longtime obedience and breed people, but their commitment to training is awesome and I will get them to their titles.( plus they are my age, so none of my exercise is better than yours approach to training...lol), so you can do it !