Working Dog Trials??

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Taffyhorse

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Anybody done them?

From what I've read, seems a bit like gundog/retrieving for non-gundogs if that makes sense - though will happily stand corrected if I've got it wrong :-0

Anyway, thoughts/opinions/ etc all welcome.

Have enquired at our local agility class and while looking on their website spotted this which I thought looked fun and he is a bit of a natural (read 'obsessive' for natural) retriever. Have already done a bit of work getting him to 'seek' and started basic directive commands (my folks have gundogs so am a bit more comfortable with that scene) but just wondered how similar it is and what people think about it.

Sorry for ramble - am half asleep on couch pondering going to bed but too comfy (and engrossed in HHO) to mover :-)

Cheers :-)
 
Do you mean Working Trials, this combines obedience, agility and tracking. There are several levels, starting at companion dog, then utility dog, working dog, tracking dog and protection dog.
 
I go to working trials.

When I think working trials I think the disciplines like tracking, protection/manwork etc, which are completely different from gundog trials.

Under the British scheme you can do the CD, PD, UD, OD, TD type qualifications as MM mentions whereas I (try to :p) do the German qualifications.
Basic qualification commands a strict heelwork pattern, on and off leash, inc group work, then a long down, then character tests (bike, car, jogger, other dog, dog must remain passive)

All the German qualifications can either be taken in one go or broken down into individual qualifications like the English ones (for instance, my dog has no interest in protection work and he won't retrieve a dumbell, so we can go no further in those disciplines, but he has an aptitude for tracking so we do that instead.)

What breed is your dog?
 
MM - yes I think so (sorry, said I was tired) - it sounds about right anyway although the club whose website I was looking at seems to focus more on the obedience/tracking side of things but they probably do go right through the levels - it was just an introductory course I was looking at.

Have you done it with you dogs?
 
CC - this seems more focussed on the tracking/retrieving side of things but I'm just going on the website blurb, they may do more than that at the club.

He's a Border Collie :-)
 
Yay, go tracking, it's great fun :D
Not sure what the British style ones do but at the start we lay our own tracks.

The retrieval part for us expects three different dumbbells to be retrieved, large on the flat, medium over a 1m hurdle and small over the A-frame.
Usually start this training by sitting on a chair facing the dog, legs akimbo, holding a rolling pin :p
Not sure if the other system is different or not.
 
Well it looks like fun - apart from the 9am start on a Sunday morning :-0

I think you do lay your own trails once you get to a certain point but like I said I've only read the blurb on the website which is pretty basic. They have a 2 day 'intro' training course coming up though so might give that a whirl to see if we like it or not :-)

I like the idea of tracking - sounds like fun. And I can rub my Dad's nose in it that my BC can track just as well as his labradors :-)
 
I don't do WT, but a few dogs I have bred have done so, and my friend has a dog who has currently qualified up to Working Dog level, now approaching TD.
Roughly, the tests include basic heelwork, on and off lead, a send away (send to a point a distance away and then lie down), a long down stay (think its 10 minutes), retrieve over a scale jump (like a tall wooden fence, dog scrambles up and over), a clear jump at around 3' and a long jump. Tracking work involves a search square, which is as it sounds a dog searching a marked out square and retrieving items with the judges scent , tiny things like cotton reels so they have to use their nose not eyes, and a track, which is following the judges or a helpers trail over a distance, finding articles on the way. Once they get to the higher levels of TD and PD it gets a lot tougher, some of the PD tests I have heard of sound quite scary, e.g. in a wood at dusk and various "criminals" leaping out at you.
Like obedience there are loads of BCs do trials, you certainly have a suitable breed.:D
 
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