Conformation at Evelyn Kenney

I entered Spryte in conformation at the Evelyn Kenney dog show in July (along with obedience and rally).  I figured if I am going to be there for obedience, why not add something else to the mix. I often find there is too much down time at obedience trials. So having something else to do will fill up some of the day.  Besides I really do want to get that Championship.  It seems like an impossible goal right now, but I'm not the type to give up on my dog training goals, so we will just keep entering shows until it happens.  We have started practising our gaiting and stacking on the table.  I took a handling class for beginners last year and it was really helpful. The only problem is that I have forgotten most of what I was taught. It was just too long ago with no practise in between.  I wish I could get out to a handling drop in class before the show, but they are all in the evenings when I teach classes. So I will muddle along and hope I am doing it right.

 What amazes me most is how well Spryte adapts to the sport I am working on.  She can go from agility, to obedience to conformation and not skip a beat.  Too often I hear that you can't teach your conformation dog to sit (or attention heeling) and I just don't believe that is true.  As soon as I put Spryte's conformation collar and leash on and move her into a stacked position she knows what she is doing. My body language is completely different from the obedience ring and the commands are different as well. Right from the time Spryte was a puppy I started this with her.  She has no problem telling the difference between coming into a stacked stand and coming into an obedience front and sit.  The gaiting is different than obedience too. I hold my hands in a different position, move differently and they have different names. Yes she checks in with me a bit while gaiting, but it certainly isn't attention heeling. 

From day one when doing conformation I always rewarded her forward movement by throwing food on the ground out in front of her. This has her moving out and looking ahead for cookies that might appear.  She does not have her nose to the ground, she just scans ahead while moving.  In obedience the food is always fed out of my hand in exact heel position, this way she is always looking up at  me for the reward. Placement of rewards can greatly affect performances in any sport. Where you reward is where your dog is most likely to gravitate to.  Change the reward placement and you can often change how the dog performs the behaviour.  This is a training rule that I have always followed for all the sports I compete in with great results. Now if only there was a simple rule I could follow to guarantee a win in the conformation ring ;)

Here is Spryte winning Best Puppy in Breed with breeder Leane Lorenzen