'Good Dog' and Competition Obedience

Lately, I've been watching the series Good Dog on Hulu.  Dr. Stanley Coren, who's the host of the show, has a lot of good advice about dogs... although there is some of it with which I don't agree.  Still, most of the advice is sound, and it's a good time waster on this three-day weekend.

One of the first things I noticed about his training methods was that they were very much in exact line with my first foray into training dogs.  When I was about 13 or 14 years old, two of the teachers at the middle school I was going to at the time were involved in competition obedience trials through the AKC.  Because of this, they decided to offer an after-school class to students and their dogs to help them learn basic obedience commands.  If it wasn't already obvious, from there it kind of snowballed for me in a big way.

But the core of the type of training that I learned then is still what I use today.  [Not particularly with Sadie -- I'll get to that in another post.]  I would still use those metal training collars, and I've never even clicked one 'clicker' in my life.

Not to say those training methods aren't great.  Just to say I've never had experience with them, and thus don't use them.

The Good Dog series I've been watching on Hulu, though, has made me really, really wish that I was back in competition obedience at the AKC shows.  One of the things I'd love to do most is take a group obedience class with Sadie.  Not only would it get us both out of the house (and hopefully help with her socialization ... and mine), but it would be a great refresher to maybe get back into dog shows again.

Here's an episode of Good Dog that has a great segment of a little bit of what competition obedience is like:



Pretty cool, no?

If you're thinking you can't compete in dog obedience at an AKC show because you don't have a purebred dog, you'd be wrong (fortunately!)  The AKC Canine Partners Program allows for registration of mixed breeds to compete in obedience, agility, rally and other events.  There are some stipulations, such as the fact that the dog must be spayed or neutered, but they're fairly minimal.  The fee for registration isn't that much, either.

Someday.  Someday, I'll be able to do all of that stuff.  But until I can, maybe one YOU can and then post about it so I can live vicariously through your actions.  :)

It's at least something neat to check out!