Page 17 - Sloughi Review - Issue 1
P. 17
THE SLOUGHI REVIEW 17
We were now two thirds of the way and There were two tasks we found
everyone was determined to carry on and particularly difficult with George: the first
try for the Gold award. So much hard work one was "stop the dog" and the objective
had gone before it would be silly to give up was, with George off the lead we had to
now and we had also become a very close call him from a distance then during his
and friendly little team despite no one recall we had to get him to stop on the
knowing each other prior to joining the spot. Getting George motivated wasn’t
class. The next week the exercise sheets always the easiest thing to do and when we
for the gold test were handed out and so did get him going, we really struggled to
the final phase commenced. get him to do the stop. Another member
who had been through the training several
The gold test is again an extension of all times with her Shelties gave us a little tip
that has gone before such as food about using a treat to get George to stop.
manners, road walking, examination of the
dog and responsibility and care. The down George practising his manners when out and about
stay this time included a period when the © Michael Atkinson
owner had to move out of sight of the dog
for at least 30 seconds. This doesn’t sound The idea was that as you call the dog you
very long but during the test it seems like have a treat in your hand, down low for the
an eternity. The list of the ten exercises dog to see, and as you call your dog you
required included more off lead work and raise your hand and shout stop at the same
reaction to commands, including a walk time, also throwing the treat to land
free beside the handler for about 40 paces behind your dog. This worked really well
with several changes of direction, a walk for George and you eventually do it
where the dog had to be left whilst the without the treat... success!
handler kept walking and on command the
dog should return to the handlers side, T he second difficult task for us was “send
relaxed isolation where the dog has to be the dog to bed.” The object of this exercise
left fastened up and the handler goes out is as it indicates.
of sight for between 2 and 5 minutes, the
dog is allowed to move but must remain
calm and not become agitated or stressed.
We found these exercises interesting as
most of the dogs were good but again you
could never be sure your dog wasn’t going
to be the one that wanted to amuse
everyone and go off in his own direction.
