Our team consisted of two standard poodles, two Nova Scotia Duck Tollers, a Border Terrier, a Scottie and Jackson. The class had been studying dogs so we talked a little about our breed of dog and demonstrated some obedience exercises, then had a meet and greet with the students. All in all it was great fun.
Here's some of the photos taken at the visit.
Some of our team members.
Demonstrating the Stand for Exam
The Figure 8
Drop on Recall
Retrieving the dumbbell
I've added this last photo so Laura could see there actually was a Toller present : )
9 comments:
Very fun! What a great opportunity for proofing and for the kids to learn! I am disappointed though that you didn't include any pictures of the 2 tollers!
Hey Laura, I've added a photo with one of the tollers in it. The reason they were not in more of the photos is because their owner was our primary spokesperson. She was too busy giving commands and explaining what we were doing that her dogs didn't get worked as much as the others. She does have very nice working dogs - one is an OTCh and the other one is working on his UDX.
I love it! I'd love to do a demonstration at a school. Layla has a great time at the school and the library for the kids to read to her, but I think she'd like it even more to show off for them.
Thanks for commenting on my MA trip. I'm going to do a post soon about the Stay with Me stuff. You're exactly right, it's meant to support good heeling. It (theoretically) will be a lot easier to teach the specifics of heeling to a dog who's already walking with you and adjusting to where you go. It's a foundation piece that we've severely let go. There are times when the dog is on a "with me" when they should be staying close and paying attention to me and also times when they're on a "free" and free to do what they want (sniff, wander, etc) at their own pace. The issue is that Layla lives her life in a "free" and never has been told that there are some times when it is NOT all about her! It works wonders though, even just the little bits that we've been working since we've come back have been a huge help.
I bet the school visit was a ton of fun. I know I'd have loved to see a demonstration like that when I was in school!
Jackson had to be a hit with the kids being so big! Hopefully he inspired them to try some training in the future.
Oh, loved this post!! What wonderful pictures - and what a worthwhile thing to do! NOthing like showing by example and hopefully, it will inspire these children to grow up to be responsible dog owners who will value training. Jackson looks so patient & good with them!
By the way, am really glad you liked my Oxford post so much - I've put up part 2 now - hope you enjoy it as much too!
Hsin-Yi
How fun! I love school demos! Bet you guys had a great time. ( :
Hi Kathie - sorry for the delay in responding - I wanted to double check with one of our judges before getting back to you about the copyrighted music...
Basically, as I understand it, it shouldn't be an issue if the music is "live" in the room with you (not dubbed over the video like a soundtrack) - after all, this is no different to somebody filming themselves playing with their dogs in the living room and having the radio on in the background...and as long as we are not using the performances for commercial purposes, ie. not selling tickets for people to come & watch or trying to use them to promote a specific product or something.
I have also looked up this issue on the World Canine Freestyle Organisation (WCFO) website which is one of the organisations that runs competitions in the US and awards titles for Canine Freestyle - here is the relevant page on their website (go to Page 7 & Page 14):
http://www.worldcaninefreestyle.org/guidelines/WCFOGuidelinesMarch2009%20.rtf
- they run both live competitions and video competitions which are open to any dog across the world. (I've often considered entering Honey in one of theses but have just been too lazy! :-) Guess competiting is just not a priority for me!)
One of our judges, Sue Cordwell (Owner of Charlie the Toy Poodle) runs Melbourne Canine Freestyle and organises competitions & public demos and she has a licence for using music. She agreed with what I said above that as long as the music is live in the background and not for commerical purposes, it is fine - but in any case, she said we can always refer to the fact that one of the judges holds a music licence.
- also, you might be interested in having a look at the Canine Freestyle Federation Inc website (another US organisation that runs Freestyle titling events, seminars, etc - as there are several articles which may be of interest to you - particularly the ones like "Where Obedience stops and Freestyle begins" and "More than just Heeling", etc: http://www.canine-freestyle.org/articles.asp
Hope this answers your question!
Hsin-Yi
One of our judges, Sue Cordwell, actually runs
ps. If you're REALLY worried, you could always find "royalty free" music online and choose one of those tracks - although I have to say, most of them are pretty dire!! :-)
Here are some sites with copyright-free music:
http://www.stonewashed.net/free-music.html
http://www.opensourcemusic.com/
(also, you know anything over 70yrs old, I think, is in the public domain so some of the old classics...)
Hope this helps!
Hsin-Yi
I hope this means you ARE doing a routine with Jackson??!!!! :-)
Post a Comment