Havanese in Obedience Class

We attended Obedience training last night in this little town in the middle of nowhere called Blackstock, about an hour from our home.

Treasure was a bit worn out yesterday from non-stop playing with Abigail that starts from the moment they wake up until the moment they go to bed. However, Fiona is also an equal opportunity gal and will take a time out from playing with Abigail to play with Fiona, Shoshi, Terra or anyone else with a heartbeat. And they all seem to prefer to be outside where the temperatures yesterday were ridiculous.

Anyway, the Instructor came to me and said that one of the other participants in the class mentioned that her friend was going to be showing a Havanese at Westminster. So I went right over to her and asked if that friend was Kim and that dog Gina. It was. She had seen Kim and Gina (Rockhurst’s Oh La La) at the Vet’s getting their shots the other day. Small world. I proudly explained that Gina and Treasure both come from the wonderful Rockhurst Havanese.

Of course the entire class loves Treasure. Last night one of the things we practiced was the recall. I put Treasure in a stay at one end of the room. The rest of the dogs are lined up along the sides all the way down the room. There is a standard collie, two border collies, and a golden retriever. They all want to play with Treasure. So I placed her in a stand stay and walked to the other side of the room. Then I called Treasure ...... COME accompanied by the standard hand signal and that little munchkin came barreling towards me like she got shot out of a cannon.

In spite of all Darlah’s best and continuing efforts to steal her away from me I am managing to establish a bond. The rest of the class were in awe of her cuteness and of course she is the smartest dog in the room and no, I have no bias whatsoever.

Then we practiced behaviour shaping. In this case we wanted the dogs to understand when we wanted them to go to their bed. We brought in the donut bed from the car. Naturally as soon as I placed it on the ground Treasure trotted over and crawled into it. The rest of the class spent 5 minutes trying to get their dogs onto a mat or whatever on their own volition. They would reward when they figured out to go to their mat. Treasure just watched me for treats from the bed.

She heels. Tail is always up, in motion. When one of the large dogs get in her face the tail might droop for a few seconds and then it is right back up again. She is learning good coping skills.

Next week is our last Obedience class. Then she needs to start Handling classes. She is getting more comfortable on the table but is not yet entirely comfortable and will be worse in a strange place with strange people. I have to work on that. And that is your reading for the morning.

Excuse the darkness of the photos - Darlah just hasn't figured out how to create the proper light in this type of room that doesn't lend brightness in any setting. She thinks she needs a flash that she can bounce of the ceiling. This camera addiction is costly. Where's that lottery ticket?

We are off to Woodstock tomorrow to watch lots of Havanese. Will have camera - will travel and we are not showing but one wonders why we aren't. Oh well - Markham is next.