Bark Week Take-Aways.

This weekend I took one of my dogs, a 7 year old Cane Corso named Sera, to Bark Week to try some new events. Our goal was to learn as much as possible and to have some fun doing it. Mission Accomplished! We had a blast, met a lot of great people, participated in some fun new events and learned a lot. I’d like to share some of my take-aways with you in this blog.

Tip # 1: Know your dog.

With this being Sera’s first time attending and participating in such a large event, I knew it might be a little overwhelming and might take her out of her comfort zone a bit. That being the case, I signed her up for two events that I thought she might enjoy and excel at - Barnhunt and Fast CAT. I know that Sera loves nose work and that she has a pretty strong prey drive, so sniffing out a rat in some hay bales and chasing a lure seemed right up her alley.

Don’t get me wrong, I am all for trying new things with your dog, but having some idea of what your dog’s breed (or combination thereof) is designed to do and what your individual dog’s likes and dislikes are will help guide you to a sport that might be fulfilling for you both. Trust me, trying to get a Basset Hound to chase a lure for 100 yards just isn’t going to happen. The attempt was made this weekend, and we all cheered him on, but those short little stocky legs were just not designed to drive that stout body anywhere quickly.

Every dog is designed for a specific job, which is why the events that are offered now ever came to be. These events are designed to test a natural instinct, skill, temperament, athletic ability or stamina that our dogs naturally possess. Would Sera have done well in agility? Probably not. She could do it, but it would be slow and tedious looking, unlike the Aussie who flies through the course with grace and precision.

Know your dog. Know what they can do, know what they will do and know what they live to do. Have fun participating in those events first. Build their confidence (and yours), then try some new stuff just for fun.

Tip #2: Research the events offered.

As with any sport, there are lots of rules and regulations involved in competing in any event with your dog. There are technical rules, equipment rules, handler rules and so many others. For instance, in Barnhunt you are not allowed to touch your dog, your hands and knees are not allowed to touch the floor or hay bales, and you can not use obedience commands to guide your dog through the course. There are also very specific rules for removing the tube with the live rat once your dog has located it. Had I gone in completely blind, I would have made mistakes resulting in a NQ (non-qualifying score) almost immediately. Even if you do know the rules, when you are in the timed trial with your dog working, the rules are easy to forget and mistakes are easily made. So research and practice as much as possible before hand.

Tip #3: Everyone starts in the same place.

I can’t tell you how many times I heard this piece of advice in the four days we were at Bark week. I got there on Thursday, the day before I was scheduled for my events, so that I could scope out the area and talk to the volunteers to figure out exactly where I needed to be and when and how the logistics of all of the different events were going to work. In the Barnhunt tent, there were several well-titled dogs and their veteran handlers waiting to compete. They were gracious enough to talk to me and tell me about their dogs, the titles they held, how the different titles were judged and the rules of each of the events. I explained to them that Sera and I were taking the Instincts Test in the morning and then we would try for our Novice title if we qualified. Do you know what every one of those veteran competitors told me? “We all started there.” I had the same conversation at every single event.

We all start in the same place, at the beginning. So don’t be shy. Ask questions. Take advice and have fun!

Tip #4: Know the difference between pushing your dog past a comfort zone and pushing your dog to the point where they are not having fun.

This one hits a little close to home. Day 1 of Fast CAT was a lot of me trying to figure out the best way to get Sera to move down the lane. She wasn’t interested in the lure, so I thought maybe she would do the velcro dog thing that Corsos do and just want to get to me as quickly as possible if someone else “released” her and I were at the end “catching” her. She really wasn’t in any hurry either way and was very distracted by the judges, timers, by-standers, fencing and everything else. Then, at the end of her run, instead of wanting to walk around the grounds and cool off, she veered straight for the car. Now it is my job to decide if she is just overwhelmed and overstimulated and shutting down because of all of the excitement of the day, or if she truly does not like this event. The second day started a bit like the first, but this time she was bucking a little in the start box and really uneasy with being held by her collar. After her first run, again, straight to the car. At this point I am ready to let her finish up the day and then let her skip the last day of events because I didn’t want to push her if she was not having fun. She had one final run to go for the day, and after working through some different scenarios with a fellow competitor, we decided to try something different (a change in equipment) in the start box and he was going to release her this time. The change seemed to work and she was focused and had her first clean run, shaving 8 seconds off of her best time! AND she looked like she enjoyed it! I decided to let her finish out the last day and she did well, but I know now that Fast CAT is not her favorite event. If I had let her stop after her third run, I never would have tried making the changes to her start, nor would I have been able to see the vast improvement those changes made in her run time and the potential that she has to run well. I know now what I need to do to help her improve and enjoy the event a little more so that we can wrap up her title. We will continue to work her through her anxiety over the start box and finish up her BCAT title, but after that we will stick to all events nose-related.

Tip #5: Have fun, be kind, be respectful, help each other and be ready to learn. There is always someone who knows more than you do, so keep an open mind and accept friendly tips from those with more experience.

Pretty self-explanatory. If you go in thinking you know everything, you learn nothing.

Even though Sera and I didn’t accomplish all of our goals at Bark Week, we did earn our RATI title and we qualified in all 6 of our Fast CAT runs. I know what we need to work on to be more successful next time and we have some new goals to work towards. We met a lot of really great people, saw some amazing dogs with talented handlers and gained knowledge and experience. That, to me, makes for a successful event!

Playtime is over…Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

I am going to post Socialization: Part 1 again so that we are all back on track for Socialization: Part 2, which will be posted later this week.

Stay tuned!

~Heather Pope