The Obedience Match

Yesterday I went to an obedience match...my first one in several years. With Saber retired and out of commission, Star too old and retired, and Daisy Mae focused on agility, and not seeming to be motivated to do obedience, there was no reason to do so. But, I decided that I hadn't done much training with Daisy Mae, and I should give it another shot.

Since this match is held by this club each year on the 4th of July, many people come very year. It was wonderful to see so many people that I haven't seen in years! I think for many of us, the social aspect is as important as the dog training aspect. This was also my Corgi puppy Pirouette's first agility match! This match was well-run, and over before noon...very important in Sacramento...which is hot at this time of the year.

One thing I had forgotten is that, for many dogs, obedience is a "punitive" sport. Any mistake is corrected with pops and jerks, with seemingly no effort to understand why a dog did what they did...or didn't do. Obviously the dog didn't care or didn't chose to do what the handler wanted and deserved to be punished. The scary thing is that I came from that background! It certainly is not where I am as a dog trainer today. And it made me very uncomfortable to be around people who were doing that. But the upside is it made me really think about how I am training. I do know that, if that is what I have to do to get my dog to perform, it just isn't worth it!