So You Think You Might Be Interested In Working Trials?
(Part 2)

Click on the thumbnails to see full sized versions of the photos

So I can't quite believe that it has been over 4 yrs since I wrote the first Working Trials article. Pudley is now over 4yrs old and has recently gained her WD Open and will do her first WDex in a couple of weeks time.

As the first article included all the nosework exercises, this article will discuss all the 'Control' exercises. Now 'Control' is the Working Trials lingo for Heelwork, Retrieve, Sendaway, redirects (when you are in the top classes), a sit stay (in the first class only) down stay, scale jump, long jump and the clear jump.

So let's start with the heelwork. In the first class CD (Companion dog) there is both heel on lead (5 Marks) and heel off lead (10 marks) The test usually consists of several turns, a couple of halts and at slow, normal and fast pace. Now the judges in WTs aren't looking for Crufts style heelwork but more of general walking with the dog in a relaxed manner.

Nathan & Mr Darcy showing WT heelwork

A lot of WTs folk have bad heelwork and hate training it. I observed one such team in the top class where the handler actually looked if he was trying to run away from the dog! It has often been said by a judge that the competitor / dog team had only been given one mark as the dog did manage to stay in the same field as the handler!

Sendaways are awarded 10 marks and are probably the most talked about control exercise. As most WT folk say 'Why teach your dog to run away?' The sendaways in the early stakes tend to be between 80-125 yds where as the higher stakes they can be 200-350 yds. In the top class there is also a redirect exercise and once you have reached the desired sendway point you will then be asked to send your dog in a different direction. Now sendaway targets can be mixed and varied they often include things like a tree in a hedge, telegraph pole, traffic cone, pole, haystacks or 'Can you see that bunch of green thistles out there? Send your dog to those!' A good sendaway dog is confident yet obedient as I have heard of some dogs running, ignoring all commands to stop and just keep going! One fellow who had a particularly good sendaway dog was asked once how he achieved this and his reply was 'Well the dog just doesn’t like me and is always runs away!'

David & Sophie doing the sendaway

The retrieve is in the all the stakes until you get to TD where it is swapped for the speak exercise. The retrieve like obedience consists of a dumbbell but the judge does expect the handler to throw it much further. The straightness on present and the finish isn't marked as hard as the obedience dogs though.

The Retrieve

The speak exercise is controlling the dog to bark, to stop and maybe to bark again all on command. Again the situations for this exercise can be rather colourful. At one particular trial I had to tie the dog to a chair next to a person who was sitting pretending to read the newspaper! This situation did and does sometimes put off a dog that isn’t very confident.

And now to the exercises where there is most failure especially with people newly starting out in trials; the stays and jumps!

It is only in the first stake CD where there is a 2 minute 'Sit Stay'. Unfortunately it is an all or nothing exercise and even if the dog drops down once you have returned (and if the steward hasn't said 'exercise finished') you will lose all 10 marks. This is the same with the ten minute down stay which feels like that it goes on forever! My training tip for the stays is to make the dog really confident and from experience never position yourself next to a Weimaraner! (Sorry Nathan, but generally they hate having cold, wet bellies and usually leg it!)

Competitors getting ready for the sit/down stay

The jumps also take their casualties, again normally with the beginners and of course with the older dogs. The trials jumps, unlike Agility are quite demanding and the dog is always under control before it does the jump mainly for safety reasons. To teach good WT jumps I regularly do jumping lanes to keep the dogs fit and when the trials jumps have been taught I rarely do them in-between trials.

So this ends the Part 2 section on WTs and hopefully I have whetted your appetite and you would like to have a go. You will see that MBCC run two trials per year and it is worth going along to watch and to meet up with some of the folk who tend to be a really friendly bunch.

Len Newman (TD judge MBCC 2010) helping someone starting out

So as with anything in life the secret of success is 'find a good trainer/teacher, have a good dog and be a good listener'.

Anyway I am off now to train Pudley as once she obtains her WDex she can then enter PD - which I will tell you about in Part 3.

Heather Donnelly.