My 13 month old bitch has taken to going around the ring with her nose stuck to the ground - it's worse the later in the day we are in but even in classes early in the day she is far more interested in what she can smell than what she should be doing.  She does a perfect imitation of a disney style bloodhound and I'm sure this is affecting our results.  I have been doing loads of practice at home and in our local area to try and help but I can't recreate the smells of a ring.  Someone at my local ringcraft suggested using lavender but I didn't have time to get an explanation of how or why this would help.  We have a champ show next week and I would appreciate any advice you can offer.  Thanks

A dab of lavender under the nose is supposed to stop her being able to smell the interesting things on the ground that make them glue their noses there, I believe. If you have a breed where it's ok to use bait, try some really tasty treats and teach her a 'watch' command, though I appreciate that might be tricky in time for the show!

I would teach a 'touch' command - to teach her to touch the palm your hand on command.  It's very useful for all sorts of things - I am sure you can find a YouTube of how to do it using a clicker.  It wouldn't take long to do (if your timing is fairly good).  First you need to teach her that the clicker noise means good things, then you need to shape the touch action & then add the command.  Finally - don't forget to proof it in as many different places as you can.  All of this could easily be accomplished in a week if you were pretty dedicated!  Best of luck (I have a gundog & ended up doing tracking with her as her nose is perpetually magnetically attached to the ground!)

If you can't do the above and aren't allowed treats.  Then smother your fingers with some cheese & use this to lure her head up in the ring.  Praise lavishly when her head comes up.

Thank you both of you - she is very food driven so I am going to give the touch command thing a go as I have got plenty of free time over the next week and then fall back on the food and/ or lavender if all else fails - thanks again

Have found that clicker training head up is not too difficult much like touch training really mind you a really good smell or something like sheep poo and you are going to struggle what ever you try unless you have a super obedient breed.

My girl has developed this problem on carpet rings only. The bait, the smells etc clearly linger for longer. No amount of bait has helped either and its a struggle to keep her head up :-(   I like the Lavender idea, do you put it right under the nose or more on their chin area?

One of my girls does exactly the same lol :) 

I use a tiny amount of vicks vaporub under the chin (not nose) for my persistant hoover!

A touch of perfume sprayed onto the tops of the feet 'wafts' the perfume as they move. :)

>vicks vaporub under the chin (not nose)

Quite right - it's very important to stress that anything like that must be put under the chin and not on the nose - dogs can't lick their chins so there's no chance of them ingesting anything potentially harmful from there.

Or on the other hand, decide that the dog will never sniff the ground whilst wearing his show lead.

Once this is established and adhered to, dogs will readily accept that show lead = no sniff.

Ive watched people complaining that their dog blew its chances by sniffing.....whilst two feet outside the ring, their dog,on the same lead was sniffing away happily.

thanks toolz thats a good idea but can anyone suggest the best way to train this??  I've had some success with clicker training her the 'watch' command and she has really got the hang of standing better on the table using 'watch' and she will let me stack and adjust her better than usual - it has also helped her to focus when walking - however this is only a little win to me as she does it all great in the house and garden but as soon as she goes outside the front door she goes deaf and the nose is back to the floor.  I have to admit I think the lavender or vaporub may be in order for this weeks show.  Any last minute tips anyone?

Her other issue is the judge - most of the time she is quite happy to be gone over and never has any issues with her mouth etc, but last week at ringrraft, with a 'judge' she's seen loads of times, she would not let him go over her at all - she was leaning every possible way away from her lead and almost jumping away from him.  As I said, she is usually fine, occasionally a little nervous, particularly of big men, but this was the extreme and I'm just dreading her doing it on Thursday at the CH show.  Any advice again :)

Oh and nova she certainly isn't a super-obedient breed - probably the farthest from it!!  Stubborn is more the word I would use!!! :)