Anyone here compete in it? Thinking of giving pre-beginners a go with one of my hounds in the next couple of months. The only sticking point is that this particular long backed hound has never been comfortable sitting so that will be a challenge!

Yes, I have competed in Ticket (Championship C), bred two Obedience Champions in one litter (have only bred 2 litters in total), run my own dog training club for 12 years, judge, had a book written on dog training. Will try to answer any questions you might have? Can pm you my website if you like. What breed have you got?

I have no helpful info because i havn't had a go, just some encouragement :) Let me know how you get on, I love doing obedience with my lurcher at dog school and it would be cool to hear how you get on with your hound if you go for it. Loads of people assume my dog must be a dimwit because he's a hound, it's so not true :)

Being good at competitive obedience has little to do with whether your dog is intelligent, more with trainability and willingness to please, in fact the most intelligent ones are often the hardest to convince it is worth their while doing.

Lol, so are you saying my Vic is dopey after all Barbara? ;)

Nah, you have obviously convinced him that there's something in it to make it worth his while.

Why not! You haven't got one of the more traditional obedience breeds, but I have a friend who works her saluki lurcher and American cocker with success, so I don't see why a greyhound shouldn't have a go! We dabble a bit in obedience, though mostly these days we stick to the 2 limited toy shows as my girl isn't precise enough to compete with the collies etc, and she's just won out of Beginners for limited shows, so I'm quite chuffed with her. We also do a lot of rally obedience, you might also find that fun to try with your hounds - lower level is all on lead and no stays!

And with Rally you can take toys/titbits into the ring, so much better for dogs who lose motivation in the ring (which is usually due to the way they have been trained but hey ho).

>You haven't got one of the more traditional obedience breeds, but I have a friend who works her saluki lurcher and American cocker with success,

I have done obedience with breeds that are not "the norm", but, in truth, the reason is totally selfish on my part.  I just adore the bond you get with any dog that you work.  It is so very special, and stays forever.  I don't have a problem if they are not the best at it, just the very fact that they want to please makes me so proud.  I've actually done both ringcraft and obedience with a few toy poodles and can say that they get very excited when they realise we are on our way to class!

>And with Rally you can take toys/titbits into the ring, so much better for dogs who lose motivation in the ring (which is usually due to the way they have been trained but hey ho).

Not toys, in fact the TD rally people have just had to make a rule that in offlead rally you can't wear your lead like the formal obedience people do, because people do use it as a toy, so it's like having your dog's toy on display the whole way round. But you can take treats, not to lure, but to pop a quick reward on stationary signs, though I try to avoid that except while training. :-)

>I've actually done both ringcraft and obedience with a few toy poodles and can say that they get very excited when they realise we are on our way to class!

Poodles are jolly good at obedience, I have friends that work standards and miniatures. Like I said, I don't do much open obedience these days, but I got a HUGE kick at South Eastern toy when the 2 dogs entered in A had done (and failed) their scent and I asked to have a go with Ellie my Cavalier girl to see if she remembered it, and she did it near perfectly! Toys aren't stupid! :-)

I used to do competitive obedience with my saluki and my saluki lurcher (now do it with my American and my English cocker); they were never Crufts champions, but were placed once or twice in Beginners. ;-) They aren't the easiest to motivate for this type of activity, but it sure teaches you to train dogs LOL. I say, give it a go and see where it takes you. :-)

> I just adore the bond you get with any dog that you work.  It is so very special, and stays forever.

That's so true Jean. I havn't tried obedience in a comp but we do obedience every week at dog school and the way I feel about my lurcher is awesome, he's my best boy and we love each other :)

How do you do competitive obedience?  I've done obedience but never competed.  The class that I attend doesn't do competitions?  Can you get into it alone or should you join a class that competes?
PS  Is this a competition to see how many times I can write that word in different tenses'?lol

You can enter an obedience show without doing a class and go along to have fun and see how it's done. But you'll have a lot more chance of putting in a good round and not making too much of a mess (beyond the usual thing where your dog does something bizarre just to make a fool of you! :-D ) if you can find classes teaching competitive obedience. They will be able to help teach you good close heelwork, novice recalls, solid stays and so on.

About 20 years ago I competed in obedience shows, it was great, I loved it. All you need is a schedule to enter the show turn up on time and do your round.

The main thing to do is enjoy it and make sure your dog enjoys it too.

I went nearly every weekend and miss it loads.....it was in a previous life that I moved on from but that's another story.

If it were possible to do it now I wouldn't hesitate. I scribed and stewarded and enjoyed that just as much.

My advise is...get a schedule and get involved!

Have a look at the website Obedience UK you should be able to find a club in you area. Go along and watch, join a class and chat with the trainers. You may have to try a couple of clubs before you find one you are happy with the type of training and trainers.
A lot of clubs run their own shows or will have schedules for future shows.

If I were to start again now, I would first look for training clubs in my area - when you ring the club contact, mention that you would like to compete and they'll advise if they are the right place for you (and may be able to refer you on if not). Go and watch for the first time without your dog - that way you won't feel pressured to join. I would like to see dogs and handlers on the floor most of the time, not sitting and waiting for their go otherwise you spend a good part of the lesson sitting down and your dog potentially getting switched off/increasingly wound up and frustrated. The dogs should be happy, keen, engaging with their handlers. Look for positive training methods (use of food/toys etc), not choke chains and physically manhandling the dog. The trainer should be able to juggle a variety of breeds (and owners lol), explain in different ways/demonstrate with the owner's dog etc, keep the class interesting and moving forward.

Then you might also want to think about possibly having private lessons (one to ones) with a good trainer - either someone that you like from attending one of their courses (advertised In Dog Training Weekly and ObedienceUK.com) or someone from club, or a handler that you see at the shows whose handling/dogs you admire. This way you will get the trainer's entire focus, they can work on any problems at more length and the session is tailored completely to your needs.

You can also buy videos/books by various trainers, go on the courses mentioned above, see obedience in action on Youtube etc. I wouldn't even think about competing for the moment. Go to shows, see what is required (your club/trainer should also help to explain what a newcomer to competing will need to know), get your dog used to being in a show environment without any pressure/expectations. You will get some idea when he is ready if he can focus on you and act how he does in training at the shows (be careful not to practise near the rings as you might upset other competitors.  lol). Your dog needs to be confident and able to switch into work mode at a moment's notice, and maintain that attitude until you tell him he can stop. You can either enter as Not For Competition in advance of the show or go and see the show secretary on the day and ask to be logged as Joe Public attending with a dog.

I find that the biggest mistake people make is to put their dogs in the ring far too early. If the dog is not ready he may be overwhelmed by the occasion, switch off, be distracted etc and if you carry on with the round, you reinforce that behaviour (and handlers then get reduced to nagging their dogs which doesn't help at all). You can do training rounds (pay to enter the class in advance but ask the judge on the day  if you may take a toy in to reward the dog for small chunks of work), that way the dog learns that the ring is a nice place to be and you will help him/reward him as appropriate. A lot of  handlers march round the ring, completely ignoring the dog's mistakes and he soon learns that he can act differently in the ring to what he is expected to do in training. You will need to set your own benchmark as to what you think is acceptable and when it is time to turn a competitive round into a training round, also when you set off with the pure intention of doing a training round from the get-go.

What area are you in? Might know some nice competitors/clubs who would be willing to help you. M xxx 

PS This book was also written with newbies in mind

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Your-First-Dog-Obedience-Show-book-survival-pack-/190667183897?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Dogs&hash=item2c64a65719

Sorry, have re-read and see that you are abroad so some of this won't apply but hope some of it may be useful.

Marisa, All the info has been very useful to me though!  I've been sneaking in on the topic(as usuallol).  Great books and sites mentioned so thanks.  Will check them out.  I have always wanted to do this but have either trained my dogs at a local class that's not competitive or once, I ended at a shhuzhund(sp) class!Wow.  Now, the obedience was tight and excellent but they wouldn't let me train unless I taught bite work which I didn't want to do.  Must find a new class.

Whereabouts are you Cracar?

PM sent:)

Cracar, did you get the messages I sent you?

Yup, I did.  Sorry, I did mean to reply and I know where those venues are so I will pop along to the EK one and see what's what.  It's a bit far to go to a class right enough but I imagine people from all over will be there so I might find out about either a class or like minded folk in my area.  Thanks a lot, Marisa.

I do a round trip of an hour and a half every Fri night to train for two hours (do it yourself group of competitive handlers) in a freezing cold industrial estate warehouse but hey! Gotta be dedicated lol.

I think if I stuck another night onto my OH, he'd pack his bags!!lol. I allready do a training class(not competitive), 2 zumba classes and run 3times a week.  Not including the scouts night for my daughter or the football night for my son or the Kayak night for both boys!!I'm never in!  OH says we are ships passing in the night but I think that's how we have lasted so long:)

Ah, I just have the 2 nights out per week. Weds, when I run my dog club, and Fri for my own training. You are very dedicated, running 3 times per week, ever thought about doing the Marathon (mind you, the death of that runner was enough to put me off and she was the 11th person to die since it started 30 years ago).

Lol my hubby is getting a bit tired of all the rally trials and training days I am doing lately, I will have to try to cut down a bit. Specially what with all the shows now Lottie is old enough! :-D

HA, Marisa!lol, Now, I run 3 times per week but not far.  I only do 5k! A marathon is way outta my league.  I do smaller runs for charity though and raise quite a good bit.  We are doing the race for life next month too and have raised nearly £200 so far and as tesco say, every penny counts!lol. I say we becasue my daughter runs with me.
I am going to go and have a looksee at the show though as if I really like it(and I think I will) then I don't mind moving stuff about.  Pity training is at night though as my days are pretty free and easy!

If you can find a trainer who does individual lessons or group training days, these will be held during the day. Well done on the fund raising and the cumulative effect of all those 5k runs is till impressive to me lol.