>>lift his muzzle off the ground with your foot the first few times. Remember to keep walking as you do it though<<

Have you ever played Twister, Leigh? :D

Nooooooo, is that the game where you get into compromising positions with the opposite sex? :D

Leigh - what are you like !!!

It's the game KIDS play to test their flexibility ;)

Well it is round here - I can't find anyone who will play with me (they all say it's for kids) - must not be asking the right people :(

Sara :D

you obviously don't get invited to the right parties Sara....you can't beat the YFC!

Our YF's just get drunk :-(

Hi Claire.

My GSP used to do the same thing all the time and will still try even now. Just like learning to sit, stay etc, I have taught otto the meaning of "head up"!!
Don't just use it in the ring, get him used to it out on walks, at home etc etc. As I say it I usually give him a gentle tap under the chin. I have the advantage that otto doesn't mind his lead strung. Just keep practicing the command. He will soon get used to it. After all he is a gundog!!!!!! :D

You could always try using a riding crop. Not meaning smack/beat him with it, but it might help you to stay easier on balance & walking right if you just reach under and tap him with it.

Use it in the same manner as Sam says, but instead of your boot. It would not really be a good example if you tripped, stumbled, or fell over your own dog. ;) ;) ;) :D :D

just a thought
toodles

If you trip, stumble or fall your either using the wrong leg or you have two left feet :P

And if it happened to anyone around, it would be me --always graceful as an elephant :D :D :D

Leigh, I must have two wrong legs AND two left feet. Ian used a similar method to stop a dog that had taken to jumping up on people when outdoors. As soon as he knew the dog was about to jump, he stuck out a foot and the dog either had to bash into the foot or not jump. When I tried it, the dog didn't jump either - but that was because I was flat on my face with the dog sitting on my back licking my ears!

You've made me laugh and it's still a bit early for that, try using the knee. When I've tried anything like this it becomes a reflex reaction, can you imagine trotting around the ring kicking out at the dogs nose every other step - they would think I was in the wrong class and should be in the 'Heelwork to Music' :D

LOL@Sharon :D

Jackie if you are "kicking out at the dogs nose every other step" then you are definitely doing it wrong ;-) All you are infact doing is turning your foot at an angle so that the dogs nose comes into contact with it, NOT kicking it :rolleyes:
If you have ten to two feet, then you probably do it without knowing it anyway :D

Ah! thats the trouble then Leigh, both my feet point to 12oc. All my hounds walk around with their noses on the floor and around the ring to a chorus of my chanting 'head, head, head, HEAD all to no avail, as my hounds also suffer from selective deafness. Right, back to practicing the Charle Chaplin walk. Jackie H

One things for sure Jackie, if you start walking like Chaplin it won't only be the dogs full attention that you get :D

Well.......you guys have certainly gave me food for thought :D I never rule anything out so you can be sure I'll be giving things a go.

One other thing re the stringing up. I decided pretty much from the beginning that I would run him on a loose lead, now me thinks I should have strung him up as at least then he wouldn't be able to drop his head. Problem is he absolutely hates being strung up. A while ago I decided that if I wanted to string him up then I would, I persevered and practised stringing almost every day for a month but to no avail. The minute I go to put the lead further up his neck he would jump on his hindlegs or buck, not ideal doing this in front of the judge. He also got to the point where when I went to move the lead so the judge could run their hands down his neck and back he would jump thinking I was going to string him up, again not ideal :-(

Question: would any of you do anything about this or just simply accept he doesn't like being strung up and I'll just have to practice numerous ways in keeping his head up, bearing in mind he really only drops his head to low when either on grass or in a ring where someone has been throwing food around. Also bearing in mind we have a lot of summer shows to come which will be on grass.

Would appreciate anyones thoughts. :-)

Okely dokely. Just been doing a bit of heel work in the garden, he always walks sooo perfectly in the garden as if he's some well trained beast ;-) Anyway tried this putting my foot under his chin thingy. What a laugh :D First of all he would only put his nose to the ground when I was putting my right foot forward and by the time I came to put my left foot forward and turn it outwards his head was back up :rolleyes: then when I did manage it I caught my foot under his front legs... TWICE!! LOL Managed to get my foot under his muzzle a couple of times and he is wondering what the hell I'm up to so we'll see what happens. I'm also using the command Head up. So we'll see how we get on.

We're starting some obedience classes tomorrow as I feel he's at that age where he could do with a reminder as to what he was taught as a puppy and it's different from ringcraft, give him something to think about. Should be interesting..........:P

if it was my dog id stick a loose chain choke on, run him in a feild where smells will atract him, as soon as the head go's down give the chain a quick clip upward and slaken it off, -ive had a week of this with casey as she was taking off like a race horse,skipping dancing etc, the fine show collar i normally use had no control over her whatsoever, she now wears a lightish link chain-not what id normally use but it worked wonders-id hope soon i can go back to my fancy gold necklace type chain :)