Hello everyone,

I am new to showing. I have a 5mnth old GSP and i have my first show in about 3 weeks.

Training has been going well until now. Up until now (and i know i should have corrected it sooner) i have been free standing her once stacked, but now im wanting to 'top and tail' her and she wont allow me to hold on to the side of her face and stay still. People think i should just leave her free standing, but ive never seen this in the ring. They always hold on to them with the tail raised too. She will stare at a treat if i fling it. Could this be the way forward?

Any ideas? (Sorry about the essay!)

Try holding her on a lead with the lead taught, and get her used to the tail being held, get someone to check her teeth and  gradually get her used to having work done with her, the hold her head with fingers holding her lightly when you achieve a result give her a treat, it is never to late to have her learn, we would top and tail to stack..

Right. :-D

Yes, everyone does top and tail. :-)

I started showing my GSP at 2yrs old (and we won't go into the shambles that was show no 1 :-D ). It took ages to get him to accept tail and face. It's the sort of situation where a clicker is perfect if you use one (if not you could use one but you would need to learn how to use it and prime it first). Slight touch of face, then click treat, and build up in gradual stages - repeat each stage till she is cofortable with it, then build up to a 1 second hold, then 2 secs etc - the gradual build up to what you want is the way to do it, and GSPs are bright - doesn't take them long to cotton on (then they think of their own way to do it which is of course much better than your way :-D ). I didn't use a clicker at the time - think i just used touch, good boy and treat and built it up that way - but if doing that way either just use verbal praise or phase out the treats fairly quickly and don't use them for too long or she will start looking for them and anticipting.

Do you go to ringcraft? They may be able to help you with this too, especially if there's anyone there that shows breeds that are top & tailed. I always did practice as a whole sequence - so we would have first stand, then moving round the ring, then move up & down & in triangle, then last stand (when you come back to judge off triangle - and that is a freestand) then finish with top & tail again. But obv got him used to top & tailing first.

Is that any help?

Thats a great help thank you! Yes i attend ringcraft weekly and they suggested just free standing her for her first few shows. Apart from the free stand at the end of your run, im not happy to NOT top and tail her. Unfortunatly there is nobody in the same club that does it.

Hmm, its going to take time but she is a very clever girly so ive no doubt she will pick it up. Fingers crossed we can make some progress before the first show though!

Hi
most exhibitors in GSP's top n tail but there is no reason why you couldn't free stand if your dog would stand better this way, after all the idea is you show off your dog to best advantage. I would avoid throwing food about or using toys however or you may be rather unpopular with other exhibitors who are stacking dogs.

As others have said I would work towards the dog being comfortable with having her chin held, GSP's can be fidgets with their heads as babies and I have often started mine by holding lead up behind the ears rather than holding the chin. E.g. see pic of Weimar being shown on champdogs web pages - Catruane   

Good luck at your first show

> often started mine by holding lead up behind the ears

I have never shown a GSP baby - but I have always thought that looked rather uncomfortable.

I have munsterlanders which are normally top and tailed, but there are one or two who are free stood. One was taught this as his owner had back problems and couldn't bend at the time they were starting their training. There is no rule that says that you have to either free stand or stack them. It's just how most people do it. If you are comfortable with free standing him then do it.

Well the good news is that after one evening of clicker training and patience, she has accepted her chin and tail being held and will stand there nicely for a short while. Needs some more time but she has picked it up quickly. Only ringcraft next week with all the distractions will tell. Fingers crossed.

Thank you all for your great advice!

Sounds good. :-) Keep us posted how she does. :-)