Hi folks,

i am having a lot of success with my BT Bitch, she could be doing better her problem is that she relaxes to much in the ring and instead of standing to attention her tail goes down.
my question is is there anything i can do to keep her on her toes? I have tried sausage, squeaky toys, cuddly toys, tripe sticks and paddywack.
I have found that clapping my hands makes her interested but i cannot do that in the ring at the moment the judge is walking up and down deciding on places.
Any advice please?
she gained the RCC at her first champ show and she was 10 months old then, she was on fire, now she just looks bored.

Perhaps she is bored or may be it is the heat, think if she were mine I would take her out of the ring for a while and try doing something like agility or flyball then try her back in the ring again.

Not sure how they are stood in the ring, are you in front, on the side, free standing or how but what about associating a word with something she enjoys and likes.
I got one of my girls associating a play with a hose which she loves with "whats this!!!"
Using it to recall her from barking at neighbours dogs with great success and just quick whisper "whats this" gets her attention and stand on her toes (tail starts wagging etc), awaiting a play with the hose even if we are not even outside!

You could use that word in the ring at that crucial moment to get her "pick herself up" for few moments.
If she is food oriented maybe teach her to catch and use a word right before you throw the treat for her...
If she is ball oriented that could work even better, just teach her you do not have the ball in your hand but it will appear after you have said the magic word.
First of course have it in your hand and throw straight away but slowly move it to your pocket and let her stand waiting for few seconds before throwing it for her to catch. if she does not catch things, play of tug maybe?

That should make her pick her tail up, I would think :) and is pretty quick and easy to teach once you figure out that one thing she just loves& gets her excited enough.

I've started using words for my boy in the ring and its working better for him as he moves and fidgets if I take in food.
WAAAABBBBITTTS!!!! :-D

Speed. You need to work her up before going in the ring. Run around and play, chase after treats that you throw the length of the lead (BEFORE you go in the ring, to the side somewhere) walk fast into the ring, don't dawdle, keep her on her toes. We had this problem with a Papillon until we were shown by a judge how he put his tail up instantly when we put some speed into it all, just moving him faster and getting him excited did the trick. He never drops his tail now. Failing that, this is also something that can be clicker trained -click and reward when tail is up, do nothing when tail is down, eventually add a command (but don't use a command that will draw the judge's attention to the tail, such AS "Tail"! That will only tell them to keep a closer eye on the tail as clearly there is a problem with it).