If I intend to take my puppy to ringcraft do I need to attend obedience as well or are the basics covered in ringcraft?

Ringcraft do not teach obedience - just showring techniques. Doing obedience as well can cause confusion for some dogs as the first thing they tend to be taught is "sit" where in ringcraft, the last thing you want them to do is "sit" you want them to "stand". If you do do obedience - try using a different word for "sit" that does not start with "s" or sound like "sit" - something like "bot" or if you don't mind saying it "bum". That way they won't anticipate the wrong command.

hth

Pam n the boys

I did both with my girl, you'll reap the rewards as they get older.
I just used a lead and collar for the obedience and a different lead and choke-chain for showing.
The only problem we had was when training the sit you held the food high, which is nearly
the position that I held it when attracting her in the show ring. So she used to sit quite quickly
in the show ring initially :D
The trainers and I worked on it and my Boxer got to understand that 'Stand' meant stand and 'Sit' meant sit.
The trainers appreciated where I was coming from as one of them also showed her dogs too.
Abby's ace now, just the concentration thing with Boxers but they do have brains honest :D
I still am training now for her KCGC's awards and she enjoys the variety and I enjoy the variety too
:D

hi

I wish now that I had taken my boy to obedience at an earlier age but everyone told me that you shouldnt, but after talking to the obedience people they said it shouldnt matter, infact it would no doubt help so long as they know that you are showing aswell, they should help you and your dog seperate the two activites. Dogs are not as stupid as some people believe!! We are now doing Gundog training, showing, obedience and starting agility next month. He is 13 months old and is spending most of time trying to catch up on the stuff he should know by now,he has many bad habbits that would not be so hard to correct if I had done obedience earlier but he is doing great, most of the time!!

My advise, so long as you tell you obedience people (and they know what is expected in the showring there is usually someone there that shows aswell) then all should be fine.

Have fun!! Liz

I do both with my dogs and have since they were all pups and at my local club at which i am also a trainer, the people with show dogs do everything in the class that the other dogs do except the sit. they do stand and when the dogs are rock solid with the stand then we introduce the sit and so far we have had excellent results and no problems

At our Obedience class run by my friend any dog that is going to be does not do sits with the heelwork, only the sit stays, and this works fine, as the sit stay cannot be confused with showing.

Once the dog is older and showing well and has progressed into the higher class at Obedience then the proper heelwork with sits is introduced, and works fine.