Well Lewy's (cavalier) first show is in 3 weeks and he's been making steady progress at ringcraft, finally getting the hang of standing on the table and loves moving! The problem is he has picked up a bad habit from his yorkie house mate, he leaps of the floor with all four feet in the air. He does this when we finish moving, its like having a yo-yo on the lead! At home, if he leaps i completely ignore him and only talk to him when he's calmed down and has all four feet on the floor. However i can't really turn my back on him in the ring, especially when i'm trying to get him to stand! So far i've tried tit-bits, made him worse, and a squeaky toy, which was slightly more succesful.
I know he's still only a baby, and don't expect him to be absolutely perfect (i rather like him showing off his personality!) i would just like him to stand for a couple of seconds on all four feet!
Any advice would be much appreciated!

Erin (and Tigger, the cavalier formerly known as Lewy!!!)

is it only once his finished moving?

if so then its not so bad.

when you come back to the judge and stop then give him a firm comand to stand and keep tellin him (assuming he understands the word) everytime he does it in trainin then give him a short sharp tug on the lead and reenforce what you want him to do. Have you tried turning him on the spot once u hav stoped? or going down to him and holding him in the stand position.

As a young puppy it is unlikely that a judge will knock him for it. if anything a puppy with attitude is better then one without!

You may find he will not do it in the ring, and it wont matter whilst he is young if he does. At least you can move him, some people have the yoyo effect all the way around the ring. Think if he was mine I would relax and ignore it, if he does do it in the ring just smile.

Have to agree the judge will take no notice but will be pleased to be able to judge a puppy and would not expect it to stand as if it's stuffed. Judges judge the dog and not the ringcraft, if the pup behaves enough to be judged no problem.

Lewy definately has attitude! He adores strutting his stuff round the ring, only occasionally does he get over exuberant while moving and then he does a rather fetching leap through the air! I will try moving him in a circle after his move tonight at ringcraft. I must admit i'd rather he gave a bit of attitude in the ring, rather than look like a little robot, i just think the judge might like to be able to actually see him when he's finished moving, rather than a blur on the end of the lead!

Thanks for your advice!

Erin

Well Lewy's ringcraft wasn't the most succesful night we've had! My mums cav Claudia is having what we think is a silent season, and threw herself at lewy, this combined with his house mate being in season sent him over the edge, lets just say he had one thing on his mind last night and it wasn't showing! He bombed down the mat at about 100 mph, then wouldn't go back the other way, little monster, the hormones were just too much to handle! My mum did kindly take claudia outside, at which point he did start to pay more attention to me and i actually managed to get him to stand on all four feet when he finished his move. I quickly turned him on the spot when he finished and he stood as good as gold, unfortunately i was so impressed i said good boy, and he went into tigger mode! So the next time i didn't praise him straight away (it was so hard not to!) but waited till i got back in line. So hopefully (hormones aside!) we are getting there, thank you so much for your advice.

Erin