Stand for Examine

[jumpinnewf]

Bristles and I have been struggling with this exercise for sometime now and are open to all suggestions. It is the one thing preventing us from going for a CD. Bristles stands on command and will stay if the distance isn't to great but as soon as someone starts the exam part of the exercise she moves to see who is touching (petting) her.

Any suggestions on how to at least appear like we know what we are doing would be appreciated.

 

[wrknnwf]

Some of the things we have done...

Before you walk away, be sure to make certain she is standing squarely. Stack her if you like, but take the time to look where all four feet are. They should be square under the dog, each foot should not be moved forward or too far back. Press down on her shoulders and rump before you leave. We also used to gently nudge our dogs to make sure they were putting weight on all four feet.

Don't leave her just yet, but have the "judge" come exam while you are standing directly in front of her. Work up to more distance, a little at a time. Make sure when you tell her "stay" that you sound like you mean it. Don't be wimpy. Be prepared to verbally correct her if she turns her head toward the judge. You can also ask her to "watch" you if she is good at attention. Also practice walking all the way around her doing the exam yourself. Walk the six feet away and come back to heel, tell her to stay again and leave. It gets her used to seeing people coming from any angle. Have the judge walk around both of you, too. This is like any other stay and sometimes you just have to work up to it slowly, a little distance at a time. Even though this is a very short exercise, be sure she can stand comfortably for twice the time it takes to do the exercise ordinarily. Maybe 30 to 45 seconds. I have no idea how long it takes but it goes pretty quick. You could time it to find out.

We used to do a horrible exercise where we would stand a whole class of dogs in a line and the handlers would step away. Then the handlers moved one space to the right and examined the dog in front of them. Then they returned to their place 6 feet away from the dog they just touched, moved one space to the right and repeated until all the handlers had examined each and every dog. It was a really tough exercise, but had it's value. It was an awfully long time for the dogs to stand in one place though and one always moved, usually when the handler was down at the far end of the line. The person directly in front of the dog that broke, did a verbal correction and put the dog back in the stand/stay again.

 

[R Taft]

Well you can't improve on Jane's instructions...............But I did have the problem with Annabelle and with her is was a stranger issue............So we walked everywhere and a few selected people who knew dogs (and we knew them) were asked to examine her at stand in all different places. She is now the rock at standing at obedience. And it is amazing, but our group uses the same rotating stand and examine. But it is OK now

 

[Prdmary]

You could also try having them stand, stay, then step in front and give them some tension on their lead (best if attached to dead ring on collar) in different directions. This usually causes them to sort of pull back. I do this a lot with sit stays.

I also like to work attention with any "stay" using a clicker. If they look away from you, step in toward them quickly....as soon as they look back at you, stop and click! If they look away again, step in again until they look. Of course they have to know what the clicker is and what it means.

 

[migrandl]

It's been a long while since I've done this, but when I was in obedience classes with my younger dogs, I would take every opportunity to use the newest commands - that included meal times. They would have to go through whatever exercises I asked before they could have their meals. Our late Moose was such a chow hound that he'd willingly stand for exam just so he could have his dinner! I'd give the command "stand", get him to the right position then make him stand there while I went over him, sometimes I would have one of the kids (they were much younger then) or hubby do the exam. When he completed the exercise to my satisfaction, he got lots of praise and his dinner.

 

[hanna2]

Great Suggestions!

 

[jumpinnewf]

Thanks everyone I am going to give these a try. Bristles did much better in class this last week and actually stayed focus on me rather than the person examining her. I am going to try the dinner idea as this is how she learned sit and stay. Again thanks for all the great ideas.

Darlene

 

[janices]

Some of the things we have done...

Before you walk away, be sure to make certain she is standing squarely. Stack her if you like, but take the time to look where all four feet are. They should be square under the dog, each foot should not be moved forward or too far back. Press down on her shoulders and rump before you leave. We also used to gently nudge our dogs to make sure they were putting weight on all four feet.

Don't leave her just yet, but have the "judge" come exam while you are standing directly in front of her. Work up to more distance, a little at a time. Make sure when you tell her "stay" that you sound like you mean it. Don't be wimpy. Be prepared to verbally correct her if she turns her head toward the judge. You can also ask her to "watch" you if she is good at attention. Also practice walking all the way around her doing the exam yourself. Walk the six feet away and come back to heel, tell her to stay again and leave. It gets her used to seeing people coming from any angle. Have the judge walk around both of you, too. This is like any other stay and sometimes you just have to work up to it slowly, a little distance at a time. Even though this is a very short exercise, be sure she can stand comfortably for twice the time it takes to do the exercise ordinarily. Maybe 30 to 45 seconds. I have no idea how long it takes but it goes pretty quick. You could time it to find out.

We used to do a horrible exercise where we would stand a whole class of dogs in a line and the handlers would step away. Then the handlers moved one space to the right and examined the dog in front of them. Then they returned to their place 6 feet away from the dog they just touched, moved one space to the right and repeated until all the handlers had examined each and every dog. It was a really tough exercise, but had it's value. It was an awfully long time for the dogs to stand in one place though and one always moved, usually when the handler was down at the far end of the line. The person directly in front of the dog that broke, did a verbal correction and put the dog back in the stand/stay again.

Same suggestions here. Done the same horrible exercise but it has it's value.