Titan’s First Week at Training

Okay I was going to use this photo for my Wordless Wednesday post but I just can’t wait to share.

This is Dave our good friend and trainer from Dusty Rose K-9 Trainer’s He is starting off with obedience work with Titan because that is the foundation to any sport you wish to pursue with your dog even if it is to be a couch potato I received a report from Michelle (that’s my good friend and wife of Dave, also a trainer) that Titan did very well especially with his sits. She laughed when she told me about his downs, said they are more of a plop and roll to the side so they will work on that; oh yes this is hereditary, he gets it from dad LOL. He must do a good down because my plans for him are to get his CD in obedience as well as at least a JH in hunting tests. I hope to be able to go farther but we will see after Dave does an evaluation on Titan and his training progresses. I am looking forward to working with this boy he has a strong will to please and catches on quickly, I may even be able to enter him in an upcoming Working Dog Stake in August…but I won’t get my hopes up just yet he has a way to go for that.

AKC Definitions:

CD

Companion Dog:
The letters CD may be added after a dog’s name when it has been certified by 2 different judges to have received qualifying scores in Novice classes at 3 licensed or member obedience trials. You can read more on AKC obedience here

JH

Junior Hunter:
For a title, dog must receive qualifying scores at 4 licensed or member tests. Below is an excerpt from the Regulations and Guidelines for AKC Hunting Tests for Retrievers that explains in detail junior hunting requirements:

8. CHAPTER 5, SECTION 5.  Junior Hunting Tests.
Dogs shall be tested on a minimum of four single marks,
two on land and two on water. No more than two marks
may be thrown in a series. 
Judges in keeping with simulation of realistic and natural
hunting conditions must remember the use of numerous
decoys, islands, points of land, rolling terrain, cover,
ditch lines, wind direction, etc. are important factors
to consider when designing test scenarios to evaluate
Junior dogs as capable hunting companions.
    (1)  …
    (2)  Dogs shall be steady but may be brought to the
line on leash with a flat buckle collar. The dog is under
judgment when it leaves the holding blind. A Junior
dog that is not under control when brought to the line
(jumping, strongly tugging, etc) even though it is on a
leash shall risk receiving a lower score in trainability
including zero in extreme cases. Dogs may be restrained
gently with a slipcord looped through the flat buckle collar,
or held gently by the flat buckle collar until sent to
retrieve.Notable changes/clarifications made to the description of
the Junior Hunting Test include:  (1) Judges may, at their
discretion, require more than four marks.  (2) No more than
two marks may be thrown in a series. (3) While a Junior
dog is being brought to the line on leash, it is expected that it
be reasonably under control.  If it is not, the dog risks being
scored lower in trainability in accordance to the degree of
its misbehavior.  

So keep watching for updates as the training continues