HaleyCreasman
UKC Forum Member
Registered: Aug 2013
Location: Western North Carolina
Posts: 155 |
Re: Bench Braking Pups/Dogs.
quote:
Originally posted by dbaker17
Other than "practice makes perfect", what do you think the best techniques are to use on the bench when the dog is fairly young? Lets say 6 months and younger. How much do you expect of the dog at that age, and how often do you practice? I've been working with my 5 month old pup and she's doing very well for her age. I'm quite pleased. I just wanted to see what others think, especially if the young puppy is "bad" on the bench lol.
For me personally, it's just time and consistency. I don't work a day here, skip a day there, get 5 hours in one week and 10 hours in another week. A lot of people tend to use the 'food' method, work them on the bench and then when they're done, give them their daily food. Because at shows, they're not gonna get fed after showing. In my opinion, it's kind of like hunting - They're either going to do it or they're not. If it doesn't WANT to, and you make it, it's not going to do the best it can do, and you're wasting time you could be spending on a dog that does want to do it.
As for being 'bad' on the bench, I cheat. I use cap blocks (free redneck stacking boxes! Haha) to stand them on. 2 sessions per day when they're young: I work with them for 30 minutes on gaiting, and the blocks. When they're on the blocks, I worry more about teaching them to keep their backs straight and holding their head and tail. Then I give it about an hour and a half so they can go back and run and play and don't get burnt out. Then I spend another 15 minutes on just stacking them on the bench and working with their feet, and about the last 5 minutes on working with them on keeping their feet in place as well as their head and tail. You just have to keep in mind you're not going to go win the world show with a 6 month old puppy.
When they turn about 5 months, the blocks go away and they're on the bench. No more training wheels, it's 'make or break time'. And I start having them 'judged'. By friends they've never met or neighbors they've never met, every time a new person they've never met before. And I have them check their teeth, ears, run their hands over them, go over their back legs, all the procedures of bench or conformation show judges. And we work on holding still. Rumble (the pup in the picture) is 5 months and 5 days old now and it was only 2 days ago that he finally held still for full inspection. I had to hold his head and tail in place, but he finally kept his feet still. Granted, with work and college and getting our hunting dogs in shape, I've been slacking a little with him and got a little behind, but he's still progressing along (what I consider) nicely. His first show is November 2nd and his second show is November 9th so I'll know then what we really need to work on and what he's got mostly down pat. The main key for me in training is just consistency and not getting frustrated. They're just puppies and getting frustrated at them for not having the attention span and calmness of a 3 year old dog is going to get you anywhere.
(I did need to get him higher up on his toes, which would have straightened out his back and un-curled his tail some, big misjudgment on my behalf)
Now this dog, Sadie, on the other hand was a breeze to train. I didn't get her until she was 10 months old, but I had her stack trained by her first birthday because she was just a very fast learner and eager to please. But I had her trained that fast just by following the methods I listed above.
(she's a Leopard, not a Black and Tan, and she isn't registered. I just like for all my dogs to know how to bench lol)
But everyone has their own style. There really isn't any method set in stone of how you should or shouldn't train a bench dog. It just comes down to what works for you and your pup, and whatever gets you two properly show ready.
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10-07-2013 10:23 PM
