In the past month or so Nikon has earned four additional titles: UKC Champion, Tracking 1, Family Obedience, and Protection Alert. Now he is SG U-CH Alta-Tollhaus Bono BH T1 FO PA CL1-R HIT CGC OFA. The latter three were earned in late November at an SDA trial in St. John’s. The Tracking 1 title is the same as a SchH1 track. The Family Obedience is their version of a BH, which includes the exact same heeling pattern, long down, and out of motion exercises as the BH and then three additional “practical” exercises. The Protection Alert is however not comparable to Schutzhund protection, it is more like personal protection. The PA exercises show that the dog is under control at all times, will alert on command, will alert on his own when threatened, will remain alerting (barking) until the handler recalls the dog, and will allow the decoy to touch the handler while sitting under control. The decoys wear bitesuits and put a lot of pressure on the dog. Nikon earned those three titles with ease even though we only had a week to prepare and he got once chance to do the PA routine before the trial. We were the only team entered in the trial that did not belong to the club hosting the trial. I enjoyed doing SDA obedience with Chopper and am glad to have a dog that is well-suited (pun intended) for that style of protection. Nikon is now doing more bitesuit training so we can do the rest of the SDA titles as trials are available (that is always the trouble with SDA!) and will do his Schutzhund titles when I am happy with his tracking, which is my weakness because I do not enjoy tracking and cannot teach the problem solving we are working on with the snow cover.
My 4-month old puppy Pan also got two First Place ribbons in Novice Puppy at the UKC show and earned his AKC STAR (pre-CGC test for puppies).
Nikon and Pan watching Coke escape
Pan’s STAR class (poodle, flat coated retriever, yorkiepoo, female GSD)
Nikon’s conformation awards minus the official UKC title which I have not yet received
Nikon at the show losing to Gavin, haha
Nikon eating a bone that Schumi didn’t want (Nikon thinks Schumi is crazy)
Accepting Nikon’s SDA titles
Herding sheep
Lies, I LOVE Nikon, he is so gorgeous and I love seeing all the things you two have accomplished, I hope one day Gavin will be that versatile, and in
fact if it weren’t for Nikon, I wouldn’t even have Gavin !!!!
Pan is adorable, but my heart is with Nikon, congrats on an awesome dog!!
Congratulations on Nikon’s new titles, especially the UKC CH!
Glad to see you’re doing so well. The best is that you have him out herding. Keep it up. Nikon looks great. He’s watching the sheep and working wide and under control.
Lies, you guys have been busy! Congratulations on all the new titles. Nikon is just a terrific dog. Pan is just gorgeous! I love that dark sable coloring.
Congratulations on all the titles Lies!
Congrats, Lies!!!!I just love your new puppy….He’s very striking 🙂
Good job Lies! I use to feel the same as you with tracking but with Gustavo’s help I have had a change of attitude and enjoy it now. I hope you can get to that place too with your tracking. I have never seen any of the Sport Dog stuff. Is this the same organization that was with UKC for a short time?
Yes, it was affiliated with UKC for a short time and then politics got in the way, I’m not really sure what happened since I don’t know anyone involved or care to be involved in that capacity. I like their obedience because they add in agility exercises and I like the protection because to me it is more “real” and far more practical as far as truly testing the dog. I love Schutzhund but sometimes the “routines” get old and are not really bringing out what I want to see in the dog. With a good dog there’s no reason you can’t do both, I find they compliment each other well.
My problem with tracking is that it is very difficult for me to do at the level and consistency I want to do because of where I live, it doesn’t have anything to do with the dog or the training. It’s frustrating to have a good plan laid out in your mind and no way to execute it because of time and geographic constraints. I like the tracking itself but all the effort it takes just to make it happen makes it less enjoyable for me. If there were 30 hours in a day and I lived in the middle of nowhere it would be different!
30 hour days would be nice, but somehow I think it still wouldn’t be enough
lol, nope!
Lies, I feel your pain. Even living in the middle of nowhere – as we now do – doesn’t help all that much. We just don’t have access to much good tracking land.
Regardless, we are SO impressed with all the new titles! Way to go!
Congratulations on all your new titles Lies. You and Nikon have been very busy.
I am so glad to see a post from you. I always like to see how Chopper is doing — for obvious reasons — but I’ve always been attracted to Nikon. I just love his dark face. I so appreciate all the puppy pictures you posted of him. I seem to recall one where he was attached to a treadmill or a sliding glass door — something crazy…. and I thought, no problem — that is not going to hold the boy! Congratulations on your new puppy — I don’t know if this was the introduction or if I missed the introduction — but congratulations on having a pack. Four dogs is definitely a pack. We are down to three — and it isn’t the same. Please post more pictures — I miss your shots of all the dogs playing / running. How is Coke?
Chopper is doing great. She had been spending time on and off with my sister (well, last spring my sister took care of her while we were on vacation and then they fell in love and she didn’t want to give her back!) and is now with my sister, but she still (and always will) “belong” to me. Even my mom who is indifferent towards dogs at best loves her, she is just a great house dog anywhere she goes. I can’t remember if I posted it before but I took her to a UKC show with the altered class and she had fun doing the show ring again. She also loves tracking recreationally. Coke had a minor health issue and had to take steroids so he was a bit secluded for a while (they made him feel not himself and he didn’t want to be around anyone) but now he has been weaned off and as back to his usual shenanigans trying to dig under the fence and wrestling the other boys. I’m very proud of how Nikon has been with Pan. We did the “dry run” taking care of Ana for a few weeks last year and I got a glimpse of how he would be with another puppy. He is very patient and fair with Pan. Pan is a German working line dog like Chopper. Next dog will probably be another black and red – I can’t decide which types I like best so the easy solution is to keep both! Recently I got an inquiry about using Nikon for stud, not sure I want to go that route but it’s a nice compliment!