|
FUN THINGS TO DO WITH YOUR WESTIE
"The great pleasure of a dog is that you may make
a fool of yourself with him and not only will he not scold you,
but he will make a fool of himself too."
- Samuel Butler
FUN THINGS - "SANCTIONED"
There are many activities you can share with your Westie. Following is a brief description of each of these activities, pictures and associated links. Other Links to a general description of dog activities are as follows:
In the magazine Popular Dogs, vol. 36, is the article "9 Ways To Wear Out Your Westie". It includes Earthdog, Agility, Obedience, Hunting, Flyball, Hiking, Freestyle, Tracking and Therapy. This magazine should be available at most pet stores. However, if you cannot find it in a store, you can order it. Click on the magazine cover for ordering information
EARTHDOG
 
We're half way there; eat your heart out!! (June 27, 2004) Note: As of 2006, Molly now has her Master Earthdog Title and Riley has his Senior and is working on Masters
Mud, dirt, rats, and other vermin are what terriers are all about. They were bred to 'derat' farms . The American Kennel Club created the AKC Earthdog tests to show that today's terriers still have what it takes. Earthdog tests are fun for the dogs and the owners. This is how it works. The dog tracks the scent of a rat down into a small (9" square) tunnel in the ground. The dog has to duck and crawl along, but he'll fit through. At the end of the tunnel is a caged rat that he must 'work' (barking, digging, gnawing on the bars, etc.) There are four levels for earthdog tests: Introduction to Quarry, Junior Earthdog, Senior Earthdog and Master Earthdog.
Miss Molly shows us her favorite place .... going to earth ... as she earns her second Iron Dog award (passing both Masters and Senior in the same test)Photo by Anne Shields
Let Me At 'Em
 Click on Kirby to see pictures of our June 2004 Earthdog Seminar
Introduction to Quarry
This is for beginning dogs to get a taste of the work. They have a shorter tunnel and help is allowed. Their tunnel is ten feet long with one right angle turn.
Junior Earthdog
The Junior test has a tunnel that is thirty feet long with three right angle turns. The handler gives a single command and then must be totally silent as the dog gets to the rats and works for 60 seconds.
Senior Earthdog
The Senior test uses the same tunnel as Junior but also has a false den and exit. In addition, the rat is removed from the tunnel and the dog has to be called out by the owner.
Master Earthdog
The Master test has the same tunnel with a false entrance, den and exit. There is also a constriction in the tunnel. This test is done in randomly drawn teams which approach from a distance. One dog works at a time while the other dog must 'honor', eg., wait and let another dog work.
Links:
 
© 2005 Cheryl A Ertelt.
See what we have done this year!! Miss Molly earned both her Senior Earthdog Title her Masters title (along with an Irondog certificate on her first try - that means she qualified twice in one day, once in Masters and once in senior)!!! Glennie finally, after 3 years 1 minute and 46 seconds, barked in intro and passed!! And what a great time they have had. This is their favorite sport!
LURE RACING
This is an activity that requires a large amount of preparation, equipment and space and is not meant for the home or for a single dog. It requires a race course, a starting gate for 2 or more (typically four) dogs, a lure and a means to draw the lure down the race course ahead of the dogs. Obstacles like tunnels and jumps can be added to the course as desired. Typically this is an activity that would be coordinated by a local terrier club and may be used as a part of a dog show. The Detroit Dog Show at Cobo Hall has terrier lure racing on its agenda featuring Fox, Schnauzers, Welsh, one Parsons Russell and West Highland White Terriers.
The dogs are inserted into the starting gate and shown the lure, usually a piece of rabbit fur. The lure is pulled down the course by a suitable mechanism and the dogs are released to chase it. There should be some sort of exit barrier at the end of the course so only one dog at a time can squeeze through. This activity requires a lot of dogs and owners to participate but it is a lot of fun for the owners and the audience, especially when the dogs stop to play or just plain stop! (The Fox Terriers were pretty intent upon the lure while the Westies were often more interested in meeting the crowd and playing among themselves although in 2005 the Westies were much better at running the course....maybe they just needed practice!)
In 2006 some of the Westies showed us that they could actually compete in lure racing. They are fast learners. Check out the picture of Wesley waiting anxiously to run again and then click on the links below to see some of the 2006 races.
RACE 1
RACE 2
RACE 3
RACE 4
RACE 5
RACE 6
RACE 7
Links:
AGILITY
Dog agility is the sport in which a handler is given a set amount of time to direct a dog, off-leash, through an obstacle course. Dog agility made its debut at the Crufts Dog Show in 1979. It has since become the most rapidly growing dog sport in England, Western Europe, and North America. At dog shows, the agility trials usually draw the most spectators cheering for their favorite breeds. They are open to all size dogs with the obstacles sized to the particular breeds on the floor.
The set of obstacles and their placement are varied with each particular trial and consist of some or all of the following:
A-frame
Dog Walk
See-Saw
Pipe Tunnel
Collapsed Tunnel
Pause Table
Weave Poles
Tire Jump
Various Types of Jumps
The obstacles used in agility have been designed with both safety and spectator appeal in mind. The jumps have easily dislodged bars that can be taken down on a missed jump. All obstacles that the dog must step on have 'must contact' zones painted on the obstacle. Dogs compete only against dogs of similar size. Please note, there are some very specific rules to doing agility. Please do not attempt to train your dog yourself unless you have had training or have thoroughly read and understood the instructions as well as observed agility trials. Don't mistakenly train in bad habits which will be hard to 'untrain'. (An example of this is that a dog has to enter the weaves with his left shoulder. If you did not know this and let the dog learn to enter with his right shoulder, you would have a very hard time making the correction later.
If you want to teach your dog some basic agility, (even if you're not interested in competing), agility equipment can be bought at many on-line stores or you can make some yourself. Plywood, boards, 1/2" PVC pipe and plastic drainage tubing can be used to make jumps, tire jumps, A-frames, teeters, weave poles and dog walks. You will find instructions by searching the internet. Small tunnels can be purchased at Toys-R-us; attaching an opaque plastic sheet to a short tunnel or a large trash can with the end cut out, gets you an inexpensive Chute.
Agility photos 2, 3 and 4 by Cathi Winkles
Links:
FLYBALL
Although not known for their flyball expertise, Westies ARE involved in flyball competition (FLYBALLDOGS BREED LIST)
Flyball is a team sport for dogs that was invented in California in the late 70's. Flyball is so popular that the North American Flyball Association (NAFA) was formed and is a worldwide authority for Flyball.
Flyball is a relay race with 4 dogs on a team. The course consists of a starting line, four hurdles, ten feet apart and a box.. The dogs jump the hurdles and then step on a board that that shoots a tennis ball out of the box. The dog catches the tennis ball in its mouth and then runs back over the four hurdles. When the dog crosses the starting line the next dog goes. The first team to have all 4 dogs run without errors wins.
Links
FLYBALLDOGS
OBEDIENCE
Training your dog with obedience, agility, earthdog or stupid pet tricks, will make you and your dog a team and develop trust. If you want to do competitive obedience, you already have the most important thing, a dog. You will also need to put in the effort to work with him. It's great to have a dog that is well-behaved and happy about learning and playing. Your dog does need to know who is the alpha (it's you), and have basic socialization. It can sometimes only take a few minutes of real work a day if you structure your training well and keep at it.
You can test your dog in a recognized obedience competitions, called Obedience trials. At a United Kennel Club competition, your dog will be expected to heel in a "pattern" defined by a judge. He is expected to be at heel position throughout the maneuvers. You will be asked to do right, left and about turns; slow, normal, and fast paces, and halts, in any combination. He should automatically sit when you stop. You will have to do this both with and without a leash. You will also have the dog heel on a leash, in a figure 8 pattern around two people. You will have several stay exercises and also call your dog from a sit stay. AKC exercises are a bit different with their stay and recall exercises.
 
Please click on the photo to read about Club Member, Hon. Marilyn Kelly and her dog, Duffy who is not only a Champion but is busy in the obedience ring also.
Links:
PERFORMANCE ARTICLES
(originally published in the Terrier Club of Michigan Newsletter)
RALLY OBEDIENCE
Rally Obedience is the newest Obedience event approved by the various venues. It became a titling event for the AKC effective January 1, 2005. This event is intended to make obedience into a fun 'team' effort. You work WITH your dog rather than the dog doing the work while you give the commands. You are encouraged to talk to your dog while you follow a course laid out by the judge. The judge watches but does not participate. You are scored on your ability to work as a team to complete the course. Time only counts as a tie-breaker for placements. This new event promises to be more fun for both the dog and the handler. It is considered "pre-novice".
 
Links:
CANINE GOOD CITIZEN
Every dog should have a certain level of manners before it is allowed to paricipate in most social situations. The AKC encourages you to work with your dog to teach these basic good manners. If you do so, you can have your dog tested. If he passes, your dog will receive an official CANINE GOOD CITIZEN certificate from the AKC and the right to show the initials 'CGC' after his name. This is a well-earned source of pride for the owners who have helped their dog earn this award.
Following are the ten tests. You can read more about them at the AKC link below.
Test 1: Accepting a friendly stranger
Test 2: Sitting politely for petting
Test 3: Appearance and grooming
Test 4: Out for a walk (walking on a loose lead)
Test 5: Walking through a crowd
Test 6: Sit and down on command and Staying in place
Test 7: Coming when called
Test 8: Reaction to another dog
Test 9: Reaction to distraction
Test 10: Supervised separation
Links:
TRACKING
Tracking is a scent-based activity that brings you to the very core of what a dog is. It is a partnership in which you are asking the dog to do what you can't. When you work with a scent dog you learn that he knows a different, 'smelly' world. A dog's nose is hundreds of times more sensitive than ours so the dog picks out and distinguishes scent with a clarity we can't come close to matching.
For the most part, sport scent work is limited to tracking. How many times has your dog run around the yard with his nose to the ground? Just about any dog can learn to track. The teaching of tracking is itself very instructive. The hardest part of tracking, is laying the track for the dog!
Impatiently waiting for mom to finish laying the track
Links:
Click on the Snake for MORE FUN THINGS - JUST PLAY
|
