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#204264 - 08/03/08 12:52 PM
Re: Michael Ellis Seminar Question
[Re: Michele McAtee]
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Karin Andreen
Leerburg Web Board User
Registered: 06/12/08
Posts: 9
Loc: Minnesota
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Yes, that's why I decided to try Mondio with my puppy - lots more fun and colorful (IMHO) than some of the other sports. Your dog has to be prepared for just about anything. There were also a couple white bags on the field at the seminar, filled with empty pop cans. I had a 3 month old puppy there, and we're both new to Mondio (or any PS). At our last Obedience session, Michael had me leading Koby up to unusual things like that - things that would make noise, would move, etc.... - and rewarding him when he touched it. I was very happy that Koby didn't seem phased by any of it (my two year old male would have jumped out of his skin.....which is one reason he's not a PS dog<g>). Koby put both legs into the bottle-filled pool with nary a thought, put a foot or two right onto the noisy and wiggly bag of cans, etc.... For the advanced dogs, in the protection portion Michael would stand in or near the pool, requiring the dog to wade into the pool filled with bottles in order to make contact with him. At the Mondio Championships in April, one exercise had the decoy flinging strings of empty water bottles toward the dogs as they got close to him, to try to throw the dog off (the decoy didn't really "throw" the bottles, but held onto them and moved and wiggled them at the dog to try to avoid being bit. Most dogs that I saw hardly even noticed the bottles).
Last weekend Michael also had the advanced dogs retrieving unusual items, since the retrieve item in Mondio can be pretty unusual. Most of the items last weekend were things that would hang from the dog's mouth, and most of the dogs did have a little more trouble trying to retrieve an object that was dangling from their mouth (sometimes trailing on the ground so the dog would step on it as they tried to retrieve it).
I don't think these unusual things are done in Schutzhund, but it's gotta be good proofing no matter what sport you're in (even something as "normal" as AKC obedience<g>).
Karin and the Belgian Sheepdogs in MN
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