My dog is the greatest little show man in the world except for the judge's exam. The judge was a new provisional judge and scared him to death. We've had problems ever since

Question

Hello Ed,

Thanks so much for building such a great and informative site. I have and train sporting dogs for show and field work. I never agreed with total compulsion training, but was against those clicker/positive only extremists as well. I'm glad to have found your site and videos that gives me a good middle ground. I am now rewriting all my former compulsive only methods of ecollar training and field work to inlude marker work to train the commands... but will still use the ecollar to reinforce them once they known.

My question is in relation to my 20 month male old Vizsla puppy that I bred and raised. He is the greatest little show man in the world except for the judges exam. When he was about 16 months old he was stacked for the exam at a show. The judge was a new provisional judge and scared him to death. She first came over the top of his head quickly and when he balked backwards she jumped back and pulled her hands back. Her next moves were very hesitant and she kept quickly moving her hands back... well after a few times of this he decided she was not trustworthy and refused the exam altogether. She excused him from the ring and that was that. Over the next few months we worked on having people examine him and sometimes he was fine and sometimes he is not, but overall he improved. This past weekend I took him back in the ring and this judge also hesitated on exam and he actually tried to bite me to get away from her. Of course he was excused again. I walked him around the whole show all day and he gladly met with strangers of all shapes and sizes. He is not afraid of people... but I have no idea how to get that "picture" of the "death exam" out of his mind or change it to a good thing. I tried putting him up on a table and having a friend who he has met several times go over him and he got so scared he released his anal glands and almost flipped the table over. But then seconds later he was fine with him petting him. He loves to travel to the shows, crates fine at home and at shows, loves walking around the shows and free stacking. He likes to meet people. He will walk right up and sniff them and let them pet him or give him treats. However, now that I am really paying attention, it seems to go well when it is on his terms. When he moves forward towards them it is fine... but if they come towards him with out him acknowlegding them, he usually will back up.

I realize we are at the last fear period of 16-20 months (and my vizslas mature slower than most physically and mentally-they are of European bloodlines). I also think he has an insecure dominance problem. I don't know if maybe he is trying to protect me and can't when he is restrained. I really don't know. Many of my fellow handlers and long time breeders have given many tips. I'm not quite sure how to proceed so as not to make things worse.

We did some compulsive ecollar obedience work for the field when he was younger and he shut down on me completely. It was to the point that he would not leave heal position no matter what and when that didn't work he would run back to the truck or his crate and just scream and take the corrections. It was awful. I was working together with a long time professional field trainer and followed some of his methods only to come and find out that they will not work for my dogs. We took the rest of the season off and just had fun. That training destroyed all the confidence he had out in the field and took away the drive for the birds. We have done some marker training now on the commands that he previously shut down on and his confidence is slowly coming back and he is having fun working. He is a fun little dog and likes to work. I just need to find the right amount of positive training and the right amount of correction to get what we want done. Otherwise he is a very obedient little guy and learns things quickly.

I would appreciate your advice. One more time excused from the ring and his show career is over. Not to mention, any competition that requires an exam by a judge.

Thank you in advance.

Andrea

Accepted Answer

Without seeing your dog I can guess that the combination of his fear during the exam and being prevented from leaving has left him feeling cornered. Add the fact that he’s had compulsive training that (in my opinion) was unfair to him. You are right that his confidence in you has been broken. By continuing to do the same thing over and over again and expect different results is not fair to your dog. Instead of rebuilding the trust in you, you are letting him rehearse his feelings of fear every time you put him in the situation that you know is making him extremely uncomfortable. It’s a no-win situation. He is NOT trying to protect you; he’s trying to get away from a situation that makes him feel trapped.

He needs you to be a dependable and compassionate leader, he needs to have confidence in his safety when he’s with you. He doesn’t have that right now.

If you want to do the right thing for him, you’ll forget about dog show exams for a while. I’d start over with marker training.

The Power of Training Dogs with Markers - I would not do ANY other kind of training except marker training with this dog.

I’m going to recommend a book that is EXCELLENT and applies to your situation 100%. It’s called The Thinking Dog.

The last thing I’d be worried about with him is corrections or dog shows. This may be something that never really goes away, but I think if you are willing to change your mindset and get rid of the direct line thinking (that plague all of us humans) you may be able to work him through it. I wouldn’t get in a hurry and I wouldn’t put any time limits on this.

You may want to join our discussion forum too, it's a great resource.

Good luck with him, I hope this helps.

Cindy