With Our Affenpinschers by Ken Stowell
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
TRANSFORMATION FROM CONFORMATION TO QUALIFICATION WITH OUR AFFENPINSCHERS by KEN StOWELL e are new to the Affen- September 29, 2014. I quickly realized In Performance, handlers have the pinscher breed. Our our 2 years of bonding during Confor- opportunity to walk the course with- first Affenpinscher,mation put us ahead of the curve, as far out their dogs to get the layout of the Tamarin Technique, as a working team was concerned. signs, the course and to ask the judge Waka “Tech” was our introduction to We began to compete, and yes, we for an explanation of a particular sign. Affenpinschers. A few months later, did have our moments. The Conforma- I do this every time. In Obedience, the his daughter, Tamarin Tease, aka tion dog now had to “sit in the heel” first rule of thumb is you cannot talk to “Ditto” arrived. when we stopped and continue “in the your dog with the exception of a few After finishing both of them, we heel” while walking. “In the heel” sim- commands. After ten years of showing felt there must be something more we ply means the dog’s head or shoulder is Chihuahuas, which I still do, that rule could do beyond the Conformation parallel to the handler’s left leg. Tech was, and still is, very difficult. I con- ring. Our good friend, Teresa Solomon was a natural and learned quickly what stantly have to remind myself to keep of Georgia (whom I met by chance in was expected of him. Soon we were my mouth shut. And if I don’t remem- California 2006), her Chihuahua was a training off lead. ber, the judge will remind me. top 5 invitee for the Eukanuba Invita- I had to learn quickly, too. Not just During Tech’s training and course tional Agility Trial, suggested we look the rules and regulations, but the pro- runs, we decided to give Ditto a try. into Obedience, Rally and possibly Agil- cedures and policies of the course and We enrolled her in the Basic Obedience ity. I took her advice. terminology of the sport. Our debut class on July 13, 2015. She continued I contacted the AKC and they November 29, 2014, entered in Rally to work in Conformation towards her were very helpful and informative, Novice A, I learned a very important Grand Champion title and her place- so, of course, I ordered the Rules and lesson: do not stare at your dog while ment in the Owner Handled series for Regulations handbooks. competing in Rally to see where he the AKC Eukanuba Finals. It was decided Tech would attend an is or you will miss a sign. I did. We Our initial concern was will she be 8-week Basic Obedience Class offered were disqualified. I thought to myself, able to distinguish between the two at the Upper Suncoast Dog Train- ‘Nice start in a new sport.’ It was a competitions. Each sport is different ing Center. First day of school was humbling experience. in that Conformation is a show lead Tech Tech Tech (Illustration by Elizabeth Dolezal at DolezalArt.com) Ditto in the backyard. He will continue his role as Therapy Dog visiting patients in nursing homes and private doctor offices. His loving demeanor is beautiful to watch. Ditto, she will continue Rally, Obe- dience and Conformation, but plan to start Barn Hunt classes in a few months. We want to put her high drive and natu- ral born curiosity to work. It should be interesting. I want to thank the instructors at the Upper Suncoast Training Center in Clearwater, Florida; Teresa Solomon who has answered a million questions with honest answers; the spectators who love to see the “monkey dogs” Ditto (Illustration by Elizabeth Dolezal at in the ring; and all the comments and DolezalArt.com) questions that range from “What kind of dog is that?” to “Is that a Griffon?” to and Performance is a traditional buckle wonderful traits. It does not matter “I’ve only seen them in pictures or on collar and leash. She does distinguish if the dog is pure-bred or mixed, the TV.” A sincere and heartfelt thank you between the two by the collar or lead bonds I’ve witnessed between humans to Jackie Stacy and Terry Stacy of Tama- she has on. and their canine friends are very appar- rin Kennels, Reg. who have entrusted Once again, our bonding in Con- ent during training and in the ring. Not us with their line of Affenpinschers formation paid off as well as my own only do the dogs want to please their and who continue to guide us, teach experience in the training ring. To our owners, the owners want to please us and support us. Thank you to my amazement, she too, quickly picked up their dogs. wife Alison, who is a self prescribed on the training regimen. Rally and Obedience is truly a team behind-the-scenes participant. In truth, To title in Obedience and Rally you sport. In Conformation, the steward she holds us all together. Absolutely need to qualify in 3 “legs” by 2 different will call, “Long Coat Chihuahua so none of this would have been possible judges. Obedience, earn more than 50 and so”. In Performance, the judge without her. percent of points for each exercise with will call out, “Team Affenpinscher so Last but not least, thank you to CH a total score of at least 170 out of 200 and so.” In Conformation it’s you, your Tamarin Technique CD BN RE THDN points. Rally, 70 out of 100 points. dog and everybody else’s dog that is CGCA CGCU and his daughter GCH CH Ditto’s debut in Rally Novice B was being judged by a written standard as Tamarin Tease BN RN CGCA CGCU— September 12, 2015 at the Toy Dog Club interpreted by a ring judge, and that’s they make me look good. of Central Florida. She qualified with a all good. In Performance, it’s you, your score of 84.0 and placed third. dog and a stopwatch being observed ABOUT THE AUTHOR Tech and Ditto are different in train- by a judge that personally laid out the Ken Stowell retired from the US ing, and course runs, as night and day. course. The stopwatch only comes Navy. As a corpsman he has served Tech is very good at heeling on and off into play to break a point tie as it with the Marines and various Avia- lead. Ditto will drift a little too much. applies to Rally and Obedience. In oth- tion Squadrons. His specialties Their long sit (1 minute) and long er words, you were good, but how fast included Aerospace Medicine and downs (3 minutes) are carbon copies. were you good? Aerospace Physiology. He retired off They have never popped up during I try to video most of their training the USS Daniel Boone (SSBN-629). He these exercises. During recall exer- to see what’s broken, so I can correct holds degrees in Cultural Anthropol- cises, Tech will come to me in regal the problems during the week between ogy and Archaeology. style with his Affenpinscher jaunt, classes. Personally I have so much fun whereas Ditto will run towards me like doing this and it amazes me that I can she stole something—flat out and low learn an exercise and pass that on to my to the ground. Sometimes I think that dogs, but again, they are smart. You can she’s going to run right past me and I actually see their individual progress have to keep my mouth shut! She always with learning and their ability to retain gets a round of applause and a round of more and more. I truly believe they sporting laughter. have fun too. We have learned much about Our future plan for Tech is continue our Affenpinschers. First and his training and competition in Rally, foremost, they are smart, smart, smart. Obedience and Conformation. We are Keenly aware and eager to please. slowly adding jumps and weave poles. We do our very best to nurture these He has his own mini Agility course .