Dog Discussions. Topic: Our First Draft Test

Grace & I showed in our first draft test today - put on by the local Bernese Mountain Dog Club. We hadn't had as much training time as I'd anticipated, and on top of my stiff, arthritic knees, I did something to hurt one knee about 3 weeks ago. For the first couple days I really couldn't even walk, but it's been getting better. I debated about entering the test - mostly concerned whether I could make it through the 1/2 mile freight haul. I decided to save a little money and enter only Sunday, giving me an extra day to rest the knees and watch the test if I wanted. So I spent yesterday morning & early afternoon in very windy, cool weather (high of low 40s), with Koby, watching the test. It wasn't comfortable, but I'm sure glad I gave myself that extra day to watch the others and plan for today.

Weather was better today. Started out cool, but the wind was much lighter, the sun came out, and by the time the test ended it was in the low 50s. Actually, for the Berners, the two Rotties and the BSD entered (all black dogs, obviously), the weather was fine.

There are 5 parts to their draft test. First is a demonstration of basic control (heeling, and a recall). Then you have to harness & hitch your dog, all done under the watchful eyes of spectators and judges, with a judge verifying that you've done it correctly. Then you start a maneuver course, with an empty cart. It involves circles and turns, backing up, stopping and loading, going slow, going through a narrow area, and things like that. Every few dogs, they do a group stay & freight haul. WIth the weight in the draft rig (in Novice, 20 lbs), all the dogs go in the ring together and do a 3 minute stay, hooked to their loaded cart. Dog can sit, down or stand, but must stay in that position for 3 minutes (and you can only give one command to stay). Then they all leave the ring and go on the freight haul - walking 1/2 mile over varied terrain (incluing up and down a hill) with the 20 lb weight.

We didn't pass the entire test (few teams pass on their first attempt.....many people there were on their 3rd or 4th try for the 1 pass needed for the title), but I was so proud of both of us. The maneuver course went very well. She lagged more than usual, and spent too much time sniffing the leaves and ground, but we did all the parts of that course with the empty cart successfully. Her heeling wasn't perfect, but perfectly passable for this test. Unfortunately, she anticipated on the recall - coming to me just as the judge said "call your dog". We did pass the "harness & hitch", something I was a little worried about yesterday (have you ever seen one of these draft harnesses? It looks like a sick puzzle that you think you'll never get on your dog correctly!). The group stay I was worried about, since last night she couldn't stay for more than 2 1/2 minutes. Sure enough, about 20 seconds into it she popped up, then moved ahead a few feet until I met her and asked her to stop (she does have a pretty good stop, I must say). That wasn't too unexpected, and since we'd blown the whole test on the anticipated recall, I wasn't too upset.

The freight haul...well, it was grueling for me, but the old girl and I made it all the way back, albeit bringing up the rear, and a tad later than everyone else. I wasn't sure how Grace would handle a 1/2 mile of 20 lbs - she's never carted that much for more than a few feet, and only once or twice has carted 10 lbs for a few minutes. But it didn't seem to bother her much, and she almost seemed to gather steam as we went on. The hill was at the end of the course, but both of us made it up and down that without much trouble. Unfortunately, we failed the freight haul....and I had to chuckle when I read the judge's comments on why we failed: "ate dead animal remains & stopped working". Yup, about 2/3rd of the way through, she stopped and sniffed the ground, and I couldn't get her attention for anything. I finally deduced that she'd found a dead squirrell or chipmunk or something under all the leaves, and thankfully as soon as I saw her chomp on it, I was able to get to her and grab it from her mouth before she swallowed it. But then I had to literally pull her away with the leash (a no-no in draft tests....Novice is all on leash, but you can't use the leash to guide or help the dog...and certainly no pulling<g>). I suppose it wouldn't be as funny if we'd passed everything else and this was the only thing we failed<g>.

Anyway, we had a great time, and she did as well or better than I could have expected, given the circumstances. And I loved the judges comments: "Nice worker! Good teamwork & control", "Very nice job! It was a pleasure to watch a Belgian pull a wagon and do such a nice job", and "Excellent teamwork. A pleasure to watch you both work".

Ah yes, she may be a butthead at times (too many times, LOL!), but I do love my old gal (well, she's only 8 1/2, but she ain't a spring chicken). And I'm very proud of her. Hopefully next spring or summer we can enter another draft test, do both days this time, and come away with our NDD.

Thanks for letting me brag....and ramble on. :-)

Karin and Gracie in MN
and Koby (future draft dog?) and Kyler