More Than Just Another Pretty Face:

Long before there were agility and herding and even rally trials, there was competitive obedience. It is, in many ways, the corner stone of everything we do with our dogs. Even if we never set foot in a ring to compete, we all strive to have Old English Sheepdogs who have some semblance of manners and we all know they don’t come that way – it takes some work on our part. Some of us get bit by the obedience bug and decide to show off our dog’s hard-earned good manners in a more formalized way.

The first AKC sanctioned obedience trial was held in June, 1936. One of the first OES to compete in obedience back in the 1930s was a family pet named Limey who was adopted as a stray. So you could say that contrary to what your Old English Sheepdog may be telling you, the breed has some history in this discipline.

There are three basic titling levels in obedience as I write this (that is probably about to change): Novice, where the dog earns a Companion Dog (CD) title, Open, where a dog earns a Companion Dog Excellent (CDX) title, and Utility, where the dog earns a Utility Dog (UD) title. Each title requires that the dog earns a minimum score of 170 out of 200 points, and at least half of the points on each exercise. Predictably, the exercises become more challenging with each level. At the novice level, the dog is expected to heel on and off lead, to stand completely still where the handler left the dog so the judge can go over (examine) the dog, to come when called by the handler, and to stay in a sit and a down for one and three minutes respectively. Any dog with a reasonable amount of training should be able to obtain this title and many, many Old English have – on some days more decorously than others. Tales of Old English Sheepdogs who detoured for a quick swim in the ocean or to snarf up a ringside child’s hotdog mid-exercise abound, but these are merely the things that keep life interesting and the owners of our incredibly intelligent and innovative dogs humble.

In addition to the basic levels, there is the Utility Dog Excellent (UDX) title which is earned by the dog qualifying in both Open and Utility on the same day ten times. A number of OES have earned this title, but not a large number. So it is perfectly acceptable to approach the handlers of these special OES with much awe – bowing at the waist is optional.

Even fewer, only four in the history of the breed to be exact, have earned the Obedience Trial Champion (OTCH) title. This is a competitive title, meaning you must beat other dogs in the Open B and Utility B classes to earn the necessary 100 points needed for this title. It has been more than 20 years since the last OES earned this much coveted title, and only one of those dogs, the last one, had a breed championship as well. It is high time someone stepped up to the plate to change that record. Are you and your OES up for the challenge?

You have to start somewhere, and one of the nice things about Old English Sheepdog specialty show is that you are more likely to find some of the non-regular obedience classes, such as pre-novice, offered. This is not a titling class, but it is a competitive class: you compete for the highest score. The exercises are very much like the Novice exercises, except your dog is on lead the entire time. It is a nice preparation for Novice, and has the added benefit of making sure your dog can’t leave the ring to find the nearest hamburger joint, just in case you overestimated your dog’s state of readiness or just plain dedication on that day. It is a fun and relatively undemanding class, so a very nice place to start.

For more information on AKC obedience events, please go to http://www.akc.org/events/obedience.

Agility does not have the long and illustrious history obedience does – it was first offered in England in 1978, but the AKC didn’t have its first agility trial until 1994. But once it started, it took off like wildfire, and with good reason: it’s fast, it’s fun and it’s addictive!

In its most basic form, for those of you who know something about horses, agility resembles the show jumping events that inspired the first exhibition of dogs running through an obstacle course for entertainment at the big annual dog show, Crufts, in England. Except while horses are only expected to jump obstacles, our dogs are also expected to run through tunnels, to weave through up to twelve poles set in a row and to climb up and over what are known as the contact obstacles: the A-frame, the dog walk (a twelve inch wide plank four feet off the ground) and the teeter, so named because they have yellow contact zones painted on them that the dog must touch for proper obstacle execution.

All of these obstacles make up a set course, which varies at every trial, and which the handler must direct the dog to run as fast as possible, with as few faults as possible. In AKC agility (there are many different agility organizations and flavors and most offer some fun titling opportunities for our dogs), there are three different types of classes: standard, which includes all of the obstacles; jumpers with weaves, which includes, predictably, jumps and weaves and also tunnels at the judge’s discretion, and FAST, a strategy game. There are three basic levels: Novice, where you can qualify with some faults, Open, where you can qualify with fewer faults, and Excellent, where you can not have any faults and still qualify (i.e. earn a leg towards a title). After the basic titles, you can work on attaining Master level titles (ten legs from the Excellent B level in any event), and also the Master Agility Champion (MACH) title.

Only one Old English Sheepdog has earned the MACH title, and she did it twice, and her second MACH was earned at age ten! She is MACH2 Sacha or, more formally, MACH2 Pooh-Bear’s Lucero De La Noche, and she belongs to Sylvia Calcano of Florida. If you ever run into Sylvia, well, bowing will only embarrass her, but it would not be out of line. She is an exceptional trainer with an exceptional dog. No other Old English Sheepdog has come close to date.

Do you have a fast and furiously athletic, trim and well-conditioned Old English Sheepdog who might excel at this sport? If so, the field is wide open. With the opportunities to really feel the wind in their hair, our dogs love this game.

Any OES who measures over 22” at the withers jumps 24”, as Sacha did. OES 22” and under, jump 20”. There are also preferred classes, where the dog may jump 4” lower than it’s regular height and will have five extra seconds to complete the course – these titles are earned on essentially the same courses, and with correspondingly similar titles. Many dogs earn the regular titles first and then move to preferred in their senior years. Some of our dogs, especially some of the males, are simply so big-boned that starting them in preferred is a perfectly sensible option. Either way, they get to play and they love it!

To learn more about AKC agility, go to http://www.akc.org/events/agility.

Rally is an even more recent event than agility. It is some times described as a cross between agility and obedience, and to some extent that may be true. But even though you follow a bunch of signs through a set timed course, there the similarity with agility ends and the foundation of rally, the obedience exercises, begins.

The AKC first offered rally competitions in January 2005. My senior Old English Sheepdog and I got to run through one of the first rally courses ever offered in competition on Christmas Day, 2004, as guinea pigs. Our obedience instructor was one of the first AKC rally judges, she was scheduled to judge her first assignment the second weekend in January, and she wanted to set up her courses on the sly to make sure they ran the way she had intended when she designed them on paper, so she asked Belle and I to help to make sure she had allotted enough room for the “bigger-butted dogs”. Harumph!

As she talked Belle and I through the course - it would be more than a year before she and I actually competed in rally - she laughed at Belle’s enthusiasm and predicted: “this is going to be a great event for your breed!”

I believe she was right. You can talk to your dog. Praise them, encourage them, and laugh with them. It is not as rigid as traditional obedience and you are not dependant on a judge’s commands. You learn the course by walking it ahead of time, without the dog, just as you do in agility. And then you proceed with your dog when it’s your turn, at your own pace and with your own style. It is a wonderful event to bring a young dog in to, or a lovely place to semi-retire that senior citizen who insists she is neither ready for couches nor a vegetative state.

There are, again, three basic titling levels: novice (RN), advanced (RA) and excellent (RE). Once a dog has earned the RE, he or she can start competing for the Rally Advanced Excellent title (RAE), which entails the dog qualifying in both advanced B and excellent B on the same day on ten different occasions. The novice level is entirely on lead. But both advanced and excellent are off-lead and include a jump or two, but nothing higher than 16”, which is what all OES are required to jump based on their size, and why it is so perfect for baby dogs and veterans alike. If you think the preceding two events are a bit more than you can handle at this point, rally is a wonderful performance event in which to get your feet wet.

For more information on AKC rally, go to http://www.akc.org/events/rally.

This is, or should be, the premiere performance event for our dogs. After all, this is what they were bred to do. Unfortunately, not too many of them get that opportunity any more; though I understand those of you in the greater Seattle area have more training opportunities than most.

Though there are few OES who compete in herding, the few who do, compete in a variety of organizations, including events offered by the American Herding Breeds Association (AHBA) and as part of the Australian Shepherd Club Of America’s (ASCA) program, as well as AKC herding. Herding is relatively new to the AKC. There are two distinct levels: tests and trials. The test levels are pass/fail and non-competitive. The trial levels are started, intermediate and advanced. No OES has every attained a herding championship in any organization, though two OES have earned AKC Herding Advanced titles (HX).

For most of us, our introduction, and some times only exposure, to herding comes from herding instinct tests. Both AHBA and, more recently, the AKC, offer instinct testing. The tests are very basic and the dog can enter with no prior exposure to stock. Some basic obedience work is not a bad thing, however. There is absolutely nothing in the world that is more exciting that seeing one of our dogs turn on to stock and begin to exhibit the instinct for which this breed originated.

In keeping with their drover’s background, they probably worked larger groups of stock. There are very few OES who actually have to work for a living today, so herding tests and trials are one of the few areas where we can demonstrate that perhaps our dogs still have what it takes to get the job done.

If you want to learn more about herding trials, you can go to http://www.akc.org/events/herding or http://www.ahba-herding.org.