Utility Dog: UD or U-UD

[George Bailey]

AKC Utility Exercises:

Signal Exercise, 40 points
Scent Discrimination Article No 1, 30 points
Scent Discrimination Article No 2, 30 points
Directed Retrieve, 30 points
Moving Stand and Examination, 30 points
Directed Jumping, 40 points

UKC Utility Exercises:

Signal and Heeling, 30 points
Scent Discrimination (Metal), 30 points
Directed “Marked” Retrieve (from handler’s side), 30 points
Directed “Signal” Retrieve (sent from handler, then directed), 30 points
Consecutive Recalls (one with and one without Down),40 points
Directed Jumping, 40 points

Julie K

[George Bailey]

If novice is comparable to elementary school, and open to high school, then utility is college level. Utility is the most challenging, and the most fun of all the classes, requiring that the dog work independently and at a distance from the handler.

Julie K

[Dansgrizz]

Thanks julie!! This would be very cool to get a dog into!!

[George Bailey]

Dan,

I love to teach utility exercises and teach them to beginner dogs to keep them interested and loving their work. Gives both their brains and their bodies a workout.

Here's a beautiful utility performance by Leslie and yellow Lab, Twist:
YouTube- Leslie and Twist in Utility at LCCOC
Twist makes an error on her first scent article, but look how fast and spot on her second was. Beautiful, happy working dog.

Julie K

[APBTMOMMY]

That was awsome......thanks fro sharing

[George Bailey]

Glad you enjoyed it, APBTMPMMY.

Julie K

[George Bailey]

Signals

The signal exercise is a heeling pattern ending with position changes at a distance, with only signals given as cues.

What is a signal? A signal is a gesture given with either hand and arm, and can be any movement you wish, as long as it is continuous, and one single fluid motion. You may not stop and hold it, and you may not move other parts of your body.

It takes quite some time to fade all cues save a single signal and for the dog to feel comfortable working at a distance.

My signals are all given with one hand (my right);
stand--palm parallel to the ground, with elbow at my side, forearm extended to the side
down---right hand shoots straight out toward them, about waist high, wrist bent with fingertips pointing up and palm facing them. Looks like a 'stop' sign.
sit---hand goes straight up in the air (in early training, that hand holds a treat, dog's head goes up to see the cookie and the butt naturally goes down.
recall--arm goes straight out to my side, palm facing the dog, then is folded back in at the elbow, palm resting against my ribs.
None of this is written in stone and you can use any signal you like; make sure the dog sees the most visible surface, which is going to be the palm of your hand facing them. I advise people to have someone watch them give signals or to watch themselves in a mirror, to make sure the dog is getting the best visual possible.
There is nothing in the rules about how fast you must give a signal.

I'm a big fan of using targets and body part targeting to achieve the finished signal exercise, as well as a more complete understanding of stand as a position-- I want my dogs to be able to pop into a stand at a distance, even though they'll never be asked to do this in the ring. The targets help the dog to remain in place while changing position, most of my Amstaffs want to leap forward.

Initially, the dog gets both signal and verbal until they are fluent, then the verbal is slowly faded. I start my dogs in ground chutes (two parallel broad jump boards or poles the width of the dog) to keep them from moving sideways, and also behind a baby gate, which is quite helpful because I can also ask for chin targeting, head down, or specify that they keep contact with one particular diamond of the baby gate. Distance is achieved by me moving slowly further away from them as they become more proficient and confident.

[George Bailey]

A few notes on the actual positions:

I never got a UD on a Pem, but I retired two at age nine who were being shown in utility. They were started at age five. The male had an old injury which caused lameness in his landing shoulder and the bitch told me she didn't want to do this any more; both were retired. I mention them because, in my experience, there is a huge difference between training a herder and training a terrier. Never had a problem with down, focus in general was easier to achieve and maintain.

We do not teach dogs positions, they all do these naturally, we are just identifying and naming them, and then putting cues on them. You can't say it's a command until you've taught every possible variation on the theme, including distance, duration, and distractions. Find ways to put variety and challenge to the exercise(s) rather than teaching by rote.

Stand
As I've gotten older and have a more clear vision of what I want, I don't ever teach a default sit, and stand is named and worked on from the get go. It's the same whether they are shown in the breed ring or not, it's a stop in position. The number one problem I see in handlers teaching a moving stand is that it is usually lured, and the luring hand is the right hand, which somehow ends up fully extended in front of the handler. So when you are teaching stand, teach it in position, with a minimum of movement; if sitting, the dog plants his front feet and pops his back feet up. The second problem I see is people teach it with pressure on; pick the dog up by the gut, step on back feet, etc. With targeting, you can have the dog target top of hips up to your hand or extension target, or you can have them do a chest target, in place.
I work on slow motion moving stands with novice dogs, often taking a step or two backward. sometimes spinning around to the front of the dog to stop forward motion. My signal is always a stop, whether it's in their face or at the chest, if the dog is targeting, it will participate rather than feel pressured.
Stand stay is often a problem, bodies wag and feet pitterpatter. Our dogs learn to do stand stays using such things as paint buckets or a very small block of wood, which helps them to concentrate on maintaining contact with their feet.

Down:
My UD Amstaff devised this magnificent move where she would launch herself into the air and drop, sliding into it, on the drop on recall. Of course, she tried to do the same on the signals. It is all my dogs personal goals to do this! Both Corgis always did the fold back accordian down-- they didn't have very far to go and they have another brain for their faraway rear end. I advise people not to teach the down from a sit ever as it can result in a dog who thinks it must sit before downing, which is two actions, not one. So White is being helped by reminding her that elbows, chest, and chin are all a part of down, and that moving forward is both undesirable and not rewarded. I consider down to be an emergency stop position, so when I work on it, it's mandatory. I never got the feeling my Corgis, or any of the Border Collies I've worked with, resented down like my Amstaffs--- it's as though it's beneath them--- how can you be ready to leap into action if you're stuck in a down? We do things like back up to a target and drop, go from one target to the next with a chin on target, no cheating.

Sit:
from a down--- we use a butt target so the dog just pops its front feet up, practiced first in heel position and then in front of the dog, often with a nose target, which grows into a signal. Small platforms are great, too, but they're too situational and bulky for me, whereas a target can be anything.

Recall:
I don't practise this until the other positions are pretty solid as my dogs are all anxious to get to me, and it brings forward motion into the exercise.

Don't give a dog a signal unless you have its attention, it's not fair and often causes them to give you the wrong response. Go back to building a history of reinforcement just for focus if you need to. Help them with a verbal when they get it wrong. Don't do too many repetitions, without varying the exercise in some way, it get's boring. Be very informative with what you want.

[chris mercer]

Even if your not going for an ob degree or UD this is good information. Every time I read your post I think,oh maybe I could do this easier. That is more successful. Chris Mercer