Hold & Bark V Call Out!

[Kennelman]

Hi,

What are peoples opinions on this excercise?

The dog is to bark intensely and convincingly.

The call out requires the dog to leave the helper and return to handlers side.

My thoughts are that a dog who is thinking of the call out is not going to bark with as much intensity and presence.

The same goes with the dog who is concentrating on the barking excercise. Surely this dog will not return on the call out as good as is expected?

Do you agree? Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Surely you can not have both? Or can you?

Kennelman.

[vytensa]

I agree that this exercise is extremely hard to train for, just as the send out & down in the same sport. However, IMO if the dog understands "obedience" commands FULLY their SHOULD ;D never be a time when they are disobeyed!

In both cases, however, the rules require for fast decisive actions of the dog in both sections of the exercise ie its easy to tell a dog that is "listening" for his down command during the sendout because he's either not running at full tilt/running with his ears up!

As an IPO judge I group the call out into the "obedience" section of the work rather than the h & B specifically. By that I mean if the dog is barking with strong intesity & power he gets an excellent grade for that exercise, however, if the dog comes slowly to heel I take the points away from the "heeling to the escape" position which, when added to the escape points is worth a lot more than the h & b by itself. Thus its easier for the stronger dog to stay in the higher grades!

Hope that makes sense!!