How do you prepare and train your Dalmatian for the show ring?

Everybody has their own ideas of how, where and when to prepare and train their puppy for the show ring.

Here at Chandhally I always allow the puppy to play, have fun and grow up in their own time. But and there is always a BUT..training has to start at some stage.

The first part of training your Dalmatian puppy starts really from the day you get it home. Get friends and family involved: it makes it so much more fun and the pup gets used to being handled by many different people. You will end up with a more confident dog.

You DO NOT teach your pup to sit. You want your dog to stand and wait for everything. Encourage it to do this before you feed. Tell it to STAND and WAIT,  praise it and say good dog !! Then feed. It doesn’t take long before they get the message. After all the DALMATIAN loves its food and will happily wag its tail for it. So you have achieved stage 1

                                         Pia  and Maya  practising their “so called” free standing.                                                                                                                 Only 9 weeks old

Get it used to having its teeth looked at. Lift the lips gently so that you can see their ”smile”. Do not be rough as this might put it off for life. It will then back off from the judge and will not be able to get assessed. (People are very quick to judge such a dog as NERVOUS). Make a game of it. Get your friends to do the same ever so gently. Do not under any circumstances FORCE the mouth open or handle it roughly. I always find that when I cuddle the pup is a good time to do this, when the pup is on its back etc. Just quickly lift the pup’s lips so that you can see the teeth say” TEETH”  and make a big fuss. This way they learn that this can be fun.

Next step is to get it used to collar and lead. You leave the collar on for a few days before you start lead training.This is CHANDHALLY SNOW LEOPARD at 10 weeks trying to stand for a treat and getting used to his show lead...See that tail ?? You want your dogs tail doing the same thing..Wagging !!!

Lead training is again fairly simple. You let the puppy “lead” you the first few times, and after that you make a game of it and praise it ONLY when it does what YOU want. You start off with the collar and lead,walking around the house and garden and try to get the pup to “walk “to heel.. but not too close. You do not want to trip over the dog. You make sure you walk the pup on your right hand side, and also on your left hand side.

You walk in circles, do triangles and straight up and down. When you go up one way have the pup on your right side, when you come down again, put the dog on your left side. Probably this is the most important thing to remember when showing .. THE DOG MUST ALWAYS BE BETWEEN YOU AND THE JUDGE. The last thing the judge wants to see is YOU. What I actually find handy, is to put a chair on the patio or in the garden and pretend that that is the judge. Do your up and down, talking to your dog all the time, then  make the triangle and stop about 1 meter in front of the chair.The judge doesn’t want you in his face, he wants to see the dog.I also find that the dogs respond quicker if you tell them what you want  like ... “Charlie - Trot” “Charlie - Turn” or perhaps you want to say  “Charlie -close”  “Charlie - stand” or “wait” or even “watch” !!! when you want his attention.. Always praise your dog when he does what you want. It really isn’t rocket science. Just repeats..

You see !!! You are almost there.. When you feel that you and the pup are ready for it in a few weeks time, start a gentle trot, same things again. Do not allow the pup to pull in front of you. Correct it gently, by telling it “HEEL” and pull it back on the lead. NOT TOO rough. Praise again when it does as it is told. Everytime you turn say something like “TURN”  or  “CLOSE”  again praise. When you stop say “WAIT” or “STAND”. Are you now feeling confident?? Ok - then time to get a show lead. What is a show lead?? It is what is also called a half choker. (some people call it a slip lead) It is a lead and collar in one (leather or nylon). Or you can also get a fairly strong lead ( like twisted rope but no collar) which turns in to a choker and lead all in one. Confused ?? Look closely at the photos below.

This dog: CHANDHALLY BUCKS FIZZ is shown on a half choker, standing like a rock with full attention on handler and the treat in hand. It all comes down to practice and commitment

Finally the hardest part to teach you DALMATIAN pup is to stand still long enough for a judge to go over it. Again it is a question of repeat, repeat and repeat again. Get your pup used to having its feet touched.. Why?? Because the judge wants to see the shortness of nails and hardness of paws. The Dalmatian has “solid” cat-like feet and should have very short nails. Do a “hands on” body feel of your dog, which is the only way I can explain it. Take both hands and go over your dog from top to toe. Hands on the head and feel your way down the body. Down the front legs onto the feet. Up to the back and around its ribs. Continue down the body towards the tail. Touch the tail and gently bend (by stroking it) down towards it hind legs. Stroke down the hind legs (back legs). If you have a male it must get used to having its testicles felt.

The absolute most important thing to remember about showing your DALMATIAN !! It is a FREE STANDING dog. In other words you do not place the feet, hold up the head or the tail.

                             “ You WILL Stay!”                                 “That’s what you think, mate!”

I mentioned about various leads used when showing your dog. So here are a few photographs of useful leads. BUT and again there is always a BUT ... if you do not have FULL control over your dog when you walk and trot, your lead might not be strong enough to hold back a charging dog...So please practice, practice and practice.At the end of the day your dog has hopefully the body, shape, movement and temperament to do well...it’s the handler’s fault if it goes wrong due to the dog charging after the other dogs like a mad bull, or it just wants to sit down or even jumping up all the time. This behaviour is “ok” for a puppy but in an older dog it comes down to POOR training...Dog shows are an expensive hobby and to throw away something that could possibly give you a 1st prize due to your lack of training  .... Need I say more ??

           1st photo: leather 1/2 choker  2nd photo: is a “twisted rope”  lead which turns in to a “choker” in photo 3

Both types of show leads  come in leather, thin chain or rope “type”. You can also use a fine chain choker with a thin leather lead    (We have used the thin rope type on Monty-  CHANDHALLY SNOW LEOPARD). You might find that you will try a lot of different show leads before you find one that you are truly happy with.The lead that Lara is shown on is also perfectly fine to use.Both you and the dog has to be “happy” with the way the lead fits in your hand and helps to show your dog to its best advantage.  The last thing you want to show your dog on is a heavy lead and collar. The type you use when you go for walks. That is a definite NO GO area..

                             Monty on the lead                        Lara- Chandhally Phoenix for Dalregis

RING CRAFT training is the most important part of training your dog for the show ring.Dog shows are an expencive hobby and a well trained and schooled puppy or adult can make all the difference from a 1st place to being un placed.

Here we have Monty and Pia at a ring craft training session.Your puppy learns to meet and greet other dogs and humans.The puppy learns to walk, trott and stand the way he should at a dog show.He will get used to various people touching him all over the body and having his tetth looked at.But it is important to remember that when a puppy is really young they do have a sensitive mouth.Just like any baby.They have teething pain ! So be very patient.Kindness is the best way