Throw away any conceptions that your Dandie is untrainable. The Dandie is a highly intelligent, agile dog who loves the stimulus of training. Being "highly intelligent" means that they can provide you with a challenge but it also means training will open a completely new facet of their personalities to you.
I have trained all my Dandies in obedience, heel work, KC Rally and they even dance with me. They also love to do agility. They are quite capable of tackling all the obstacles in an agility course but not at height or speed. It develops their balance and poise and their zest for life.
Daisy and Rosie are the only Dandies in the UK to have competed at KC Rally. So what is Rally - this is the very latest dog sport to be recognised by the Kennel Club. It's a fun sport, which involves obedience and a bit of jumping at a more relaxed level.
Rally involves you and your dog working as a team to navigate a course with numbered signs indicating different exercises to perform; think of it as a sort of 'obedience exercise obstacle course' including simple exercises such as:
There are 6 levels and to qualify out of a level your dog needs to have qualified with a score of 170 or more in three competitions under two or more different judges. You start with a score of 200 and lose points for errors of course which can include repeating a command, being out of position, tight lead etc. There is a bonus exercise in each course which if you select to do can earn you up to an additional 10 points. If you earn 3 scores over 190 your title is affixed with Excellent!
Daisy and Rosie both have their RL6 title which is the highest level of Rally. I am so proud of them and they do love doing it. Clever Dandies!
Once they got their Rally L6 titles I decided to see whether they liked tracking. This requires them to follow a track which has been laid in a field. The dog is then encouraged to follow the track on a long line (lead). The difficulty of the exercise can be changed by changing the length of the track, introducing directional changes, weather conditions, the strength of the scent, the amount of rewards and changing the nature of the scent itself. So my 13 year old, my 11 year old, the 7 year old and myself have started tracking in 2017. We are all enjoying it. Each dog has a different technique and I have to learn above all to trust them - they really do know better than me (EVEN when I have laid the track!). It is a great experience to feel a dog get the scent and then follow it confidently at the end of the lead. Purdie and I are definitely proving the old saying "you can't teach an old dog new tricks" completely wrong.
I have trained all my Dandies in obedience, heel work, KC Rally and they even dance with me. They also love to do agility. They are quite capable of tackling all the obstacles in an agility course but not at height or speed. It develops their balance and poise and their zest for life.
Daisy and Rosie are the only Dandies in the UK to have competed at KC Rally. So what is Rally - this is the very latest dog sport to be recognised by the Kennel Club. It's a fun sport, which involves obedience and a bit of jumping at a more relaxed level.
Rally involves you and your dog working as a team to navigate a course with numbered signs indicating different exercises to perform; think of it as a sort of 'obedience exercise obstacle course' including simple exercises such as:
- Sit Down
- Spiral Left - Dog Inside
- Straight Figure 8
- Send over Jump
- Serpentine
There are 6 levels and to qualify out of a level your dog needs to have qualified with a score of 170 or more in three competitions under two or more different judges. You start with a score of 200 and lose points for errors of course which can include repeating a command, being out of position, tight lead etc. There is a bonus exercise in each course which if you select to do can earn you up to an additional 10 points. If you earn 3 scores over 190 your title is affixed with Excellent!
Daisy and Rosie both have their RL6 title which is the highest level of Rally. I am so proud of them and they do love doing it. Clever Dandies!
Once they got their Rally L6 titles I decided to see whether they liked tracking. This requires them to follow a track which has been laid in a field. The dog is then encouraged to follow the track on a long line (lead). The difficulty of the exercise can be changed by changing the length of the track, introducing directional changes, weather conditions, the strength of the scent, the amount of rewards and changing the nature of the scent itself. So my 13 year old, my 11 year old, the 7 year old and myself have started tracking in 2017. We are all enjoying it. Each dog has a different technique and I have to learn above all to trust them - they really do know better than me (EVEN when I have laid the track!). It is a great experience to feel a dog get the scent and then follow it confidently at the end of the lead. Purdie and I are definitely proving the old saying "you can't teach an old dog new tricks" completely wrong.