Obedience

Traditional Obedience

You want to do WHAT?

I was too naive to know that you can’t do obedience with Dachshunds. No one told me that if I really wanted to succeed, I needed to get a Golden Retriever or a Border Collie. People (who have never trained a Dachshund) think these are the smart dogs. HA!

Now in all fairness, it does take some work to succeed. But 10 minutes a few times a week can be enough. Perhaps the hardest part in all of this is finding someone who understands training of “non-traditional” breeds for dog obedience and who will mentor a novice handler. Did you know everything about conformation when you started? Yeah there’s a learning curve, but it’s not too big of one (in my opinion).

Your dog does not have to heel perfectly. They do not have to sit straight (or even sit every time). They do have to come when you call and sit for a minute and stay down for 3. If they don’t and you don’t pass the world will still exist. There’s a tremendous bond that develops between a dog and it’s handler in the process of training. I think that’s the biggest benefit and why people who do obedience get so hooked by it.

If you have any interest at all, stop by the Novice A obedience ring and talk to some of the people. These are the one’s new to obedience, they can give you a perspective on what they’ve gone through. You may see some awesome working dogs and some that aren’t quite so awesome. Most importantly, hopefully, you will be able to see the relationship that has developed through training.

One more thing, this will not ruin your dog for the conformation ring! Dachshunds are smart and can easily learn the difference between the two events.