Obedience Training

By Sarah Adams

The following information is about training and understanding competitive obedience. If you want information about Basic Obedience click here.

The best thing about Obedience work with bully breed dogs is that it is actually fairly
easy. However, there is a widely held belief that our dogs are hard to train. What this
means, is that when you successfully compete with your dog, you will be considered a
Super Trainer! Do not tell them how easy it really was… it can just be our little secret.
Bully dogs are smart and (usually) willing. Though they do have an independent streak,
they are generally happy to work with their person, given the right handling. They do
have their little quirks, which is probably where the “difficult to train” myth started. To a
trainer used to working with the usual herding and gundog breeds, the bully mindset
might be a challenge. To the trainer who can work with the quirks, the bully mindset is
all part of the fun!



Without matrix Morpheus' Obedience training and a good solid "sit" and "stay" it would not have been this easy for this photo to have been orchestrated. Obedience is important in all aspects of your dogs daily life.

Now, what will you be doing with your bully? Well, if you are just starting, you will be
in the Novice class. This is the first of the three levels of Obedience competition
(followed by Open, and then by Utility). Novice is divided into Novice A, for people
who have never titled a dog in Obedience before; and Novice B, for those who have. You
only get one Novice A dog, so enjoy it! The exercises are the same for both, but you may
have less skilled competition in the A class, and the judge may be more lenient. Though
Obedience judges in general very much want their competitors to qualify, I’ve certainly
found many lenient Novice B judges as well!

Are you going to be in AKC or UKC Obedience competition? This depends on where
your dog is registered, of course. If your dog is dual registered, you can do either, or both
(I recommend both!). If you have a bully dog who is not registered, good news, you can
still compete in obedience! You can get a limited privilege registration from either the
AKC or the UKC. The dog must be altered. The AKC only allows purebreds, and will
require the dog to pass as an Amstaff. The UKC will give an LP number to mixed or
purebred dogs, so you can compete no matter what. I do recommend going to the extra
trouble to LP the dog as a purebred APBT, rather than an AMBOR, so your
accomplishments can shine for the breed.



A judge a competitor and a well trained dog. A well trained Pit Bull is a pride to the
entire breed.

The Novice exercises for both UKC and AKC are quite similar, with some differences
that should not trouble a well-trained bully. UKC is a little more interesting, which can
help with the greatest foe to bully obedience- boredom! Obedience consists of 6
exercises.

The first four exercises are basically the same in both registries:

Heeling on-leash

The figure eight on-leash.

The stand for examination.

Heeling off-lead.

These are followed by similar exercises that are slightly different for each registry.

The recall. (In UKC competition, the recall is over a jump, in AKC, it is a flat recall (no
jump).)

Finally, we have two stay exercises. Both registries have a sit stay, of one minute,
performed in a group of dogs. The AKC follows this with a three minute down stay. In
the UKC, the group down is replaced with the honor down. Each dog takes turns
performing a down stay in the ring during another dog’s on-lead heeling pattern.



A perfect score in Obedience is “200”, and you enter the ring with this many points. The
judge will take away points for errors made by you and the dog (important to remember
that not just the dog can lose points, this is a team sport, and the handler can lose points
too!). You must earn 170 points, and at least half of the points in each exercise to
qualify. Each qualifying score is called a “leg” and you must earn three legs to get the
Novice title. ("UCD” in UKC, which stands for “United Companion Dog” or “CD” in
AKC, which stands for “Companion Dog”)

What happens at an Obedience trial? Well, first you arrive at the trial site. Try to arrive
early enough to allow your dog time to settle in. Find your ring, and check in with the
gate steward. You should have received a confirmation of your entry which will give you
your number, but if this hasn’t arrived, the gate steward will have a book which will list
all the dogs in the class. If this is a UKC trial, you may have pre-entered, in which case
you will just be checking in at the registry table, or you may be making a day of show
entry. Be sure you have your dog’s registry number! When you check in, the gate
steward or registration person will give you an armband with your number, and there will
be rubber bands available to attach the armband to your left arm.

At the ring, there will be a board with a list of the dogs in the class, by number. When
the board is up for your class, look and see when you are going in. If the list has been
made prior to the trial, there may be dogs on there which haven’t shown up. Also, if the
trial is associated with a Conformation show, people may ask to be moved if they have a
conflict, so watch the board carefully. For a UKC trial, the board will also list which dog
you are to be honoring. Usually it is the dog immediately after you, but sometimes you
may have to honor before your own individual exercises.

Keep an eye on the ring, and watch the numbers of the dogs being shown. You will
want to warm up your dog before going into the ring. Experience will tell you how best
to handle this, but it is typical to keep your dog crated until it is getting close to your turn.
Some dogs do prefer to be out with their handler, but I still advise bringing a crate so you
don’t have to ask a total stranger to hold your dog while you go to the bathroom!

And speaking of bathrooms, be sure to exercise your dog before going in the ring!
Eliminating in the ring is an automatic disqualification, and extremely embarrassing
besides! I like to get my dog out a few dogs before their turn, take the dog for a potty
break, then do a quick warm-up while the dog before us is in the ring. When that dog is
almost finished, I position myself near the entry gate to the ring, while leaving the other
dog enough room to exit. Your dog should be wearing a leash with enough slack for the
on-lead heeling. I like to use a 4-foot leash for this, if I use a longer leash, I tend to
fumble it.

Outline of the Obedience trial

1. Entering the ring

The gate steward will call your number, and you should be ready to enter the ring
immediately. Once you are in the ring, you will be following the judge’s instructions.
The judge will show you where to set up for the on-lead heeling, though if you’ve been
keeping an eye on the ring, you will have seen this from the previous dogs. (before the
first dog goes in, the judge will demonstrate the heeling pattern with a ring steward, but
don’t try to memorize it, as it will just confuse you.) Set up with the dog sitting beside
you in heel position. The judge will ask “Are you ready?” Look at your dog! Do not say
“ready” if you don’t have your dog’s attention!


Karyn asks Coach for attention before starting the off-lead heeling exercise


2. Exercise #1 On-lead heal

Once you are sure your dog is ready to begin the exercise , say “Ready”, and it all starts.
The judge will now direct your heeling pattern, beginning with the order “Forward”. All
you have to do is follow the judge’s instructions. The judge will direct you in left turns,
right turns, about turns, halts, slow & fast pace. Try to move at a brisk pace as your
default, it will help keep your dog from lagging. Make sure there is a change of pace
when you are asked for “slow” and “fast”, as it is a scoreable fault if there is no
discernible change in pace. Turns and halts should not be executed with military
precision, but should be crisp. When you halt, your dog should sit at your side. When the
heeling pattern is over, the judge will say, “Exercise finished”. You may now praise and
pet your dog for doing such a good job on the heeling. (I’m sure your dog did a fine job
heeling!) No treats or toys in the ring!



Coach sits on the halt. His sit is a little crooked, which will probably cost him ½ point,
but his attention is excellent!


3. Exercise 2. On-lead figure 8 around the stewards

The judge will now call the ring stewards into the ring for the figure-8. The two ring
stewards will stand, about 8 feet apart from each other, facing each other. The judge will
stand midway between them, several feet back. You will stand on the other side, facing
the judge, at least a few feet back from the stewards. The judge will again ask if you are
ready, and when you are ready, will tell you “Forward”. You and your bully partner will
then heel a figure-8 pattern around the stewards. You can go either right or left to start.
The judge will call a halt twice. After the second halt, the judge will say “exercise
finished”, and again, it is time to praise your bully for her fine heeling! One of the ring
stewards will take your leash, and from now on, everything will be off-leash.



A diagram showing the set up and left pattern for the figure 8.

4. Exercise 3. Off-leash stand for exam

It is now time for the “stand for examination”, though if you are competing in the UKC,
you will have a moment to relax first, while the judge goes to release the honor dog. The
judge will ask you to “Stand your dog, and leave when ready”. You can do whatever you
need to do to get your dog into the stand. I prefer to actually train my dogs to stand on
command, but if you need to physically position your dogs, that is fine, as long as you are
gentle in doing so. Once the dog is standing, be sure you are in the heel position. This
means the dog’s ear should be in line with your left leg. Give your dog the command
and/or signal to stay, step forward about six feet, turn and face your dog. The judge will
go up to the dog and touch him three times, once on the head, once on the shoulders, and
once on the rump (it’s not much of an examination). Then the judge will step back, and
tell you “Back to your dog”. You must walk around behind your dog and return to the
heel position. Exercise finished!

5. Exercise 4. Off-leash heeling pattern

Next is the off-lead heeling. The judge will ask you to go back to the starting point for
the heeling pattern. In Novice, you may guide your dog gently by the collar between
exercises if you need to. The off-lead heeling pattern is just the same as the on-lead
heeling, but you do not need to do the figure-8 again.



Sarah awaits the Judges OK before starting the off leash heal. Elmo demonstrating good
bully attention before starting the off-lead heeling



6. Exercise 5. Recall *UKC over jump*

The last of the individual exercises is the recall. In the UKC the recall is over a jump that
is about the height of your dogs shoulders. In the AKC, this is a flat recall. The judge
will direct you to stand at one end of the ring. When the judge asks “Are you ready?”, be
sure that your dog is sitting in heel position before saying “Ready!” The judge will then
say “Leave your dog”. Give your bully the command and/or signal to stay, and walk to
the other end of the ring, turning to face your dog. When the judge says “Call your dog”,
you will give the recall command and watch smugly as your bully charges towards you.
(most bullys have a very enthusiastic recall!) When your bully reaches you, he should sit
in front of you. The judge will tell you “Finish your dog”. On command, your bully will
go to heel position, and sit.



IN AKC the Trainer leaves her dog on sit stay and proceeds across the ring



If you are competing in the UKC, the recall is a little more complicated. There will be a
jump. The jump will be set to the shoulder height of your dog, rounded down to the
nearest even number; so if your bully is 17 ½”, she will jump 16”, if she is 18 ¼”, she
will jump 18”. You will have filled your dog’s height out on your entry form, and the
judge will not check it, but try to be reasonably accurate about the number. The ring
stewards will enter the ring again, and stand on either side of the jump, about 2 feet away,
facing it. You will set up at least 8 feet back from the jump. If your dog is an
enthusiastic jumper, give her a little more distance to get into her stride. If not, you may
need to go the minimum distance to give her as little time as possible to think about it.
When you leave your dog, you will walk around the jump and stewards to the other side,
facing your dog. Again, if your dog jumps big, stand back far enough to give her room to
collect herself. When instructed to “call your dog”, you may use both a command and
hand signal if you choose. For the finish, in UKC, you may use both a command and a
hand signal.



Here superdog Morpheus? makes the UKC novice jump with a steward standing at the
side. The dog comes toward Matrix? and the Judge? is in the background with the
score card watching the display.

7. Exercise 6. UKC honor down

A ring steward will bring you back your leash so you can leave the ring. Get out of the
ring and party! If you are competing in UKC, you will most likely need to come back
into the ring immediately for the honor down, so make it a quick party. In the AKC, or if
you’ve already done an honor down, you can relax until the group stays. If you are going
back in for an honor down, you will be asked to return to the ring after a few moments.
Give Bully his last cookie, and go on in. The ring steward will show you where to set up.
Sit your bully in heel position, take the leash off, and set it a couple feet behind you. The
judge will be bringing in the working dog. The judge will tell you when to put your dog
in a down, and will then instruct you to “leave your dog”. Walk across the ring, turn, and
watch your dog, while the other dog does the on-lead heeling and figure-8 pattern. If
anything, this takes even longer than it did while you were the working dog! Finally, the
judge will instruct you to “return to your dog”. Walk back around behind your dog, and
return to the heel position. After the judge says “exercise finished”, I advise getting your
leash and putting it on your dog before releasing him from the stay.



Here is Matrix's lil red pill, doing her honor routine and taking the APBT high in trial at the National APBT Show!


8. Exercise 7. Group Sit

Now you are free until the group sit. The group exercises may take place with all the
dogs in the ring, but more likely, if the class is larger than about 10 or 12 dogs, it will be
broken up into stay groups. The ring stewards can advise you on when you will have to
do your group exercises. When it is time, a ring steward will organize all the dogs in this
group in order of armband number. You will all follow the ring steward in, and line up
along one side of the ring, the dogs will be spaced about 4 feet apart, perhaps more if
there is plenty of room. Have your dog sitting, and put your leash and armband behind
you. The judge will now tell you “Sit your dogs”. Everyone’s dog is already sitting, but
there will be a ragged chorus of “sit!” anyway. (I usually say, “good sit!” at this point)
When the judge says “Leave your dogs”, there is an even louder chorus of “Stay!” (you
may use a hand signal also), all the handlers walk across the ring, turn and face the dogs
for a very long minute. When you are instructed to return, walk back around behind your
dog to the heel position. When all the handlers are back, and the judge says “Exercise
finished”, if this is the UKC, you are done! Get the leash on, get out of the ring, and
party with your dog because I’m sure you qualified. If this is the AKC, you still have to
do a group down. The group down lasts for three long minutes, then the judge will
inform you if you have qualified or not.



A rednose in the middle of a bunch of fuzzy butts during competition group sit/stay.



TRAINING THE BULLY FOR Obedience

Now you are thinking, “Well, this would all be fine and good if my dog were trained!”
Don’t worry! As I already assured you, bullys are easy to train. First, you need to
confront a few myths:

Myth #1: Is, of course, that bully dogs are hard to train. I’ve already confronted this
one.

Myth #2: Obedience is boring. Obedience is not boring unless you make it that way.
But I assure you, if you make it boring, your will find your bully very difficult to train!

Myth #3: I can’t train my Conformation dog, he might sit in the breed ring. Umm… this
is sort of what training is for. My own young Staffybull bitch, at 22 months of age,
finished her UKC championship, with group placements; and her UCD on the same day.

Myth #4: If I Obedience train my dog, he will be like a mindless robot, and not like a
“real dog” at all. If you Obedience train your dog, he will know a few commands that he
doesn’t already know, and he might even choose to obey them….

Professional Trainers

If you haven’t trained a competition dog before, you may be best off finding a good class
to join. Look for an instructor who is comfortable working with a bully breed.
Experience with the breed is a plus, but if you can find someone open-minded who is
willing to try, you will be better off than finding someone uncomfortable with the breed,
or someone who doubts your dog’s abilities. I was chatting one time with a woman who
found a Siberian Husky, and decided to Obedience train him. Sibes are not known for
Obedience abilities, and the first several trainers she called just told her “We don’t train
Sibes”. She chose to keep looking, and eventually she found a trainer who said, “I’ve
never trained a Sibe, but let’s give it a try!” Her Sibe now has a CD, and agility titles. If
she’d pressured the first trainers, maybe they would have accepted her dog, but she did
much better to find a trainer who believed that her dog could do it!

If you can’t, or don’t want to, join a class with your dog, you can certainly train for
Obedience competition by yourself. If you go this route, you will have to take more
effort to find distracting situations, but there are advantages to it too. Whether you
choose to work with a trainer, or to work by yourself, you will need to decide which
training methods you are comfortable with.

There are many styles of training available, from “purely positive” training which uses no
corrections, to methods which are very corrections based, and use little reward. My own
experience with bully training convinces me that most bully's will respond best to
methods that are primarily positive. They are happy, good-natured dogs which enjoy
working with you, and love a party. Using those attributes can produce a very nice
working dog. I do believe, though, that a bully dog needs an occasional correction for
guidance. My experience with my own dogs is that if I give a correction fairly, they
accept it cheerfully, and learn from it. If a correction is poorly timed, or a little over-
harsh, the dog will pout about it, and not learn, so I always use corrections judiciously.
Corrections I use are a light leash pop, or a sharp “Ahhht!” The dogs prefer the leash
pop, but I don’t always have a leash on them. I use food treats, praise, and play as
rewards in my training.



While these are the techniques I consider most appropriate with the bully breeds, though,
every Obedience team contains two members. The human part of the team is important
too. You must be comfortable with the techniques you are using, and be able to use them
appropriately. So, choose a trainer whose techniques you feel you can use. Observe a
class before joining. If you are going to work by yourself, read up on some techniques,
and use the ones that make good sense to you.

The final consideration you should make before beginning training is, how far do you
want this dog to go? Is the CD, and/or UCD your only goal, or would you like to work
on advanced Obedience titles? Believe me, your dog can do the more advanced work,
and it is fun to train, but it is up to the time you want to spend. If you do want to go on to
more advanced work, there are a number of things you might want to do in your
beginning training to make it easier for yourself later. You can change your mind, and
move into more advanced training later, without the more elaborate groundwork, but it
does help. Just something to think about. (after training my Elmo in Novice, we
practiced those exercises for months, without moving on. One day, I started introducing
the Open exercises. He was appalled! He thought he knew everything, and it took some
weeks for me to convince him that there might be something more to learn.)

Once you’ve made all the pertinent decisions, you are ready to begin training. Here are
some ideas which have worked for me, along with some tips on how to apply what
you’ve learned in competition.

Tips on Heeling

It will probably not surprise you to read, having seen my description of an obedience
trial, that the most important thing you can work on is heeling. It’s easy to dismiss
heeling as boring, but done properly, heeling is a beautiful dance with your dog. It is also
the foundation for all future Obedience work.



This dog showing good heel technique with good concentration on the handler.



Heel position is defined as the area between the dog’s head and the dog’s shoulder being
in line with your left leg, and the dog should maintain a constant position. If he moves
ahead of that position, he is “forging”, and if he drops behind, he is “lagging”. The
handler has the option of two hand positions. You may either let your arms hang
naturally at your side, or you can carry your left hand at your waist. I choose to carry my
left hand at my waist, as this is an extra cue to the dog to heel, and I like to give my dogs
all the advantages that I can. One other thing that you may see in heeling is that some
high-scoring handlers train their dogs to stare at the handler’s face while they are heeling.
This is not a look that I personally care for, and I consider it inappropriate to the structure
of a bully dog, so I do not advise training it. It should not matter to your score. You can
teach your dog a focal point which is easier for a bully to watch. My own dogs have
chosen to watch my left knee.


I have used 2 different techniques in training the “heel” command. With my older dog,
the method was a more corrections based technique, self-correcting in this case. I was
shown to have the dog on a loose lead with a slip collar, and start walking. When the dog
began to barge ahead, I turned sharply, he reached the end of the lead and was naturally
corrected to stay with me. When he was at my side, he was praised. When I stopped
walking, I told him to “sit”, and gave him a treat. He learned to heel quickly, but is
definitely a plodder. After earning his CD, I had to go back and work on more enjoyment
in his heeling so that he would be good enough to earn his CDX. He will never love
heeling.



With my younger dog, I chose a clicker technique, though I do not use a clicker. I
started with her as a very young pup, I would have her sit, and position myself so that she
was in heel position. When she looked at me, I would use a marker word (a short word
used rather than a click to indicate that a treat is coming), and hand her a treat. I
gradually lengthened the time that she had to pay attention before getting a treat, but
basically, I was a treat-dispensing machine. She learned that sitting at my left side, with
attention on me, is a super-excellent place to be. Finally, one day I began to walk a few
steps. No surprise, she chose to stay at my left side, and sit as soon as I halted. I had
spent quite a long time on the preliminaries, so once I began actually walking, I was able
to increase distance quite quickly. I continued dispensing treats for paying attention
while we were moving, as well as treats for sitting at the halt. I added the command
“Heel” when she obviously knew what she was doing.



All of this was done in my living room, for minimal distractions, and on leash, so that
her options were somewhat limited. Once she was working well in the living room, I
moved it to the backyard. With more distractions, she began to occasionally let her
attention wander. Since she did know what she was supposed to be doing, I started using
the occasional leash correction for this, to let her know that the exercise was not optional.
One day, after a nice session, I took her leash off, and headed back into the house to get
her toy for a nice play session. She chose to heel back inside with me. I knew then that
she was ready for off-lead heeling.

This was a much slower technique, but it has resulted in a dog who loves to heel, and
regards it as a fun game. She easily learned to back and sidestep in heel position, which
is cute, and good for fixing her heel position. This is the technique I will use in the
future.

Now, the best-trained dog will have imperfections in her heeling. When you go in to
compete, remember that your dog can make quite a few mistakes and still qualify! First
off is the fact that you can use so many “extra” cues during the heeling. The hand
position I already mentioned is one thing. Also valuable to learn is proper footwork.
Your footwork can give cues to your dog. Make a practice of always starting out with
your left foot, next to the dog, if you want her to heel. Start out on your right foot, away
from the dog, if you want her to stay. Always be consistent in how you turn, and how
you halt. When the judge gives the “halt” command, you can take a couple of smaller
steps to let the dog know you are stopping, then end with your feet together. The trickiest
footwork in heeling is the “about turn”. About turns are always to the right (away from
your dog). Here is a diagram I’ve done to describe a proper about turn:


This should turn you straight back along the line you were previously traveling. Practice
your about turns without your dog until you can do them smoothly. They become 2nd
nature!

You can give another “heel” command or signal after every halt. You can also get away
with extra “heel” commands while you are moving. This is a point deduction. It is safe
to use one extra command in each of the heeling patterns, so once on-lead, and once off.
Beyond that, you might be disqualified, so try to make your extra command count! It is a
major deduction, usually 3 points, so don’t give it if your dog is just lagging a bit and the
pattern is almost done; but if your dog is 6 feet behind you and getting further, it might be
a good time! Also if your dog has decided to abandon you to go and visit the judge…
bully dogs have been known to do that sort of thing. If the leash occasionally tightens in
the on-lead heeling, don’t worry, you’ll lose points, but you are still qualifying.
Hopefully, your dog will sit at the halts. Some judges might not qualify a dog who sits
on none of the halts, but if your dog sits at least once, you are fine.

Practice heeling a lot, it really makes a difference in your score. Never practice anything
for too long with a bully, though! A bored bully is a creative bully… trust me, you don’t
want to see that. A few minutes session at a time is plenty.

Training tips for Stand for exam

If you have a Conformation dog, you just lucked out! Your dog already knows the
“stand”, and you probably don’t have to teach it. If your dog doesn’t know the stand, the
method I use to teach it is luring. I slowly move a treat over the dog’s head, saying
“stand”. When he stands, I put a hand in front of his hind leg to brace him, praise, and
give him the treat. Convincing a dog that you have so diligently been teaching to “sit” to
stand can take a little while. For this reason, I will probably give all my future dogs
breed ring training, whether I plan to show them or not. If you teach both at the same
time, it is easy for the dog to understand. A side benefit, at the Utility level of Obedience,
a dog needs to stop heeling in a “stand” position instead of a sit, and a breed-ring trained
dog will have a much easier time with this.

If you are training alone, be sure to find some people to go over your dog to practice the
“exam” part of the stand. Your dog may be nervous at being touched by a stranger; or,
more likely with a bully, may be unable to stand still at the joy of meeting a new friend.
(I once watched a Staffybull bitch competing in Utility, where the exam is more
thorough. The judge, bless him, was actually holding the dog in place while he examined
her, or she’d have oozed into his lap!) This is basically a simple exercise, and you
shouldn’t have to worry too much about lost points here. If your dog just can’t contain
himself, a moved foot will lose points, but you are still qualifying if the rest of the dog
stays put. You can lose points by not leaving from, or returning to, heel position. Be
sure the dog’s ear lines up with your left leg when you give the “stay” command, and
when you return to the dog. Once you have given that “stay” command, you cannot give
any more commands until the exercise is finished, so be sure the dog is set before you
give it.

Recall training tips

When you train the recall, I would start with a flat recall, even if you are going to only be
showing UKC. Be sure the dog understands the recall before adding the jump. A good
recall is very important to me in my daily life with my dogs, so I am working on this one
from the time the dog enters my house. When I teach the formal recall, I use a command
that I will not use in our more casual recalls- the command I use is “Front”. I start with a
fairly short distance, and when the dog approaches, ask for a “sit”. A treat held in front
of me with both hands encourages a straight approach. A dog can lose points if the
“front” position is off-center, so if I need to work on this, I break it away from the recall,
and practice just fronting with the dog. I move around, calling the dog to front in a happy
voice, so that she has to find front from many positions. A straight front earns a reward,
a crooked front causes me to back away again. Also for an enthusiastic recall/front, I will
sometimes spit treats- the “Pez dispenser” style of training. If you can’t spit treats
straight, this technique doesn’t work very well.



Now this is an enthusiastic recall over the jump.

UKC RECALL OVER JUMP TIPS

If you are going to be doing UKC Obedience, you will need to add the jump. Teach the
jump as a separate exercise first. I would just run with the dog past the jump. Jump over
it with him if you need to. Start with it very low, and add height when the dog is
comfortable with it. Once the dog knows that jumping is sometimes a good thing, you
can add the low jump in the recall. Do try to find a chance to practice with people to act
as “posts” beside the jump.

Finishing the recall - front around to side

For the finish, your dog can either do a left-side finish, turning around at your left side; or
a right-side finish, going around behind you to heel position. I choose to train both.
Mixing them up can help keep a dog from anticipating the finish, as well as making it
more interesting at the higher levels of Obedience, when a dog has to finish fairly
frequently. Again, remember, with a bully, boredom is your worst foe! I simply use a
food lure to teach this, and gently guide with the leash to assist in understanding the
right-side finish. If the dog really understands heel position, teaching her to get back into
heel position shouldn’t be difficult.

Before competing, you will want to proof the “stay” before the recall. An over-
achieving bully, realizing she is about to be called, may not choose to wait. (and she
might have been working on first place before she did that, not that I would know from
personal experience or anything). In competition, you will only be allowed the three
commands. One “stay”, one recall command, and one finish command. This is a fairly
black and white exercise, and there isn’t much you can do about it once you are in the
ring. Your dog must hold her stay until she is called, then come to you on the first
command. If this is UKC, she must cross the jump. If she does that, you will qualify. If
she doesn’t sit in front, you will lose points, but qualify. If she doesn’t finish to heel, you
will lose points, but qualify. The dog is not supposed to make physical contact with you,
but I have discovered that if your over-enthusiastic dog should happen to slide into your
legs, then jump up on you a few times, you can still qualify! All you have to remember is
not to give any extra commands, and don’t say or do anything that might be construed as
a command. (basically, this means you have to stand there like a statue while your dog
approaches you like a charging rhino)

TEACHING THE STAY

I’m discussing the stays last, but they should not be the last thing you teach! Stays are
another exercise that is very important to me in real life situations. They are also a very
big part of your score in Novice obedience. 90 points in AKC, and 95 in UKC, between
the stand, the sit, and the down stays! Many fine working dogs bust on the stays.
Teaching a reliable stay is very important.

One other thing about stays, is that the sit and down are the time in competition in which
there will be at least one other dog in the ring, which can be a consideration in bully
breed dogs. If your bully is highly dog aggressive, Obedience may not be the sport for
you. Most bullys though, in my experience, are quite capable of learning a reliable
enough stay to be safe in competition. The one thing to remember is that even if your
dog doesn’t move, another dog may come up to him, so be sure that your dog understands
“stay” as an absolute.


Elmo & Brando practicing the sit stay)

Never give a stay command that you cannot enforce. Practicing stays can be a little dull,
so I try to find ways to practice them in daily life. Practice stays in Ptzmart. Put your
dog on a long down while you are on the computer. Keep an eye out, and if your dog
moves, use an appropriate correction. (for my dog, Elmo, a disappointed; “That doesn’t
look like a down!” is plenty of correction… your dog may need something more).

When your dog has a reliable stay, you will definitely want to practice around other
dogs. This is where a class is particularly useful. If you are going to be in UKC
Obedience, you will probably want to practice the honor down from both sides. I,
conveniently, have two dogs, so I let them honor each other. This provides extra stay-
proofing, too. Otherwise, you may need to find a training buddy to practice this, if you
are not in a class.



Get out there and check out a match

Once you have got all these exercises ready to go, it would be really helpful to you to
find a fun match or show & go to practice in, before you try the real thing. These are
usually cheaper than a show, and you can correct and reward your dog in the ring. The
more of these you can go to, the better, though you may be limited by the amount of
matches held in your area. They can give you good ring experience in a less stressful
environment. Before you enter an actual trial, read the rules for the organization you will
be trialing at. For the UKC rules, go to http://www.ukcdogs.com/ . For the AKC rules,
go to http://www.akc.org/ .

Again, remember that the best way to train a bully is to keep the sessions short (for
Novice stuff, I would never go over 10 minutes), keep things happy, and make it worth it
to your bully dog to work with you. Keep it a game, and your dog will not let you down.
Remember, a game has rules, and your dog can understand that, but it should always be
fun. And your Obedience competition should be fun. Working in Obedience will develop
a special bond with your dog, and you can really enjoy that time together, as you learn to
work as a team.

BREED SPECIFIC PREJUDICE

You may encounter some breed prejudice when you compete. I don’t think anyone who
competes with a bull breed dog has managed to escape running into the occasional small-
minded person. Some people may act like you don’t belong there. The best way to deal
with these people is to let them see your well-trained bully excel in the ring. Remember,
too, that even if your bully does not qualify that day, if he is working happily for you,
people will be impressed. One reason I train the way I do is that I will take a joyous,
enthusiastic, if slightly creative performance; over a plodding but qualifying score any
day. If for no other reason than, the enthusiastic dog is a crowd pleaser. It is superb PR
for the bull breeds when people see how happy they can be to work with their owner. Of
course, earning the qualifying and placement ribbons with my happy dogs doesn’t hurt
my feelings any, either!

As well as the small-minded people, you can also encounter people who tell you how
nice it is to see a different breed, and even people who thank you for showing that these
dogs can do this stuff. And remember whatever happens in the ring, you are still lucky
enough to live with your dog.



Good luck to you. Find me at the forum if you have any more questions.