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Obedience Training

Competiton Obedience

Competition obedience has come a long way since the early days when it looked as if dogs were out for a Sunday afternoon stroll  or where they were being yanked into an approximation of the heel position or being forced to pick up a retrieve article. These days dog and handler strive to work in total harmony to produce precision heelwork and set exercises. These exercises include heelwork, recall, retrieve,stays, scent discrimination and sendaways.

Classes range from Pre-Beginners to Class C and progression through the classes is reflected in the complexity of the exercises required. To encourage handlers to even consider competing, there are now Special Pre-Beginner classes, held at several of the local shows, which bridge the gap between the KC Good Citizen Scheme and Pre-Beginners.

At the other end of the scale, there are Championship Obedience Shows where the very best can qualify for Crufts.

What do you need to have a go?

Toys, treats, plenty of patience and energy and of course, having a dog with a bit of attitude helps!

At Down District, we only use motivational training methods - this means plenty of play interaction with your dog and the plentiful use of tasty treats for rewards. Dogs will repeat actions that they find rewarding and this is the basis of all our training whether it relates to pet dog obedience, competition obedience or agility.

Competition training currently takes place on a Thursday evening.

If you would like to see training in action, please contact Lynda on 028 9263 8011 or complete the form in the 'contact us' section.

Obedience Winter League

This will run from December through to March and is an excellent opportunity for both experienced handlers and those new to the sport to train and compete with their dogs in a relaxed and informal manner. There is the added bonus of raising money to aid those handlers competing for their country.

For more information and an application form go to the show calendar section of the website