A discussion on a competition obedience group has me thinking. I see things at every trial I go to that make me uncomfortable. Dogs clearly indicating they are reticent to approach their handler. Handlers smiling while they are hurting their dogs. I refuse to call it correction any more. It is not a correction, it is inflicting pain or intimidation in order to force an appropriate response from the dog. I refuse to do that to my dog. I watched a successful obedience competitor this weekend with their older grey faced dog, whose breed I will not name. This dog slunk around the ring, with ears back and lots of lip licking. It was slow and reticent in returning to or approaching its handler. It made a mistake in an advanced class which NQd the performance. The handler waited until the judge was not looking and as soon as the judge was not looking the handler yanked the dog around, with gritted teeth and threatening eye contact and body language. Apparently I was the only person who saw this, as both ring stewards stated they did not see it. I do not need to qualify or win any ribbon bad enough to treat my dog like this. I am sickened every time I see it happen, and it is at almost every trial.
Posted on: Fri, 21 Nov 2014 17:31:24 +0000
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