NT's in Performance Events or Having Fun with Your NT

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <IMG SRC="05caa8b0.jpg" border=0 width="170" height="139" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> Copyright (c) DataDawg 2002</div> <div> All rights reserved</div> <div> <A HREF="id41.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Articles of Interest"><U>Return to Articles of Interest</U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Bluebonnet Norwich and Norfolk Terrier Club</B></FONT>    |     <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Bluebonnet Norwich and Norfolk Terrier C"><U>home</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id45.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="NORWICH CRAMP vs. EPILEPSY and SCOTTIE C"><U>NORWICH CRAMP vs. EPILEPSY and SCOTTIE CRAMP</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id46.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="A Norwich and Therapy"><U>A Norwich and Therapy</U></A>   |   <B>NT's in Performance Events or Having Fun with Your NT</B></div> <div> NT's in Performance Events or Having Fun with Your NT</div> <div> By Carlynn Ricks</div> <bR> <div> (Author's note: Although my dog is a Norwich, I have used NT in this article to stand for Norwich or Norfolk because I think that what I have to say applies equally to both breeds. Feel free to contact me at carlynnr@webpc.dellnet.com)<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT>Our NT's , they're so cute, so sweet, so huggable, AND so smart! So, in addition to just looking at them, enjoying their company, and hugging them, I'd like to suggest other ways to have fun with your dogs and to encourage you to consider training them in performance events. The possibilities are many and varied-obedience, agility, tracking, earthdog, search and rescue, flyball, and therapy dog. Before you dismiss these, thinking that they're only for those trainable breeds (You know the ones: Goldens, Shelties, Border Collies, Poodles), let me tell you a story. It could be about you and your dog.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT>Five years ago, a dog lover and long-time owner but never trainer of mixed breeds researched the breed books and decided she wanted an NT, wrote lots of letters looking for "just" a pet, and, miracles do happen, she found one. Knowing she had a terrier on her hands, she immediately enrolled in a puppy class, where she had modest success. Encouraged and interested, she continued in a basic obedience class, which cost her many tears. Now determined, she continued in Novice A, then Novice B, then Open, and finally Utility, all the way to three obedience titles, ending up as the 11th Norwich to win the big one, the UD (Utility Dog).<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT>Along the way, she saw an agility trial, and, although it took a year to connect with them, she joined the local agility club. She earned the first agility title easily because of the obedience training, then alternated obedience and agility titles, becoming the 2nd Norwich to win the advanced agility titles, the AX and AXJ, and is on her way to the supertitles, MX and MXJ.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT>Meanwhile, some local dog people started a tracking club, so she joined them and found that her NT had a definite aptitude and love for tracking. (Where's that trail of food?) These people were also doing therapy dog work, so she talked her NT into closing his mouth for the 30 minutes of the Delta Therapy Dog test, and is now working in hospitals, both visiting patients, and, with a Physical Therapist, treating them.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT>As you figured out three paragraphs ago, I am the lucky person who got an NT. My point in this article is not to brag, but to suggest to any NT owner that your dog can do and would probably enjoy doing a wide variety of performance events. While it is possible that Darcy and I, or both of us, have special abilities, I doubt it. Darcy is like most NT's I have met, energetic, open, willing, smart, and hungry, which means they have the temperament, the brains, and the motivation to learn just about anything. More than that, Darcy really loves to learn new things and since I think he should earn his kibble, (Or should I say raw bones? But that's another story.) and I don't want him to get fat, I make him earn it. Lest you dismiss this as an exceptional case, remember that Alison Freehling, who knows NT's much better than I, says that any NT should be able to earn the Versatility Award (titles in three events). A case in point is that of Blair Kelly from the Baltimore area and his dog Kate, whom I met at the first-ever All-Terrier agility trial at Montgomery in 2000. Blair acquired Kate much as I acquired Darcy. He had never owned an NT and never trained a dog, but he got into agility and Kate is now the #1 agility Norwich in the country, along with being a breed champion, and having just finished the first obedience title.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT>Are you excited? Convinced? Want to get started? Most towns of any size have an obedience club. There are agility clubs in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Victoria, and probably other places. You can do most of the Delta certification as a home-study course. Houston has a tracking club and an Earthdog club. And there are great books and tapes available. (<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><U>www.dogwise.com</U></FONT>) So get out there and have fun with your dogs. Your NT will thank you for it.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT>Now, when is flyball practice?</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>