AKC Farm Dog Certification

We recently helped out at an AKC Farm Dog Certification test, one of the first in our area. This new title offered by the American Kennel Club was just added last summer, and now herding clubs are slowly beginning to offer the test.

What is AKC's Farm Dog Test?

The FDC test is like a rural Canine Good Citizen test. It's a chance to demonstrate your dog's ability to maintain good leash manners and a reasonably calm demeanor around various aspects of farm life. As one of the judges from our test stated, it's a bit like a test to see if you could work on a ranch and have your dog come along without causing trouble.

What Isn't AKC's Farm Dog Test?

This is not a test of your dog's herding or off-leash skills. It's not intended to be difficult or challenging for most dogs. Every single dog that came to our local test passed. The entire test is done on-leash, and unlike many AKC performance events, this one is open to any breed. We had everything from a Schipperke and Cavalier King Charles Spaniel to an Akita and Berger Picard at ours. 

What Do You Have to Do?

The test will vary a whole lot from location to location, the rulebook gives clubs a ton of freedom to put together something that works at their location. The difficulty of the test will primarily depend on the person judging, but so far the attitude seems to be that farm dogs don't have to be perfect. You start by greeting the judge without your dog jumping on or biting them.

Most of the elements of the test can be rearranged as needed by the club hosting it, but they basically involve your dog walking on a loose leash, walking on a tarp, sitting on a hay bale, being tied up while you walk away, staying in a crate while you are out of sight, hearing background noises, passing a dog 10' away, staying still while you open or close a gate, passing farm animals chilling in their enclosures, and being able to look at farm animals and then disengage. 

That's It?

I know, right? The toughest thing for some of our testers was walking on a loose leash while wearing a flat collar. Still, everyone passed because our judges allowed handlers to talk to their dogs, praise them, and correct them as needed. Nobody got disqualified for peeing on course, whining a little when separated from their handler, or needing multiple reminders to walk nicely.

It's worth noting again that the test can vary a lot from one location to the next. You and your dog may be walking past horses, cows, sheep, goats, ducks, chickens, or any kind of livestock. Yes, a facility with only chickens can put on a Farm Dog Certification test. We had testers walking all over the facility, another club had their testers walking circles inside their barn. The common thread between the tests seems to be that the judges and hosts genuinely want your dog to pass. It's a fun, low-stress way to get an AKC title.

First AKC Herding Trial!

We attended and helped host our first ever AKC herding trial over the weekend, and it was a LOT of work! The trial had both sheep and geese to herd, and was held at a local park that has horse arenas. We had to build the holding pens for the animals, sheep-proof the arenas, and practically terraform the place on Friday. Then on Sunday we had to take it all down again. Various bumps in the road on the way to success included the person making our awards bailing two weeks before the trial, poisonous castor bean plants growing on one of the competition fields, and finding a baby rattlesnake hanging out in a sheep pen on Saturday morning.

This is an old picture, I didn't have time to get pics at the actual trial.
Photo by Candy Lidstrom

Oh yes, and Godzilla and Zip and I actually competed in this trial! I was so busy helping that actually participating felt like an afterthought. The girls did great though! They were both entered in Started A, the most beginning of the big kid herding classes. There were more than 20 other dogs in the same class, many of them handled by herding instructors and people with a whole lot more experience than I have. Amazingly, Zip and I won third place on Saturday! We scored 93 out of 100, which is pretty amazing given that scores over 90 are considered very, very good. Godzilla and I got a qualifying score of 71, I'm more proud of that than Zip's placement. Moving sheep nicely is so, so hard or Sis!

Sunday didn't go quite as well. Zip and I got a qualifying score of 94, better than Saturday but no placement because everyone else did amazingly well too. Godzilla was seriously under exercised by the time her turn arrived, and we were dismissed from the ring for too much sheep biting. I laughed, told my dog she was wonderful, and paraded out of the ring like we had completed a perfect run. I know my dog will always do her very best for me, and I want her to feel like a million bucks every time we walk into a show ring of any type.

So Zip now has two legs towards her first AKC herding title. Godzilla has one leg, and I know how we can do better next time. The trial is over, and we are spending the week resting. And putting stuff away. So much stuff. Only three months till the next trial!

New Coursing Ability Titles!

Sisci Godzilla and Zip got their first AKC lure coursing titles on Sunday! These are also their very first AKC titles, so I'm quite proud of them. The American Kennel Club started the Coursing Ability Test program a few years ago, previously lure coursing was limited to only sighthound breeds.

Photo by Clark Kranz

Sisci Godzilla has been lure coursing since she was a bitty baby, so she knew exactly what we were there for. She's super enthusiastic, and she also runs like a sighthound.

The AKC recently introduced a new competitive event called a Fast CAT. This is a competitive event where the course runs are timed. I think Godzilla may be among the top fastest Australian cattledogs in the country. Unfortunately, the closest Fast CAT competitions are an eight hour drive away. I'm told the timing equipment is quite expensive, hopefully the clubs closer to me can get equipped soon.

Photo by Clark Kranz

Zip had never seen anything like this before. I wasn't sure if she would be interested in chasing a plastic bag, but one of her litter sisters has quite a few CAT titles already. Zip watched Belle run and decided that this was a fun game. She ran the course perfectly on the first try, and on the second day got her first title!

Zip and Sis now have their Coursing Ability titles. Go girls!

The Halloween CAT

At the end of October, Brisbane and Sisci and I went to a two-day AKC lure coursing event. Brisbane did a total of four runs, two per day, and each was a qualifying run. This brought him up to ten AKC Coursing Ability Test runs, earning his Coursing Ability Advanced title. Go Brisbane!

A friend recorded one of his runs for me. Coursing Ability Tests are usually set up with two different courses, a longer one that most of the dogs run, and a shorter one for tiny, smush-faced, and older dogs. At ten years old, Brisbane is allowed to run the short course. He is willing and able to run the longer one, but keeping him in shape is difficult and he's not as fit as I'd like him to be. 

Usually I ask the judge which they'd like him to do, and so his first run was on the longer track. They both start out in the same place going the same direction, but the longer one turns to the right and the shorter one to the left. Brisbane likes to anticipate where the lure will go so he can get ahead of it. On this run, he expected it to turn right, so he runs the wrong direction briefly.

Sisci was three weeks short of her first birthday for this event, so she was not eligible to enter. However, they did do fun runs. These are not counted or recorded, and are a nice way to let puppies and unregistered dogs participate. Fun runs are also an inexpensive way to try out lure coursing if the dog has never done it before, and the handler isn't sure if they want to play. Sisci definitely wants to play.

After her run, everyone wanted to know why Sisci wasn't entered. The AKC requires all dogs participating in a Coursing Ability Test to be at least a year old. Sisci is now old enough to officially do AKC CATs, and I'm sure every run she does will be a qualifying run just like Brisbane's.

Brisbane's First Coursing Title

Brisbane's first AKC lure coursing title certificate arrived in the mail! We can officially add CA to the end of his name! This is his second AKC title, the first is his Canine Good Citizen title. There are various certifying organizations that award titles, and some are awarded by one body and recognized by others. Newer organizations may not have their titles recognized by the AKC and other kennel club at first, but they can still be listed

Sisci decided she needed to be in the picture too.

To earn his Coursing Ability title, Brisbane had to complete three AKC lure coursing runs. Most clubs hold two "trials" on the same day, one after the other. This is because dogs are only permitted to run once per trial. Brisbane did his first two runs in the spring, so he got his Coursing Ability title on his first run in Hollister. This was a two-day event, so he did a total of four runs.

The next coursing ability title, Coursing Ability Advanced, is awarded for completion of ten runs. If we do another two-day event and Brisbane doesn't suddenly lose interest in coursing, he will get that one on his last run. After that, Coursing Ability Excellent is awarded for twenty five runs, CAX2 for fifty runs, and the number at the end of that title goes up with every additional twenty five runs.

Brisbane's official registered name is Brisbane Leave the Cat Alone CGC CA. Yay Briz!

The AKC Coursing Ability Test

Brisbane and I went to our first AKC Coursing Ability Test a couple of months ago. I just finally got the pictures from Brisbane's runs, the photographer categorized them with pictures from a previous event so I didn't see that they were up for a few weeks. Briz did two runs and got two legs toward his Coursing Ability title.

Photo by Clark Kranz

I love how intense Brisbane looks in every photo. He is more insane about lure coursing than he is about anything else, including sheep and Chuckit.

Photo by Clark Kranz

High-speed photography also gives me a lot of insight into the way Brisbane moves. He very rarely gets all four feet off the ground long enough to be captured doing it.

Photo by Clark Kranz

He uses his magnificent tail as a rudder when he turns, sometimes spinning it like a pinwheel.

Photo by Clark Kranz

When Briz runs really fast the air flips the tips of his humongous ears backwards.

Photo by Clark Kranz

I always marvel at pictures where all his weight is being supported by just one or two joints. So glad he has solid wrists, pasterns, and legs in general.

The rest of Brisbane's pictures can be found here, I thoroughly enjoyed looking through them but had to just pick a few to buy.

Lure Coursing and the AKC

Lure coursing is one of Brisbane's most favorite things in the world, something I discovered nearly ten years ago at a medieval reenactment event. For several years, this was the only place where Brisbane got to chase the bunny. There were a few sighthound clubs doing lure coursing in California, but at the time it was very much a Just for Sighthounds sport. I had hoped to have the opportunity to run my dog for fun maybe at the end of one of their practices, but none of the sighthound people ever replied to my emails or returned my phone calls.

In 2010 the AKC started their Canine Partners program to allow mixed breeds to compete and title in a small number of performance events. In 2011 they added the Coursing Ability Test for all breeds including mixed breeds.

It took me four years to get around to participating, but yesterday Brisbane and I went to our first AKC lure coursing trial! He got to do two runs and qualified in both. When he qualifies in a third run at our next trial he will have his first AKC lure coursing title. We now have two shiny orange "Qualifying Course" ribbons from the Southern California Ibizian Hound Club. (There were no Ibizian Hounds at the trial, but we did get to hang out with a gorgeous Pharoah Hound!"

Brisbane did really well, mostly because I crated him in the car far away from the action. I set my trademark lime green sun shade up over the hatchback of my car and that kept us pretty cool despite the 88-degree weather.

His Hurtta cooling coat also helped a whole lot, and I was pleased to find him napping and resting comfortably whenever I checked on him. Using his Road Refresher bowl in the crate kept him from sticking his feet in the water and soaking his delicate paw pads.

Of course he launched into hysterical screambarking as soon as we got near the field. There's no silencing him. For all the calming down that he's done in the last few years, he's still absolutely roiling with energy when he gets excited.