Shiloh Shepherd Times, WINTER/SPRING 2007
SHILOHS IN THE SPOTLIGHT
History | Golden Oldies | Shows | 9to5 | Companion | Winter/Spring '07 Newsletter

A PART OF OUR HISTORY

GOLDEN OLDIES

OFF TO THE SHOWS

abrCH G&T’s Calypso Sumr Brz Msn-Dxn, CGC, TT
NAKC Supreme Grand Champion
Gary & Traci Runyon, Stardust Shilohs

sire: Grand Victor NS abCH
Mason-Dixon's Simple Man
dam: bCh ptd CJ's Mason-Dixon Tuesday's Gone
b. February 3, 2004 | color: red/black plush

She was high energy and incredibly intelligent from the minute she walked into the house, and ornery as sin.  The only thing that gave her pause was Alex, our red Persian cat, who she endlessly puzzled over, and in time adopted as her personal kitty.   Every training experience is always accompanied by a cocked head and pointed look that asks “and exactly WHY do you expect me to do this”?

She has never been enthusiastic about showing, resorting to all kinds odf unpredictable antics behind the judge’s back, but her innate desire to please and incredible movement has consistently made her a top performer.  She attained her Breed, ARBA and Rarities Championships in her first season of showing.  She added her Rarities Supreme Grand Championship midway through 2005, but shortly thereafter developed a rapidly growing mass on her flank near the spine.

We elected immediate surgical removal and biopsy, and were relieved beyond words when the biopsy returned negative. All indications were the mass had apparently been trauma induced (neither Biz nor Rom ever confessed).  With a ten inch square shaved area on her flank she carried the nickname “Patches” for the rest of the year.  In 2006, she was back in top form, including 2 Best in Shows at Rarities Labor Day Show Down.

SHILOH 9-to-5

Shial of Chi Nicholaise-MDSSK, PENN, Cdi, OFA aka Nicki
David E. Myers, PhD

sire: Shenandoah's Beo, OFA, CGC
dam: ibCh Dakota's Nyssa MD Shiloh Star, CD, CGC, SAR, TT, TDI, HIC, HCT, JHD, USDAA (1st Leg), PENN, OFA, CERF, ROM
b. November 9, 2002 | black/cream plush

I am writing this to express my gratitude to the Shiloh breed by sharing my experiences of obedience training. Nicki has been a loving, affectionate, loyal dog since the day she arrived and I could go on about her personality. Instead I want to share Nicki's experiences with obedience.

We began when she was about four months old in a puppy socialization class. I mainly went for the socialization but discovered that she was more than an apt pupil. She was eager to earn her treats, and lo n' behold, she would just go to sleep in between exercises. While other dogs were meandering, fussing, she would respond to my encouraging excitement. She was the top dog in this class with others expressing envy.

We moved on to basic obedience with more discipline-coming, sitting, heeling, staying, etc. The recall and heeling was made into a game with her earning treats. The sitting and staying part was more challenging for her. I had to work with some corrections and extra effort with treats to bring this into line. However, we were still at the head of the class. I liked the way she worked with me and it felt to be a team experience. I was told by the trainer that she would go far; that I should keep going. Next, Nicki completed her CGC at the end of six weeks with the trainer telling me he had never seen a dog so responsive in the CGC exam.

We graduated to a very advanced class (many utility training dogs) and I was now working with a former obedience judge. The level of discipline went up several notches. She was very interesting in that she was almost pushy of me, and then when I would flubber around, she would laugh with a joke. She pushed me to watch how I walked, how I turned my shoulder, and to insist with love that Nicki work with "perfection." A significant aspect of this was to hold treats in my mouth and ask Nicki to look at me. We continued to perfect basic obedience, and play with some of the utility exercises. The paying attention exercise made all of the difference in the world. She encouraged me to show her in competition and that was hard being a rare breed. However, we entered into a couple of AKC shows as practice, and she went through growing pains of being in a strange place with strange dogs. However, I was very proud of her and she did well.

The previous Memorial day we went to Punxy, and had a good time with Kathy and Sharon. We went through four trials with her being the only dog in her class. The first time through was difficult with her sniffing all of those horse smells. However, we persevered through three more trials. She finished with a 99 and was the overall high scorer. We came home with much pride and seven blue ribbons. She was not quite three years old when she completed these trials.

Throughout these training experiences, Nicki never once was aggressive with another dog. She loved people and was very responsive to everyone. If we were in a strange place she would seem to be more on alert but nothing aggressive. We did have difficulty with her chasing furry creatures and if I was caught off guard, I would be off on the chase. So upon inquiry at my Vets, I discovered a dog trainer out of the dog whisperer tradition. Plus, I discovered he did protection training which was a most fascinating idea to me.

I was assured that we could do protection training without altering her disposition. We began with refining her attending to my body signals vs. verbal commands. We accomplished that by tugs, no's when she wasn't following me, and then, distractions in various places. She learned this very quickly with a few relapses with furry animals. However, the lunging was dramatically softened. This was quicker than usual according to my trainer.

We then did the first protection training, which was our being in a corner, my saying "watch", and his coming in acting strange. As soon as she was barking, he left the room. With 4 trials her alert response was strong. We came back two weeks later( gradual training to keep her disposition), and her first response to his entry was moderately vigorous. In four trials she was barking upon his entry. Third session, she began to bark to the watch command. Fourth session, she began to lunge upon entry with just barking to the command; very quick learning according to the trainer. There have been no changes in her disposition.

The final touch was having the trainer come to our home, make the same noises following the word "watch" or sometimes without the word so that she was attentive to his body language. She mastered this on the first visit but we completed two more trials to be on the safe side. Then we did this with his approaching us on a sidewalk.

Now the word "watch" will launch her into a holy terror, and the word "out' will quiet her. She has never shown any inappropriate behavior, and her furry creature response is under my control.

So, in summary, she has been a great learner, eager to please, responding well in stressful situations while staying more and more focused. I could easily see her being a therapy dog by virtue of encounters with people in my office. Most of all, I feel a real bond with her. So, I encourage all of you to utilize your dogs in some sort of working situation. I feel it's personally rewarding and it certainly speaks really well for the breed.

THE JOY OF A COMPANION