to become a member of the SPCGB please click on their website for details.
MAY 2007 ARTICLE FOR THE WRINKLE…… By Ann Clarke-Ward and “Yen”
Email address :
ann@sharpeijtenyen.com“Going for Gold”I know that many of you reading this article are already owned by extremely intelligent and very obedient Shar-pei. You know, the ones that always come back when called and sit when you ask them to and down stay when you request it…………and even go out in the rain!
Well okay, back to the real world now. Perhaps we all recognise the more normal Shar-pei breed traits as stubborn, stand-offish with strangers, independent, calm and sometimes funny and definitely do not like the rain or soggy grass. Shar pei are indeed an intelligent breed I think we can all agree on that. As that is why they manage to manipulate us all in anyway they can and they probably ask themselves why should they sit when you ask them to and down stay when you request it when they can ignore your commands and get on with whatever else they are doing, like maybe having a snooze or sniffing out the cat down the end of the garden. I am guessing that you all have shar-pei that cock a deaf-en when you call their name.
For that is the reason I am very pleased to be writing this article!
Don’t get me wrong, My Shar pei has exactly the same traits, Subborn, Standoffish with (some) strangers, independent, calm, aloof, doesn’t like the rain and especially not soggy grass and refuses to go out for a walk if its wet and she is very funny! But I want to share with you all that we are now working towards our Gold Good Citizen Obedience Course and she is just 15mths old!!
My Shar-pei
My Shar-pei is Called “Chifido Show me the Yen” her pet name is Yen. She is a very pretty Red/Fawn Brushcoat with a black mask with good pigment also. She is a delight to share our home with and is extremely sociable with children and other dogs. I would like to thank Jenny Webb for breeding her as her temperament is to die for (So Placid and would let you do anything to her). She also has good conformation so is a part time show dog too, something that we hope to progress with as she gets older. We always seem to leave a companion or local show with a rosette or two and she even qualified for Crufts for 2007 at her first show. (Blackpool Championship Show 2006).
We started training almost immediately I got her home at eight and a half weeks old. Crate training started in the car on the way home. She was super quiet. She slept in the crate, in the kitchen for the first few weeks and now I only use it when I am travelling longer distances. She was house-trained within 24 hours as she was already paper trained when I picked her up from Jenny. I couldn’t believe how clean she was and so quick to learn. I remember that she had to manoeuvre her way down two large steps through the utility room to the garden to go outside but she made it. From day one I used the command “Go Whiz” and she knows exactly what I mean. Yen was an angel puppy, but always always woke me up at 6am in the morning…no idea why but I assume that Jenny must’ve got up at 6am every morning; this was a regular alarm clock for me. (She is much less vocal today; she lies in all the time!! So I use a proper alarm clock now).
My secret for the training was finding that praise or food trigger. I used treats mainly her dry food or cocktail sausages cut in small pieces to encourage her as she loves food… this was her trigger certainly in the earlier days. She would do anything for food!! So there I was training her a few minutes a day only, to stand, to be touched all over, and to come and sit in front of me and follow the treat around my legs to finish in the sit by my left side. She was excellent at it. Now she does things I am sure to make me happy, to cause me to clap wildly and say well done very enthusiastically. If I had a tail I would wag it for her and she knows it.
I have been owned by other breeds of dogs previously, Poodles and a Giant Schnauzer and even a German shepherd – I got the poodle to do the basics and a little agility, the giant schnauzer did the continental finish very fast, but I have done more with my Yen than any other dog in my life. She is very intelligent and has become a great companion for both myself and my children.
Kennel Club Good Citizen Training So the day finally came that she could be enrolled on her Puppy/Foundation course. Yen was four months old at the time. I found a club (on the internet) that was fairly local to me in Houghton Regis, called the Lugari Dog club. They run Ring craft and Obedience lessons and link in some Agility later when the dog is over a year old. Gary and Pat Gregory, who run the Club, are very dedicated to the club and the classes and it’s a big social event and they are both dog mad. They run the Good Citizen training courses and they run them as a not for profit company. Which makes the price of the training very reasonable and it’s cheaper than an aerobics class!! And the whole family can attend with me.
So every Tuesday night myself, my children (Sophie age 7, and Thomas age 10), and of course Yen go for the social life and the training. Yen loves it. She can’t wait to get in the door. Yes even with all this training she still pulls when she wants to! He he.
The Puppy course lasted 10 weeks, we walked round and round learning to walk to heel, sit, down, come and sit and finish. It was exhausting and very hot in the scout hall, but great fun too. Again all Yen needed was a few minutes reminder per day and by the following week she knew exactly what was expected of her. When we completed the foundation course we received a rosette and a certificate from the Kennel Club. We also had our picture taken. It was a very proud day!
Bronze TestNext came the Bronze course and test… this was a little harder, but Yen passed with flying colours. Some of you may be wondering what the Bronze test includes – I have listed the basic test and requirements below. I know some of your sharpei have already passed the Bronze too. Well done to you! Another proud day came after the bronze test and we have another certificate!.
The Silver Course and test came next - initially I was worried about it but week by week and month by month you can see that all the training is sinking in, she absolutely understands what is needed of her very quickly…but at the same time she was going through adolescence and pushing those parameters, just like a child pushes their parents…and with her sense of humour, you cant help but laugh. I wanted her to come, and you could see her looking around checking out the other dogs if any one of them gave her eye contact I was in trouble!! She would leave me standing…
Luckily that teenager stage is passing and now she has decided she likes me more so I can let her off the lead in the park and she comes back...she socialises with other dogs but comes back something I didn’t think she was going to do back at 6 mths old.
Silver TestThe Silver test was definitely more difficult than the bronze but Yen did it! That 2 minute Down stay is a very long time. I am very pleased to say that Yen has now passed her Kennel Club Good Citizen “Silver Award”, and we are working well into the Gold course. I have a feeling the Gold will take a little longer as she still has a glint in her eye that says I’ll do this in my own sweet time and I’m sure she will.
Going for Gold!We have also just been awarded an achievement certificate for working towards the KC GC Gold award which I am very proud to have. We will get the Gold Award, I have no doubt about that and after that there is another more Advanced Obedience course so we will see how far Yen will take it. But I am so proud of what she has achieved so far. I am not really sure if she is actually the only Shar pei who has the Kennel Club Good citizen Silver Award at the moment, but to me she has proved her intelligence and achieved so much already that I had to write an article for the Wrinkle and I hope all you Shar-pei lovers agree that they are an intelligent breed and we can prove it!
Extra Information and recommended websites;
Bronze Course included;
1. Cleanliness and identification
2. Collar and lead
3. Walk on lead
4. Control at door/gate
5. Controlled walk amongst people and dogs
6. Stay on lead for one minute
7. Groom
8. Present for examination
9. Return to handler
10. Responsibility and care
Silver Course included;
1. Play with the dog
2. Road walk
3. Rejoin the handler
4. Stay in one place (2minute down stay) off the lead.
5. Vehicle control
6. Come away from distractions
7. Controlled greeting
8. Food manners
9. Examination of the dog
10. Responsibility and care
And the Gold Good Citizen Award includes the following;
1. Road walk
2. Return to handler's side
3. Walk free beside handler
4. Stay down in one place
5. Send the dog to bed
6. Stop the dog
7. Relaxed isolation
8. Food manners
9. Examination of the dog
10. Responsibility and care
Breeder Information website
Jenny Webb – “Chifido”
www.chifido.co.uk
Training Club address and website
Gary and Pat Gregory
Club Services, Lugari Dog Club, part of the Lugari group. .