Number One Briard all systems-so far

Dill has come back home. We brought him back from his stellar career in Mexico where for the past year he was Number One Herding Dog and Number Five of All Breeds. Dill won about 100 Group Ones all over South America and a mess of Best In Shows. He was Best of Breed at the AKC Invitational-a gorgeous win over about 18 Briards. He won Best of Breed the day before as well and placed in the group. Dill was shown by his Mexican handler, a gentleman names Fernando Paz-seemed like kind man but the language gap doesn't help judgement. Fernando speaks no English. I speak no Spanish.

Dill, so far this year (and the year is young for sure-alot can change) is Number One Briard in all the ratings systems. He is shown by Mark Bettis.

My search for the right American handler began last Fall. I knew Dill would be coming home. That was the agreement with the Fischl's who had "borrowed" him for the past two years in Mexico. This was not an easy dog to figure out. Therefore, not an easy dog to show. Dill needed someone dynamic. Dill needed someone who would know how to pay attention to detail. Dill needed someone tall( left out Regina for sure!). Dill would be best with someone who did not carry a giant string of show dogs and of course the basics of the handler knowing how to do coat and the final things that can not be compromised on-basic care.

Dill tends to be a bit lazy, retiring, easy going. He is a soft sort of temperament-not big and boisterous(read Flynn) and needs someone who would connect with him. He does not lack for confidence, he can be cheerful and very sweet. But he is not the big ego dog Flynn was. Flynn could have gone anywhere and basically been pretty happy and still believe he was the king. Not so Dill.

Picked Mark. It was a complicated decision and a long story. Dill looks spectacular with Mark.

Singing In The Shower

I love to write. I am not very good at it. For me, it is kind of like singing in the shower. When I live alone with my writing, it reads brilliantly. When I compare it to others' I know it is sadly pretty poor. I like my vocabulary pretty well but I am acutely aware that my grammar sucks.

It also depends on my subject. I can wax philosophic about dogs for days...Briards, training, behavior, their owners, and all the crazy stories in between.

I think the craziest stories are the ones built on the phone calls I have received over the years. They are also the most maddening. The woman with the Great Dane whose husband is going to make her get rid of the dog on a pre-arranged specific date if the 10 month old dog does not "shape up" and listen to him. But he won't train the dog, won't pet the dog, won't interact with the dog. He just wants to bark commands at him. The wife's concern was not for the dog's miserable life. She was afraid that if she did not follow directions her husband would leave her.

Bye bye.

Flynn and his daughter Sassy

This is one of my all time favorite pictures of my dogs. It is of my beloved Flynn, American Canadian Champion Deja Vu In Like Flynn CD PT and his daughter Sassy, American Canadian Champion Deja Vu Ruffles Have Ridges PT. Flynn is the top winning Briard of all time. Sassy is the top winning Briard female of all time.

Flynn is the top sire of all time in the history of the breed. Almost 50 champions. Some specialty winners, Best In Show dogs, Westminster winners and top producers just like Flynn.

Flynn was a four time national specialty winner in both the United States and Canada. Flynn was a multiple Best In Show dog. Flynn was a Top Five Herding dog. Flynn was Number One Briard every year he was shown. Flynn was Best of Breed at Westminster four times. Flynn placed in the group at Westminster.

Sassy was a national specialty winner. Sassy was a multiple Best In Show dog. Sassy was a Top Ten Herding Dog. Sassy was Number One Briard every year she was shown. Sassy was Best of Breed at Westminster. Sassy placed in the group at Westminster.

Flynn died at almost 14. I believe one reason he lived so long is that he was the king...in his own mind. Up to the last day of his life Flynn viewed the world as his own. In his reality he was larger than life. His legacy is enormous. He is what sets the image of the breed in many peoples' mind's eye...in and out of the dog world. Flynn put himself on the map by who he was on the inside and who and what he was on the outside.

To me, he was my beloved...my son...my best companion for almost 14 years.

Dill and Poutine

Dill continues to thrive in Mexico. He has just won his second Best In Show-the dog world's highest achievement at any given dog show.

Dill has sired well in Mexico. His son from his first litter in Mexico produced "Buda". Buda has now won 8 Junior Best In Shows. Buda looks in his videos and photos extremely promising and beautiful. How great for the Fischl family who are Buda's breeders.

One of these days Dominique and I will travel to Mexico to see Dill shown and visit our friends the Fischls. Driving there tempts us both. We both love to get on the road and experience the trip inch by inch.

My ideal would be to live a certain part of my life on the road. The diversity and opportunity call my name. Besides, I love the road food. Hot Tamales, Jordan Almonds, Chex Mix, good cheese and brown bread. The recent favorite discovery is Ketchup Potato Chips by Lays. We can only find them in Quebec. They are outrageous in the category of road food. Couple them with a little bag of freshly made cheese curds from Quebec and you have food heaven.

In a way, even though the tastes are not even close, the theory behind my combination and Quebec's favorite peasant food Poutine is the same. Potatoes and cheese. Big difference is that the poutine is french fries, cheese curds and gravy over the top of it all. Still, two of the food groups are shared-potatoes and cheese. Cholesterol slow death. Yum.

Am Mex Ch Deja Vu Mia Cool As A Cucumber

Dill is in Mexico. He is having quite a bang up career there. He is co-owned with the Fischl family-father Christian, mother Lala and daughters Paula and Lourdes. He sleeps in Paula's bed at night, waits for her to come home from University every day and generally is flourishing in his new life there as show dog and family pet with kids (he loves them).

So far in 5 months of showing Dill has won about a bazillion Herding Groups and has climbed up from non-champion to the Number Two ranked dog in the Herding Group. Very cool for such a young dog not yet in his prime.

Dill is not perfect, but his outline, proportions, breed type and beauty is arresting. He has such a lovely head, solid topline and classic carriage. He is a proud guy. You can see it in his natural carriage and style of being.

Carriage is one thing I consider heavily important in the Briard. It is something intangible but of tremendous significance. It is part of what makes a Briard a Briard-not a Bouvier. The standard for the breed is so defined about how the dog should operate in the world, how he should present himself in life and carry himself in general.

I read and reread the AKC standard arbitrarily and intermittently over time. Every time I do, I take away something new which I missed or forgot about. Last time I looked at it, the passage about carriage struck me with a fresh appreciation. In the first sentence the words "vigorous and alert" implies a certain countenance and carriage. But go on to the specific " the head joins the neck in a right angle and is held proudly alert".

Recently there was a discussion on one of the inane Briard lists on the internet about head carriage. As long as I have been in the breed I have heard the clueless expound on proper head carriage. They like to say the dog should carry his head low-many proclaiming greatness in the presence of a dog who looks like a plow horse-head being carried in motion in a line below the shoulders. There is nothing proud or alert about a plow horse. The carriage is more reminiscent of a Border Collie or crippled old Cocker Spaniel than a Briard.

The clueless like to say the dogs who win too much look more like "prancing Poodles". My mentor and friend Mary Lou Tingley in response to a photo posted demonstrating the low head, long strung out body of a bad moving devoid of carriage Briard remarked that it was probably herding field mice. Indeed, that is what it looks like-one line from tip of nose to tip of tail. We call them "flatliners". Like the cardiac monitor of a dead person-one flat line.

Dill will never be a flat liner on his worst day.

My Best In Show dogs-there are eleven

Three weeks ago we added to the list of Best In Show dogs. This time it was a 9 month old puppy. This Best In Show was from the classes. In other words, she was not a champion at the time. She was a 9 month old puppy entered at a dog show in order to complete her championship. She got a 5 point major that day.

This is a rare occurance at a dog show indeed. There are a handful of dogs it has ever happened to...and usually, it has been the very fancy breeds it happens in-Pomeranians, Standard Poodles, Afghan Hounds. It has never happened to a Briard. The puppy is the youngest Briard to win a Best In Show (breaking her dam's own record). The puppy is the only Briard to win a Best In Show from the classes-ever.

She was Best Of Breed the first day, beating her intermittently lame Lyme Disease affected granddsire Udo and others. Then won the Herding Group. The second day history repeated itself (this time Udo was too lame to compete at all) but she went all the way to be the last dog standing...Best In Show.

The puppy is from CH Deja Vu Mia Chain of Fools (Udo x Suzie) bred to Ch Deja Vu Ruffles Have Ridges PT (Flynn x Lena).

The puppy's name is Eastbay Deja Vu Enjoy The Ride.

Control

For me, it is more interesting to write about Briards than about training. I would rather write about my clients in training, than the training itself. But clients can get a tad irritable if I say what I think...which I am prone to do, so I am best to work at stifling myself-at least a little bit.

Like the woman in class with the Border Collie rescue. The dog had tons of potential but was a bit pushy and overenthusiastic. On the third lesson I urged the woman once again into correcting the dog for an out of control behavior which kept reoccurring but was perfectly easy to modify. The woman had been reminded throughout the first two classes to address the whining with our initial technique of choice- a taste correction.The woman at first ignored me, pretending to follow through. It was Dominique-the eyes in the back of my head- who ratted on her. Dominique told me the woman had not once followed the request, rules or my direction for dealing with vocalizing. On the fourth urging in that one class from me, the Border Collie woman got a pained look in her face and moaned like I was forcing her to torture her dog.

With a class full of new people and dogs it is impossible in the beginning to address and follow through on every request and directive and enforce rules. In the beginning order is established which includes getting vocalizing under control. This serves three purposes. Most importantly, to set the stage for the dogs learning about self control- a new concept for many of them, and secondarily, so I do not lose my mind over the din of a crazed group of dogs experiencing their first group experience, and three, so people can hear and learn something.
When the BC woman herself started whining about me "making her" I made the same joke I always make, " maybe you need to get counselling and take some drugs". hehehehe....everybody chuckled except her. Ok, maybe I should shut up and maybe I should avoid the joking editorial comments but I thought it was funny at the time.
A week later class got rescheduled so I had to call all students to tell them. I called the Border Collie woman who informed me that she would not be coming back to class. When I asked why-and I was genuinely surprised, she told me of how insulted she was about my comment on her mental state. I chided her that is was just a joke and suggested that it was foolish to give up on her dog's education, 185 bucks spent and the 9 weeks still to come because of a comment by me. She allowed that probably was a good point and maybe she would reconsider. She didn't. I never saw her again. It was a cool dog too. Oh well.
In training the big common denominator is self control. Teaching the concept of self control to owner and dog means infusing it into every subject and behavior. That includes vocalizing in class which encompasses all vocalizing like the whining thing. When a dog whines in class most of the time it is to demand the owner's attention and service. Many dogs attending class are being first introduced to the owner making demands on them. Part of setting the stage for who is really in the driver's seat is drawing clear limits to demanding behavior-translated, putting an end to the dog's demands by using negative consequences. It's not hard, we don't hit, we don't scream and we even provide positive consequences as a result of positive reactions.
To stop demanding vocalizing we use a taste correction. It is a squirt bottle with lemon juice or vinegar in it. When the dog vocalizes in class, the owner says the name and "quiet", manually opening the dog's mouth and giving a taste on the tongue.
For hard core cases who enjoy lemon or vinegar we use Listerine. The dog should react with a "yuck". A first introduction to consequence training.