![The BU Feature Boxer](../reuseable%20images/bufeaturebxr.gif)
BU is very proud to feature a truly exceptional Obedience boxer in this issue - a dog who
is, according to his owner and trainer, Karla Spitzer, Charmingly Obnoxious, Aggressively
Friendly, and Too Smart for His Own Good; and according to FRONT AND FINISH (1998
rankings for Open and Utility dogs), ranks #3 nationally!! Please meet...
Harpo the Marker, UD ( + 5
UDX legs!)
...and
Karla Spitzer
In 1991, a little, flashy, red
brindle puppy dog became our fourth Boxer. He was only a year younger than Cleo, who was
the "puppy from hell," so when it seemed right to get another puppy, I sought
out "official" obedience classes. Since I had been in a very bad auto accident,
I knew that it was important to have control over the good little puppy, whom I knew
instantly was a "Harpo." Like his namesake, Harpo Marx of the Marx Brothers, my
little Boxer puppy was the funniest, the smartest, the sweetest, and the best, and
deserved to be acknowledged as such. I still didnt have the use of my right hand at
the point, and it wasnt clear how much control Id be able to regain. (So I
wisely went out and got an attention deficit Boxer puppy...I know...I know...:-)
When little Harpo was only 3+
months old, I found a puppy class with veteran obedience judge and trainer, Shirley
Indelicato - "Obedience Preferred." Harpo and I attended puppy class, and Cleo
and my husband Scott went to the basic obedience class.
Along about three weeks into
things, we learned the long down, during which, to my embarrassment, Harpo lay on his
back, snorting, snuffling, and waving his paws in the air with great glee and enthusiasm.
He was quite unlike the polite little Belgian Tervueren or the little Rottweiler, who lay
on their tummies and looked at their owners demurely and respectfully. Shirley took a long
look at Harpo, and said quietly to me, "You know, he could be a good obedience
dog." To this day, I dont know if she was kidding or not, but I took her at her
word, and well, here we are, so to speak...
To be fair to Harpo, while I
had had a lot of experience with dogs, the specifics of obedience competition lay outside
of any other sort of experience I had had. In other words, I had NO experience with dogs
and performance. But with Shirleys suggestion that he could be
"good," Harpo and I endured basic obedience, then competition obedience, then
open classes, then utility classes, and well, ultimately he got his UD...a very rare title
for dogs in general, to say nothing of Boxers. Perhaps rather than "endured",
you might say we thrived.
Id like to say
that our experience was very straightforward and easy, but it wasnt. Well, the CD
(Companion Dog) title was easy, the CDX (Companion Dog Excellent) was pretty easy, but
WOW!, the UD (Utility Dog) title was NOT easy - nor is grinding out our UDX legs. An
explanation of the requirements for the various obedience title will show
"non-obedience-oriented" Boxer fanciers [like BUs editor...] why the
advanced titles are such a challenge:
CD, or Companion Dog -
For this one, you need three legs, or qualifying scores, under three different judges. The
dog must heel on and off-leash, do a figure 8, a stand for examination, a recall, and the
group sit and stay with other dogs. Trust me on this one - any dog who has made it through
five or six conformation shows and has basic house manners should be able to complete this
title in about three to six months of consistent training.
CDX, or Companion Dog
Excellent - You need three qualifying scores under three different judges. Here
the "ante" is upped. The dog must do all heeling off-lead, do a drop on recall,
retrieve on the flat and over the high jump, and do a broad jump. The group exercises are
done with the owner out of sight of the dog. If the dog was well-trained for the CD, this
title should take another three to six months of training.
UD, or Utility Dog - You
need three qualifying scores under three different judges, and here things get WAY tough.
The dog must heel to hand signals only, and do a down, sit, and come on hand signals from
a distance. Next, the dog must be able to discriminate his owners scent out of a
pile of nine articles. Half are metal and half are leather. I use and recommend five-inch
triple bars - triangles with three five-inch bars connecting them. I use them because they
collect the scent rather than dispersing it, making it easier for that squished Boxer nose
to find the one I have scented in the pile. The dog must identify both the metal and the
leather articles correctly in order to pass this exercise. Then the dog must do a directed
retrieve of gloves, which are all laid out in a row. Taking the wrong glove constitutes
failure.
Next, the dog must do a moving
stand for examination, and finally, the guaranteed-
youll-lose-at-least-ten-pounds-if-you-incorporate-this-into-your-weight-loss-program,
the directed jumping exercises. Consider that for the dogs whole life, youve
been teaching him to come to you. Now all of a sudden, youre telling the dog
to leave you, preferably in a straight line, to go to a random point in the
distance, at which time you will tell him to turn and sit. Any wonder why this one is
hard?! And why most dogs figure their owners have just flat out lost their minds when you
get to this? You can teach "go-outs" with food on the ground, on a pole, etc.,
but I think the cleanest and best go-out is one in which you train by running out with the
dog about a hundred and sixty bazillion times (thats where the weight loss comes in
:-), until lo and behold, one day your dog finally "gets it"! Remember, even
though they are Boxers and way smart, they are still dogs, and this is an odd concept for
them.
But youre still
not done. From the "turn and sit" position on the go-out, you must, with hand
signals, direct the dog to the high jump and the bar jump, and the jumps will be either on
the right or the left at the judges discretion. The dog must do both, so he must
"get" the go-out twice. When and only when he has done all this correctly, can
you possibly attain a leg towards a UD. At the least, this title will take about a year of
training, and then your team will still be really green.
UDX, or Utility Dog
Excellent - For this title, you need TEN legs, and each leg means qualifying in
both the Open and Utility B classes on the same day! Any dog that has even one UDX leg
is truly a cut above the rest. ONLY TWO BOXERS IN THE U.S. HAVE EARNED THIS TITLE TO
DATE.
OTCH, or Obedience Trial
Champion - Your dog must be in first or second place in BOTH Open and Utility B in
order to get points toward the OTCH, based upon a sliding scale of how many dogs he
defeats in those classes. An OTCH requires 100 points. Again, any dog competing at this
level with OTCH points is a cut WAY above the rest. Only one Boxer in the U.S. has earned
this title to date, and she was one of our UDXs - OTCH Marilyns Tinamarie of
Bropat, UDX, TD. We are exceptionally proud of Harpos one OTCH point to date.
However, lest the above
discourage anyone, if I could do it with my intact male while going through years of
physical therapy, I figure almost any other Boxer with a sense of humor and a reasonable
temperament should be able to do it, too - given an owner who will go along, of course. I
can think of few things Ive done in my life that meant as much to me as that third
UD leg, which meant the title of "UD" after Harpos registered name. The
UDX legs and OTCH point gave me a great feeling of accomplishment, too.
It has taken us a long time,
though it takes most dogs of all breeds a long time to get to the UD and beyond. Harpo
turned eight in June, and although he hasnt slowed down much, my boy is getting gray
(of course, so am I :-). Going slow with the titles isnt Harpos fault, though
- a second auto accident at the end of 1994 put a dent in what I could do during
most of 1995 and into 96, so we would probably have gone farther faster had I been
able to stay away from drunk and bad drivers...
Watch for Karlas
article on how to choose and train an Obedience Boxer coming in the October/November issue
of BU!