WAC is in the books!

[Ravenbird]

Asha and I did the much-discussed Working Abilities Evaluation on Wednesday - the day before a Doberman Specialty show on Thursday & a 4 day (Fri - Mon) Cluster show all weekend. We've never been to a show that big, but the WAE was held on Wed before most people arrived, due to the gunfire. I believe there were about 18 - 20 dogs entered. Not sure how many passed, but quite a few from what I could see. I have to say that almost all the ones I saw were pretty stable, none that I know of were strictly working lines, but only call names were on the list, so I really don't know. Most were very friendly to the strangers, where as Asha dismissed them (but wasn't rude! Yay!) and most startled & recovered quickly from the gunshot. I love how when Asha startled she turned to face the direction it came from. I think all would have passed except for the bad guy scene, but still as a whole, most stood their ground, 2 or 3 noticeably backed up to their handler and didn't want to face the boogie man, and only a few hit the end of the leash barking aggressively. Asha was one of those. Someone videoed for me, I'm so grateful for that so I can share! Eric Peterson was the evaluator, and he was great. I think very fair, kind to the handlers and said what I've been trying to say in these discussions, but never found the right words. He said "This is called a Pass or Fail test, but there are no dogs that fail. This is not a test, it's exercises to help you learn more about your dog."

Our scoresheet:



The video cut off before the last exercise in which Mr. Peterson walks with handler & dog discussing your test and then reaches out and touches the dog to make sure it has no lingering aggressive attitude after the bad guy episode. He told me that when Asha froze to watch the man moving that she was 100% waiting for him to move on or be a threat and as soon as he turned toward us she went off.

I'm happy to discuss any thoughts or questions about the video!

 

[JanS]

Wow what a full weekend for you guys. Nicely done!

 

[Kaiser2016]

Well done! The venue looks nice too with the palm trees, I wasn't expecting those.

 

[Ravenbird]

The venue looks nice too with the palm trees, I wasn't expecting those.

Tucson AZ - about a 4 hour drive from where I live.

 

[JanS]

Tucson AZ - about a 4 hour drive from where I live.

That's about what Minneapolis is from here too, depending on which part of the city you go to.

 

[Rits]

Excellent job! So glad you went! I bet Asha was wondering why there were so many dobermans there, LOL. Btw, Ripley shot out of her whelping box and stood alert right next to me staring at the monitor and puffing a grumble, ready to back up Asha for the decoy threat. She doesn't forget!!

 

[Ravenbird]

Good to have Ripley on my side!!!

 

[Two Dobes]

Love the video....nice job!!!

 

[LifeofRubie]

Her decoy threat rating is off the charts (to no ones, surprise, I'm sure!)!! I would like to do this with Rubie, someday. Just to see!

How lucky someone was able to video for you

 

[Rits]

I don't remember if I ever shared Ripley's WAE? But I have to laugh, here is my leash/flat collar, loose leash walking, trained girl last year... and Asha is walking nicer than her I know they don't care how they walk beside you (thank god) because they want whatever natural response the dog is going to give and not be under command like they would in heeling but it gave me a good laugh because I know you've said multiple times that she pulls like a freight train! With Ripley as you see, she is very aware of when she's being asked to heel, and when shes not being asked to heel lol!

Also, Ripley's stranger response gave her two -1s. I would have personally called that a zero. Btw those that don't know: 0s and -1s are acceptable for the stranger interaction and deemed acceptable behavior for our breed.



One other note...the noise clatter took so long despite Ripley investigating it multiple times because she had to put her nose right on the can for this evaluator. So she almost failed that part on time alone even though you can tell shes not bothered by the noise. If you remember the same was expected for the umbrella her first time and what failed her then where this time the evaluator did not require that. Maybe learned from his first eval. I see your evaluator was fine with anywhere on the face of the umbrella like it should be!

 

[Ravenbird]

Ripley did great - yes, you shared this when you got it, it's a terrific showing of her personality. If Asha had been 2 instead of 4, she would have been all over the place on the end of that 6' leash too. And she might have haired up or grumbled at the strangers instead of ignoring them, not a good thing. You know it's taken years for me to get her over that, and so her WAE in that exercise was "trained" but no dog over 18 months is going into that test with no training. In fact I was thinking that I've hammered on her so much for explosive barking for no reason, that she may not explode at the boogie man, but I was wrong. So in that case all my training didn't matter. True colors and all that.

If you take Stavros to a WAE, try to find one with this Peterson evaluator. He's not soft on the evaluation, but takes the whole dog and their actions and reactions. I really thought he was super with all the dogs. I'll have to see the results how many passed - I think most of them, but he didn't nit-pick if the dog showed what he needed to see. I love how Asha and Ripley both froze when they saw the bad guy, then when he turned into the dog they said Oh hell no!

 

[Rits]

Ok I couldn't remember honestly especially since she took it twice. Hey, I love that you got to see her true colors even with all the training! Even though Rip took it twice, her responses and scores were the exact same. Even the decoy she was like, "Ill light you up!" I think you took it at the perfect time for Asha so you could see her response without her worrying about environment. So proud of y'all both. I'll be on the lookout for this evaluator... I think mine resigned recently.

I love how Asha and Ripley both froze when they saw the bad guy, then when he turned into the dog they said Oh hell no!

It's my favorite proud momma part!! Asha's made me smile just as much. When everyone goes silent exactly when the decoy comes out and then cheer loudly after the threat. Didn't matter if it was someone no one knew. EVERYONE cheered for a strong reaction. I love it! Good dobermans

 

[BGpa]

Asha and I did the much-discussed Working Abilities Evaluation on Wednesday - the day before a Doberman Specialty show on Thursday & a 4 day (Fri - Mon) Cluster show all weekend. We've never been to a show that big, but the WAE was held on Wed before most people arrived, due to the gunfire. I believe there were about 18 - 20 dogs entered. Not sure how many passed, but quite a few from what I could see. I have to say that almost all the ones I saw were pretty stable, none that I know of were strictly working lines, but only call names were on the list, so I really don't know. Most were very friendly to the strangers, where as Asha dismissed them (but wasn't rude! Yay!) and most startled & recovered quickly from the gunshot. I love how when Asha startled she turned to face the direction it came from. I think all would have passed except for the bad guy scene, but still as a whole, most stood their ground, 2 or 3 noticeably backed up to their handler and didn't want to face the boogie man, and only a few hit the end of the leash barking aggressively. Asha was one of those. Someone videoed for me, I'm so grateful for that so I can share! Eric Peterson was the evaluator, and he was great. I think very fair, kind to the handlers and said what I've been trying to say in these discussions, but never found the right words. He said "This is called a Pass or Fail test, but there are no dogs that fail. This is not a test, it's exercises to help you learn more about your dog."

Our scoresheet:

View attachment 140241

The video cut off before the last exercise in which Mr. Peterson walks with handler & dog discussing your test and then reaches out and touches the dog to make sure it has no lingering aggressive attitude after the bad guy episode. He told me that when Asha froze to watch the man moving that she was 100% waiting for him to move on or be a threat and as soon as he turned toward us she went off.

I'm happy to discuss any thoughts or questions about the video!

Wonderful, TY! Bookmarked and subscribed to your Youtube channel too.

 

[Aaron56]

I'm happy to discuss any thoughts or questions about the video!

That was awesome!

As an owner you deserve to be proud of the results of your work!

The walking on the strange surface part of the test got my attention. Not exactly sure what the surface was in your video but could tell what they were testing for.

My girls would have walked around that obstacle on the nice comfy grass right next to it.

 

[Ravenbird]

As an owner you deserve to be proud of the results of your work!

It's actually a temperament test, the dog is not given any commands and you are only allowed to hold the end of the 6' leash, so you have no control of what their reactions are. Ideally there should be no "training" for it, it's a display of their reactions to different situations in life. The WAE is specifically for Dobermans and the grading is to encourage breeders to maintain the natural curiosity, bravery and defense that they originally had as a breed.

Not exactly sure what the surface was in your video

one was a tarp and the other was an X-Pen laid flat on the ground, so walking on the wire surface.

 

[Aaron56]

It's actually a temperament test, the dog is not given any commands and you are only allowed to hold the end of the 6' leash, so you have no control of what their reactions are. Ideally there should be no "training" for it, it's a display of their reactions to different situations in life. The WAE is specifically for Dobermans and the grading is to encourage breeders to maintain the natural curiosity, bravery and defense that they originally had as a breed.


one was a tarp and the other was an X-Pen laid flat on the ground, so walking on the wire surface.

Much of that stuff does have to do with training / experiences that the dog has had.

Stairs for example. Not unusual for a Doberman that had never, ever gone up or down any stairs to be 'hesitant' at first.

The x-pen one reminds me of one of the loading ramps at a previous workplace. Imagine something like an x-pen but steel and much thicker. A golf ball could not fit or fall through the holes but anything just a bit smaller would.

No amount or training or desensitizing could get any girl of mine to comfortably walk across that thing if they could go around it instead.

 

[Ravenbird]

No amount or training or desensitizing could get any girl of mine to comfortably walk across that thing if they could go around it instead.

WAE stands for Working Aptitude Evaluation. Evaluation of the dogs individual tendencies to avoid conflict or to meet a challenge without refusal or, if there is initial hesitancy or startle response, that is fine as long as they continue on the path with their handler without being coaxed or in a refusal state.

Most dogs that failed shied severely at the gunshot or the boogy man that yelled and ran at them waving a stick. It is perfectly acceptable for the dog to startle and recover and continue to walk on, but not acceptable to startle severely, pull to get away, or cower and not recover. I've seen several people try to train a gun-shy dogs to accept gunshot (or thunder phobic for that matter) and some dogs, as you say "no amount of training or desensitizing" works. They are temperamentally not able to handle it. Good nerves are a genetic thing. Yes, some people do try to train or practice some of these exercises but the judge can tell if the dog is temperamentally handling the stress well. All these dogs are over 18 months, many of them much older. Almost all were show dogs so had been exposed to many different scenarios in their life just by living the life of a show dog, going to classes and different events. It is not anything against dogs to fail this test, it is help you understand your dogs temperament so you can train accordingly.

This is an old mine that is in the forest near me and has been covered with expanded metal to prevent wildlife from falling into the shaft. It's heavy duty enough to hold the weight of a cow. When we came across it, I leashed up my dog because I wanted to check it for safety but while I was standing at the edge studying it, she just took off on her own, dragging me behind. This is what a genetically brave curious dog is like. She paid no attention to the sharp-ish metal surface, nor the fact that it was almost 20 feet down to a pool of water under her feet. She was about 1 year, 4 months old at the time.

 

[MichiH]

Asha and I did the much-discussed Working Abilities Evaluation on Wednesday - the day before a Doberman Specialty show on Thursday & a 4 day (Fri - Mon) Cluster show all weekend. We've never been to a show that big, but the WAE was held on Wed before most people arrived, due to the gunfire. I believe there were about 18 - 20 dogs entered. Not sure how many passed, but quite a few from what I could see. I have to say that almost all the ones I saw were pretty stable, none that I know of were strictly working lines, but only call names were on the list, so I really don't know. Most were very friendly to the strangers, where as Asha dismissed them (but wasn't rude! Yay!) and most startled & recovered quickly from the gunshot. I love how when Asha startled she turned to face the direction it came from. I think all would have passed except for the bad guy scene, but still as a whole, most stood their ground, 2 or 3 noticeably backed up to their handler and didn't want to face the boogie man, and only a few hit the end of the leash barking aggressively. Asha was one of those. Someone videoed for me, I'm so grateful for that so I can share! Eric Peterson was the evaluator, and he was great. I think very fair, kind to the handlers and said what I've been trying to say in these discussions, but never found the right words. He said "This is called a Pass or Fail test, but there are no dogs that fail. This is not a test, it's exercises to help you learn more about your dog."

Our scoresheet:

View attachment 140241

The video cut off before the last exercise in which Mr. Peterson walks with handler & dog discussing your test and then reaches out and touches the dog to make sure it has no lingering aggressive attitude after the bad guy episode. He told me that when Asha froze to watch the man moving that she was 100% waiting for him to move on or be a threat and as soon as he turned toward us she went off.

I'm happy to discuss any thoughts or questions about the video!

There’s one in New Jersey this coming September. I’m really interested in seeing if I can have Pepper do it. Thanks for always posting what you and Asha do! I’ve learned so much and you two inspire us

I just signed up and sent an email over.

 

[Aaron56]

This is an old mine that is in the forest near me and has been covered with expanded metal to prevent wildlife from falling into the shaft. It's heavy duty enough to hold the weight of a cow. When we came across it, I leashed up my dog because I wanted to check it for safety but while I was standing at the edge studying it, she just took off on her own, dragging me behind. This is what a genetically brave curious dog is like. She paid no attention to the sharp-ish metal surface, nor the fact that it was almost 20 feet down to a pool of water under her feet. She was about 1 year, 4 months old at the time.

View attachment 153689View attachment 153690

Not all Dobermans are going to be as 'accepting' to that particular surface.

They are still Dobermans 'genetically' but...

Does not work that way every single time regardless of the parents or the breeding. Their is NO 'guarantee' that any pups will have this or that characteristic just because the parents had it...

 

[JanS]

@Ravenbird are they allowed to pee during the test? I know I saw one dog lift his leg during the test at the UDC nationals and I think he qualified. In the FDC, if they pee, they're out.