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!
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!
She doesn't forget!!
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.
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.
