The best BH obedience I've ever seen was Claudia Romard with Clip, but the video is no longer available. This is also fabulous:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PXb3n1N2Eg (the one thing I would have done differently is stand straight, his dog is well bred and impeccably trained so he *will* be there heeling, the handler can look forward with confidence)
Here is my explanation of the BH. There's a lot of sites that list the exercises and rules but I found most of them lacked the specific instructions on when the judge will cue, when to remove or reattach the leash, how to get from one exercise to the next, etc. so I've just written it up as I know it.
The equipment you will need is a Fursaver collar, a "trial leash" (most people use a 4' leather lead with a ring in the handle), a scorebook for your dog, permanent ID for the dog (ear tattoo or microchip, if the latter you need to bring your own scanner), and whatever other paperwork the org you trial under requires.
A few general rules:
- If you wait for the judge to cue the next
exercise and he does not respond, count three seconds and go. Often the
judges will nod or raise their arm to cue you but if not, just count a
few seconds and go on. You can also ask the judge beforehand if he would like for you to always wait.
- The leash attaches to the dead ring on the Fursaver.
- You hold the leash in your left hand and your movement should be free (no hand cues or holding your hand to your stomach like in AKC). My friend does this great march where she looks straight ahead (not at the dog) with her chest out and her arms swinging like she doesn't care what the dog is doing because she knows he dang well better be there heeling!
- If you use a training vest, you can usually wear it for a BH and/or club level trial.
- When you stop your dog must sit, the only sit command you give is the sit out of motion, and getting your dog up from the long down.
- You can do about turns around your back or military/flip style, you just have to pick one and use it the entire way through.
- Same for finishes, you can do flip or around the back but must use the same one (actually in the BH there is only one finish). Your finish can be different from your turn though (ie, you can go around the back for the about turn, but use a flip finish).
For the BH, part of the routine is on lead. First you "report in" to the judge with the other competitor. Your dog loose leash heels towards the judge, alongside the other team. You both stop a few feet from the judge. Anytime you stop your dog must automatically sit in "basic" position (on your left). Each handler will shake the judge's hand, give their name, the name of the dog, and state they are reporting in for the BH. The judge will ask or instruct who is heeling first and who is doing the long down.
The judge may check the tat/chip at this point and/or do some sort of temperament test. Our judge on Sunday had us each heel figure 8s around two people. They did not need to do competition heel, he was just checking their body language and making sure they weren't man eaters.
If you are doing the long down, heel over to the designated spot and stop (your dog should sit). Remove the leash and either put it completely away in your pocket, or connect the snap to the handle around your waist or chest, with the snap on your right side. When the judge cues, command your dog to down and then walk to the designated handler spot where you will stand facing away from your dog with your hands at your sides. If you heel first, heel away from the judge to the designated start position and stop (your dog should sit). During the down your dog should remain as still as possible and focused on you. Some dogs will relax onto their side and/or sniff or eat grass. This is not going to fail you and some judges won't care but ideally the dog stays in a "Sphinx" down position and watches your back. When the person heeling has completed the finish after the recall, the judge will cue you to return to your dog. Then command your dog to sit (it should stay down until you command), reattach your leash, and then either heel toward the judge if you are done, or heel to the start position if you still need to heel.
For the heeling pattern I do everything in sets of 12 or 20, so I for heeling out I go about 48 paces (40-50 is norm), then do the about turn, then 12 paces normal, 12 paces fast, 12 paces slow, and 12 paces normal again. You command the dog to heel each time you change paces. Then you do a right turn and go about 20 paces, another right turn and 20 more paces, and about turn and heel halfway back (10-12 paces) and stop. The dog sits automatically. When the judge cues, command the dog to heel again and perform a left turn toward the group. Heel into the group and do a right and left turn around someone (I usually do a figure 8 diagonally), then stop next to someone so the dog automatically sits. Some people stop in the middle but some judges like you to stop next to a person (especially later on for SchH1-3). Heel out of the group, stop (dog sits), remove the leash and put it in your pocket or around you as described above and wait for the judge. Now you repeat what you've already done but off leash. Heel back into the group, do another right and left around different people, then stop near someone so the dog sits. Heel out of the group to the start position. At the judge's cue, move forward and to the same pattern as before except when you are finished, make the left turn and heel back to the start position (since you've already repeated the group off leash).
Now you do the out of motion. At the judge's cue, heel 10-15 steps (again I go with 12) and command the dog to sit. Continue walking 30 steps, turn and face the dog. Wait for the judge's cue (or 3 seconds) and return to your dog. Now for the second one, you can either keep going from there or you have to heel back to the start. This is good to ask the judge beforehand. Generally if you are on a large field and/or doing a UScA trial, you heel out from the same spot as the sit. I did this on Sat. because the field was plenty long but was halted by the judge and asked to heel back to the start position. So from whatever position, heel 10-15 steps and command the dog to down. Continue walking 30 steps, turn and face the dog. Wait for the judge's cue or 3 seconds, then call the dog. The dog should come fast and sit in front. Wait for the judge's cue or 3 seconds and command the dog to heel (same command as heeling and pace changes). The dog can do a "flip" finish or go around your back to sit in basic position. Wait 3 seconds and re-attach your leash. If you were the second to heel then loose leash heel back to the judge to report out. If you were first, then loose leash heel over to the long down position once the judge cues (after your finish he would have instructed the person on the down to return to their dog, then command the dog to sit, then reattach the leash).
You report out like reporting in, heel with the other team to the judge, stop (dog's sit), and shake hands. The judge will probably have you stand with your dog sitting and give the critique and score. The max. score for this part is 60 and you need 42 to pass. This is (or should be) a temperament test more than obedience, so a dog that shows drive, confidence and enthusiasm is what they are looking for. For example, most judges would rather see a dog come slamming into the handler during the recall than a dog that trots to the handler and slowly sits in the perfect front position.
The second half of the BH is the "traffic" test. Judges kind of do whatever they want, but here's a list of things that we've trained or had to perform in trial:
- walk into a circle of people and have your dog sit or down, step out of the circle, the people move in and crowd your dog then move back and you retrieve your dog
- tie all the dogs to a tree (or one at a time), the handler hides out of sight, someone else heels their dog past the restrained dog
- heel the dogs in a line very close and do some basic obedience (stop and sit, about turn) as a group
- heel your dog while a jogger, biker (often with a bell on the bike), or honking vehicle pass by very close
For the traffic test, your dog does not have to be doing competition heel, it is more CGC style. The dog must show that it is relaxed and not aggressive to the other dogs or people. When I back tie Nikon and go out of sight he usually barks and pulls for me but that's OK, the dogs are supposed to be attached to their handlers. He passes as long as he is not redirecting aggression to the dog or person walking past. He does a good down-stay so if I can, I tell him to down when I leave him back tied or put him in the middle of the crowd.
The most difficult thing for me about the BH is looking forward and basically ignoring my dog. In training we never EVER heel for 7 minutes straight, lol. And even if we do one rep of the pattern without any toy reward, I am still encouraging him, praising him, patting his side. It's harder for me to fade the verbal reward than the toy reward.