This
is Disco - Rysalka moon disco,
who was born in February 2002 and is a brown Portuguese water dog
bit different from my collies, the aim
with this dog was to have a fun time and use her to develop my methods
of training to help the people I teach with other breeds.
I must admit to being a bit worried "Was I
going to be able to teach to the standard I wanted"??
"Were the methods that I have used to teach
competition obedience going to work on this other breed"?
In the
short time that I have had her she has amazed me with her ability to
learn. This is the first dog that I have used more of
the clicker training methods
, which has been
interesting as well. She certainly requires a different approach,
needing a lot of motivation but anyone that knows me is aware that
people call me "Mr Motivator"
as I always seem to be on the go!!
2003 saw Disco firstly qualify for breed at Crufts which was a nice
start of her year. Then i plucked up courage to enter her for her first
obedience shows in Novice. Out of the two shows she competed at she came
first and second which being as the classes
are
dominated by Border Collies was particularly pleasing.
2005
saw her perform LIVE!! on Blue peter to
promote Crufts and also she entered her first canine freestyle competition performing to Make em
laugh a clown routine which suited her well!! amongst hot competition she
scored 27.73 WINNING the novice class. This made her the first
Portuguese water dog to win in canine freestyle and following that win she
performed it again in the special events ring at crufts 2005 which
proved popular.
June 2005 saw Disco win
her second novice class in obedience at our first obedience show of the year
and then she WON Intermediate canine freestyle at Paws n Music show making her the only Portuguese
water dog to be Advanced only!
In February 2006 Disco competed in the canine freestyle qualifying class for
Crufts at Coventry. Performing a routine to Combine Harvester by the Wurzels
she got her place to work in the finals at Crufts. For Crufts it was decided
to revert back to her clown routine with a different start. Disco did her
best considering the distractions around the ring and surprisingly won!!
This made her the first PWD to win at such a high level and proved that you
don't need a collie to win.
Disco is also a essential member of the K9 freestyle dog
display team and can
be relied upon to provide crowd entertainment with her different haircut and
mad personality she is always very popular with the audience.
