Competitive obedience publicly showcases the training you and your dog have achieved through a set of obedience tests. General training classes will teach you the basics and then if you decide you want to progress in this discipline your dog could even end up doing such advanced exercises as scent discrimination.
There are seven levels of obedience classes at shows and dogs start in the basic introductory class. By gaining points or a series of 1st prizes, dogs qualify through to Championship C class, the highest and most difficult. Exercises range from heelwork (on and off the lead), to a scent discrimination exercise. There are numerous obedience shows held in the UK.
Training your Hovie should always be fun, they are a very slow maturing breed so this needs to be taken into consideration especially when finding a suitable trainer. They are very different to a collie, they are sensitive and work best with reward based training you just need to find what they are motivated by. In some cases this may be food but some prefer a toy.
The Kennel Club has a page dedicated to starting out in Obedience, here you can find an instructor/club and it details what you need to know to take part. Click the link to find out more New to obedience? | Events and Activities | The Kennel Club
Maggie and Tia's story
My first Hovawart was the beautiful Tia, Pines Tobacco Bay, a black and gold bitch. She was an amazing girl, a real joy to live with and fun to train.
I decided I wanted to train her to do competitive Obedience which was such a journey. The sport was dominated by Border collies and German shepherds and most people hadn’t heard of a Hovawart let alone seen one. At every competition the first hurdle I came across was having to explain what she was, where they come from and most importantly could they do Obedience, are they capable?
She taught me and my trainers so much. Hovawarts are not a breed who are happy to repeat any exercise again and again, unlike a Border collie. If they do it right, stop there.
So off we went to obedience classes and private lessons to teach us each level of obedience. Fellow competitors got to know her and cheered us on every step of the way, she soon got herself known around the obedience rings with her funny thinking and the tricks she got up to.
It was usual for there to be 60 in the class, with mostly Collies and a few GSDs and then a couple of other breeds. Tia would win her class one week and the next week she would just have fun with me.
Doing silly things, like throwing her dumbbell in the air or spoting someone eating something on the outside of the ring and instead of doing a straight recall she would run to them asking for whatever they were eating! This caused many of funny moments and made a lot of people to really laugh, which she enjoyed and really played to the crowd. It made me realise not to be so serious and to get a sense of humour!
We always trained with positivity and rewards. Success didn’t come quickly due to lots of things really, we were learning about ourselves, our trainers were learning about us and the needs of a Hovawart. It took us about 8 years doing obedience to progress from pre beginners to Class C. We travelled many miles, making lots of good friends and making the Hovawart known to people.
Unfortunately, she got arthritis in a shoulder which became very painful, and it was too much for her to continue. So, she was retired and then did whatever she wanted to do but continued to make me laugh every day. Of course, I got another Hovawart to continue, as I found I couldn’t get a collie my heart wasn’t into collies, it had been stolen by the Hovawart and it has been the same ever since.
