Форум » Working with smooths » Smoothie's status as a working dog? » Ответить
Smoothie's status as a working dog?
Godiva: I would like to ask you one thing I have wondered for many times: What kind of status as a working dog (or sport dog) does Smooth Collie have in your country? Is it as respected as any other breed or are there prejudices or even underestimating? As soon as I have enough time, I am going to write my own thoughts.
Ответов - 5
Glenmorangie: Hi, Shortly, in France, many working competitions are organised in each discipline (herding, racing, coursing, hunting, defense.....) from the lowest level to the highest. The dogs who do the best result that day win the CACT (Working Certificate, the working equivalent to the "beauty" CAC) if this is a National competition or CACIT if this is an International competition. The dogs get their Licence, and after having won a certain number of CACT and/or CACIT they become French Working Champions or International Working Champions. A licenced dog can enter in Working Class in "beauty" shows and compete for the CAC with Intermediate and Open Classes (and with the Champion Class for the CACIB). Sorry, I am not an expert in this kind of competition so I can not explain you in details. I just know it is very hard to become a Working Champion. From its country of origin (Great Britain) the Smooth Collie is not officially a Working Breed (unlike the Border Collie) but nothing, fortunately, prevents him to work officially if he shows mental capabilities for any discipline. Herding, of course, and also all others where Shepherd dogs and Utility dogs have their entries. Hopefully having answered your question, Best regards, Françoise
Alertness: In my country there are so few smooths that only rarely are they seen in any sort of working competition be it obedience, agility or field work. So most people don't really have an opinion whether the smooth collie is a good working dog or not. But most people would not think about buying one as a working dog, they would rather choose a "safe" breed like a Border collie or a German shepherd. Especially since the rough collie generally does not have a good reputation as a working dog, most probably think the smooth collie is slow and reluctant too. But as the smooth collie gets more known, we might see more of them at competitions as well, and hopefully they'll show everyone that they can be worked Berit
Lisa: Here in Austria as well are so few Smooth Collies that they are hardly seen in sports or anywhere else... Those dogs that I know that are "working" are mostly used as therapy or assistance/guide dogs for blind or handycapped people. These living as family dogs (like Skip) might do some Agility, Obedience, Herding, Dogdance etc... Defense is not done with smooths in Austria as far as I know but three might be some trained in tracking or rescue.
Sanna: In Sweden, the smooths are considered a working breed and sorted under the Swedish Working Dog Association (SBK), along with breeds like the german shepard, boxer, hovawart, Belgian shepard dogs, dobermann, rottweiler, aussies, kelpies, Australian cattle dogs etc. and all these breeds are more or less frequently seen on working trials, as is also smooth Collies. All breeds in this group needs working merits of some levels even to gain a show champion title, or a mental test title - or a certificate of being an approved service dog of the Swedish military force. The Collie has been regarded a working breed as far back as I know, and some working titles have been awarded Collies as far back as the 60s. Although far from all of us training and competing in working trials with their collies gains a working champion title, a lot of dogs have respectable working merits from higher levels mainly in the fields of tracking and searching. As far as I know no collie is/has ever been a defence dog although this is also a field of the working dog trials. The number of competitors on working trials have increased ower the years and some smooth have also gained working champion titles and this has ment a lot to the breed - presenting it as a reliable and versatile working breed, and more results have been noticed. The interest from people who prefer a working breed who loves to work, is very attentive, alert and still not extreme in any way have shown great appreciation of the smooths. A lot of smooth collie owners also compete in obedience and some also in agility. The situation is similar in Finland, with working trials, obediance and agility, a lot of owners of smooth collies like to keep their dogs active with some kind of work. Finland requests an approved mental test for champion show title approval, end even though this mental test differs in many ways from the Swedish, it is a criteria for a show title whilst working merits are not. I'm sure someone in here knows a lot more about the Finnish working trials than I do :) Regards, Sanna
acting smooth: In Finland a collie needs really passed mental test to become an show champion. Mental test can be compensated by an working title. Finnish working test rules follow swedish ones, exept we don't have the possibility to do any military service tests. But collies (roughs and smooths) have the permission to compete in searching, tracking, messenger running and even IPO. No smooths has ever passed or even tried IPO test mut some roughs has done that too, though that was years ago. In year 2008 there was about 20 smooths to take part to some type of working test. Smooth collie is here quite a popular agility dog. Around 50 smooths has reached some result in some level 2008, 20 of them in class 3. Also there must be a handfull more those who have only done some failed rounds. In obedience we saw 60 smooths last year.
полная версия страницы