Ok, you've made up your mind that you are going to train for showing in conformation. This will be a lengthy process which may, at times, have you
wanting to pull your hair out. The best thing to remember while training is your dane wants and enjoys working for you and will most certainly enjoy
the praise you give as they progress. The training periods should be short (15-20 minutes) and well organized in advance. Decide which exercise you
want to train for during each period of time before you begin the session.
One of the largest training errors is some people don't make it a fun/happy time for the dog and the results are methodical, ho-hum, bored-to-tears
show dogs. If you are in a bad mood, DON'T train!
- You must be consistent with the terminology for the given command and desired response. Take great care that you are making it clear to your dane which exercise they are being rewarded for.
- Break the whole training thing into tiny, understandable segments. Every exercise has a word (just like down ,stay, come) and a reward.
- A mirror is a must to allow you to see what you're doing, 24 x 32 inch size attached to a piece of plywood works very well.
Probably the easiest first thing to teach is the stand. When placing the front legs under the body, order your command such as; 'place'. Then cradling the muzzle/under jaw in your hand, command; 'foot back' then placing the back feet backward. Foot back becomes useful in the future so don't forget it. The feet don't have to be way back at first, just comfortably so. Next, order command; to 'stay' or 'stand stay'. You may increase the time to stand/stay as your dane become more comfortable in this position. Next, order command 'okay' and release your dog, jump around, give it food, act crazy and generally have fun. Eventually you can stop verbalizing the 'place' and 'foot back'. Your dog will know from the word stand what you expect. Many have tried all sorts of props for proper paw and leg placement, it really isn't necessary.
For this exercise, you might wish to use the command 'reach'. One problem I see that people do with the reach is they create a lean which is not good as it slopes the top line and straightens out the stifle. This is where that mirror comes in handy. To teach the reach, Place your left hand on the pup's chest to keep them from leaning. Order your command "reach", holding the dog with your right hand with the liver (one of the best bait) slightly in front of the nose, straight away from the body. Each time, increase the reach distance. When they reach for it this should elongate their neck from their body without them leaning. Eventually you should be able to say reach and the pup will crane it's neck away from it's body and your left hand will be able to hold the collar with very little pressure plus you will be able to manipulate the amount of arch and lean you wish to put in the finished stack. When the stand/stay is learned you can hold the collar and circle your dog. Then graduate to dropping the lead and do jumping jacks, clapping, noises etc., as you circle your dog. Always go to the front/side of the head and release with a command of 'okay'! Dance around, give bait, make it FUN!!!
From the stack we go on to movement. Let me preface this with the biggest error others make. They are always walking their pups on wide, buckle type
collars, often attached to Flexi leads. Doing this sometimes is okay but by and large this teaches the puppies to lean into the collars, pulling
you along thus throwing off their balance and creating situational bulldog (wide, unbalanced) movement. I suggest starting wee little pups on appropriate
ring wear such as thin/thick nylon collars. I think it is important to start young pups off learning to walk in all situations with the thin collar
high around the neck just below the cheeks/behind the ears like when showing. This way they don't suddenly rebel when one day you say ,"Oh, you're
six months old, wear the collar this way". Next I teach the heel position with the command word 'easy' (just in case you want to
do the a real heel in obedience in the future). When you are beginning to teach 'easy/heel' you should start out at a walk then
proceed to faster speeds. I teach the command 'trot' to differentiate speed (walk, trot, pace, gallop). I say 'easy, trot'. The
dog is not pulling at my side while trotting. The proper down and back position is the dog's shoulder or ribs should be at your leg with the head
straight. Sometimes, with pups six months and older to adult, if they have a really bad habit of leaning/pulling into the collar I use a mini-size
pinch collar placed mid-neck to upper neck. With the pinch I am able to teach them to walk easy without pulling/gagging on the show collar. This
way you don't have to teach the dog that the show collar means an unpleasant experience because you don't strangle them to death trying to teach
the proper easy position.
Spend as many days as necessary to teach the easy/heel position with the pinch collar. Then, put the show lead on along with the pinch collar, something
like a double reign. Then I work the pinch while the show collar is in place around the upper neck. I will gradually lower and raise, as needed,
with the pinch collar until eventually all that is being used to 'easy' the dog is the show collar. While you will find the mini-pinch collar indispensable
in training certain concepts in conformation, do NOT abuse this valuable tool. Use it properly. Above all else, remember, break with FUN, FUN, FUN!
In preparation for teaching your pup to move like a show dog with ears up and neck arched, once you have the pup lead trained, I occasionally command 'watch it' and toss bait to the ground in front of the pup. Generally speaking, at first, you have to literally point it out to them, touching the ground and repeating watch it as they try to discover the bait. You can even pick it up, keeping it close to the ground and re-toss it in front of them so they see it land. At first it helps to throw it at pup level so the pup sees it pass his face/head and fall to the ground. I allow them to pick it up and eat it but you DON'T want the pup to get into the habit of following your hand throwing the bait as this creates the dog moving with it's head wrapped around your leg watching for your hand movement tossing the bait.
Now we need to teach the pup 'head straight'. Once it understands what 'watch it' means and looks at the ground for a treat you will want to start tossing the bait secretly so the dog actually thinks the bait is just appearing before it on the ground. I will cover this later in another training tip called moving with ears up. After a while, you can command 'watch it' and the pup will arch it's neck and begin looking at the ground in front of it. Later we will transition this to gaiting with this look of ears up, neck arched.
Down and back :: head
straight 
Make a long, imaginary down and back line for yourself. Usually with the mini pinch mid-neck to low neck to reinforce position if need be, and the
show collar up high under the cheeks/behind the ears and held together in your left hand like a double rein (it takes practice), First, walk the
imaginary line very slowly. When the pup turns its head to look at you, command firmly 'head straight'. Reach over in a pivot and
with your right hand, palm open, (this is the signal) guide/push the side of the dog's cheek/muzzle area to look straight ahead. When the dog focuses
straight ahead and stops resisting, command 'Good!'. Give the firm command and signal again and continue down the line. Occasionally,
you might want/need to command 'good, head straight' when the dog is looking straight. Remember, be happy and positive but give the command in a
firm voice. Every time the pup turns it's head towards you, stop and repeat the above step. It's slow going at first but be patient. It may take
many different sessions. Each time you get to the end of the line release the pup from the exercise with 'okay, yea', jump around,
be happy and act proud. The dog will be overjoyed with itself. Remember they only want to please you.
Eventually, when your pup understands you want them to look straight, you will be able to speed up the pace until you can trot. Even at the trot
you may have to stop occasionally and reinforce the command. Signal when the dog focuses forward and start at the trot again. With very stubborn
dogs I will actually do the same hand signal but I will also use my thumb to push/bend gently the right side of the nose towards the left/off center.
This will guide the head straight with more force. Guide the dog farther than just looking straight ... over correct to the left of center. The dog
really needs to understand that you want him to look away from you when you command 'head straight'. This will eventually normalize
to just looking straight. Once your pup understands the exercise you will be able to stop pivoting your body and making contact with the head. You
will be able to just show the open palm from a normal standing/moving position and command 'head straight'. Remember, when you are in the ring (
i.e. when making the about turn to come back to the judge on the down and back) show your open hand and command 'head straight'.
You will see it click in and the dog will say with it's eyes "Oh, look straight!" and purposely your dog will look straight.
While the above information certainly isn't all there is to showing in conformation, this should get you and your pup prepared. You will learn a lot with your first time at a show. Also remember, if you're nervous in the ring, your dog will be too !
Be sure and take a look at our general conformation showing information page here
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