Dibley
Bartland's Victor of Dibley CDX TDX DD RAE AGXV AGXJV W.A.C NRD VX Am. CD RE CGC
Sire: Am CH Valmar’s Sage V. Wustenwind NSD, NRD, V (Sage)
Dam: Am/Can CH Bartland’s Pic-A-Star (Sassy)
Dibley is proudly owned, trained and handled by Amalie Bush of Victoria BC. He has had a long and occasionally successful Obedience career, and was ranked amongst the Top 5 Obedience Weimaraners in Canada (as published by Dogs in Canada) for three years in a row (2002-2004), placing as high as #2 in 2004! Dibley earned his CDX in 2002, and trialed in Utility for 6 years before his retirement from Obedience in 2008. Unfortunately he never did earn any official passes in Utility; his one and only pass came from a Sanctioned Match in 2007 where he qualified with a 193 and High in Match. Dibley also retired with 2 legs towards his Am. CDX.
Dibley has also been active in Tracking, earning his TD in 2004 and TDX in 2005, and is currently working on Urban tracking and possibly some American Tracking titles as well.
In 2005 Dibley did a fine job in showing off his calm and steady nature when he earned his Draft Dog (DD) title. Draft Dog or Carting tests are open to all large breeds of dogs in Canada, but are most typically attended by Newfoundlands and Bernese Mountain Dogs.
In 2007 in conjunction with the WAC National Specialty in Surrey BC, Dibley earned his Novice Retrieving Dog (NRD) title at the Retrieving Ratings test. This title gave Dibley enough points to qualify for the Weimaraner Association of Canada’s Versatility “V” rating.
Amalie and Dibley have been very active in Rally Obedience on both sides of the border, earning his American Rally Excellent (RE) title in 2006, and in Canada Dibley finished his Rally Advanced Excellent title (RAE) in early 2009. The RAE title comes after the completion of the RE title, and is gained by qualifying in both the Advanced and Excellent classes at the same trial, 10 times. Dibley completed the title over 3 weekends and earned 5 perfect scores and numerous High In Class awards. Dibley will continue to compete in Rally on occasion in Canada and the States. He currently has 3 of the 10 legs towards his American RAE.
Now over 10 years old, Dibley has taken up Agility! Look for him at selected CKC and AAC Agility Trials on Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland.
In his spare time, Dibley can be found helping Amalie teach classes with the Greater Victoria Dog Obedience Training Club, or at work as the store dog at A Stable Way Of Life at Matticks Farm. He can be located snoring behind the counter, possibly under a blanket!
The Famous Sardine Story ... read it here...
The Famous Sardine Story
The famed sardine story dates back to the Victoria City Kennel Club's annual show and obedience trials in August 2003, where I had Dibley entered in two obedience classes each day, Open B and Utility. After his lack-luster performance in the first class of the weekend, Utility, I decided Sir Dibley needed some new inspiration before his second class, Open B. Knowing how excited Dibley gets before his meals at home, I decided to try introducing a "jackpot" reward for when he completed the exercises in his class. Since Dibley's favorite food is sardines, I decided that perhaps an easily portable can of sardines might just be a suitable form of inspiration to improve his efforts in the ring!
So, just before we were about the go in the ring, I opened the can of sardines and left them waiting in Dibley's crate for when we finished. Well, did that ever get his attention! He was very much "inspired" as he performed all the exercises, albeit with one eye in the direction of his kennel the entire time! Unfortunately during the group sits and downs Dibley decided that sitting was not on his agenda for the afternoon, and lying down was a much better option. So we did not qualify in that class. (Too bad because we would have had the highest score in the class!) However, I figured tomorrow is another day, and I seemed to have finally found the secret to perking up my dog!
Sunday dawns. Another day full of hope, and the possibility of earning a qualifying score in our first class, Utility. After our usual pre-trial warm ups of healing and a bit of play with his leather glove, I bring out my new secret weapon, the magic can of sardines. I see Dibley's eyes widen as I open the can and lock it in his crate for safe-keeping until we return. Next we enter the ring for our turn in Utility.
The first exercise is the Seek Back, where I drop a leather glove during the healing pattern, then send Dibley to fetch it. The judge asks me to send my dog. "Dibley take it!" I say. Sitting beside me, he momentarily looks back towards his crate housing the sardines, then decides to go fetch the glove. As he brings it back I can tell he's still eying his "jackpot", but thankfully he completes the exercise. Alright, one exercise down, 4 to go!
Next comes the Scent Discrimination exercise, where Dibley has to select either a metal, wood or leather article that I have scented (by only holding it in my hands) which is then placed randomly amongst other metal, leather and wooden articles that are unscented. I take my article and hold it for several seconds, then give it to the judge to place with the unscented articles. The judge asks me to send my dog. "Dibley find it!" I say. As I turn to send him (we stand with our backs towards the articles), I see Dibley take one brief glance at the articles, then look strait at the ring gate and his path to freedom and sardines. He charges out of the ring, past the ring stewards and spectators to the far end of the building where his crate is. As you can imagine, this has caused quite a stir, especially since an Irish Setter had also made a break for it earlier in the day, ending up outside in the parking lot! So now there are several people in hot pursuit of my run-away dog! Of course I know exactly where he's going, and decide that it would be pointless to try calling him until he has reached the crate and has realized he can't get the sardines anyway (thank god I closed his crate!). So I calmly wait there in the ring. The judge, seeing my lack of concern, says "I think you'd better call your dog". So once Dibley's realized he can't get at the sardines I calmly call him from across the building. He comes, feeling somewhat defeated I'm sure, sits perfectly beside me, and I send him to find the article again. All I remember thinking at this point is how mad I'm going to be if that little bugger passes all the other exercises! Almost thankfully, he didn't (can't quite remember what happened though!)
Now, you may be surprised to know that I do still give Dibley sardines at trials, even after all that! What I did learn from this experience is not to open the can before we go in the ring!
The funniest part about this story for me came a year later at another trial. I was discussing training methods with other handlers while we were out of sight during the 3 minute long sit in Open B. I mentioned that I had started using jackpots as rewards after we come out of the ring, and that my dog's jackpot is a can of sardines. Another handler, whom I had never met before, remarked that they had recently heard a story about a dog that got sardines as it's reward.... So our story had made it around the other local training clubs, coming full circle back to me!
-Amalie
Bartland Registered Weimaraners