When I begun training my wolfdog (Amber Wolf z Peronówki) I didn't think of achieving anything. I didn't even think that sports training will absorb us so much that it will become an everyday activity. I only wanted to train SOMETHING with Amber. I wanted it to make us learn more about each other, teach us both respect each other and strengthen proper relationship between us. It turned out that we achieved much more than that!
Wolfdogs training is developing in Poland. There are a few who are very well trained and amenable, but they make a small percent unfortunately! Wolfdogs' owners are often discouraged by the difficulties in training thinking that they have no chances to win with dogs which are more willing to work and with German or Belgian shepherds which train in all circumstances. But this is not necessarily true!
It is always worth training our dogs. No matter how much we achieve we will always win. Training means having a lot of fun and spending time in a useful way. Our contact with the dog is better and our control over him much stronger. It is also worth thinking about sports training. Taking part in various competitions we are able to objectively asses our dog's progress.
One of dog sports Amber and I do is Obedience.
I would like to tell you about the previous competition in which we achieved a lot and which confirmed that what we do is certainly worth.

The National Competition in Obedience took place in Ryczywól near Poznan on Children's Day. This is why the atmosphere was special. There were plenty of children, huge audience, several rounds of applause and children's joy. This day begun very early for us because we were one of the organizers and had to be there long before the competition started.
Amber was a little distracted as always when he is in a new place. There were so many new dogs and new smells!
We were supposed to run in class 1so we had to wait a couple of hours. We went for a short walk and I put Amber to a car so that he is not nervous and so that he doesn't see me being nervous...
The dogs running in class 0 were very well prepared. Most of them got a perfect grade, but two dogs were attracted by others outside the ring and were not graded.
It was almost noon, so it was time for us! I took Amber for a short walk. We had a few exercises and waited. The class 1 competition begun on time. We were second in line so we didn't have to wait long.
A German shepherd from Warsaw was before us. While it was on the ring I tried to attract Amber's attention on a preparation ring and made him exercise a little bit. I also watched the German shepherd. It was perfect! It did everything as it should be done. I was impressed, but also afraid that after such performance we might screw everything up. As it turned out later, the dog which ran first was also the first on podium.

After a while number 2 was called, it was time for us! After the first exercise I felt it was going to be all right. Amber wouldn't even turn a hair when I told him to stay from behind a screen. Everything went very good: walking next to me, jumping over an obstacle, retrieving, changing position and smell retrieving (I give it to him in a random order). We got almost maximum points for everything. The thing we got the least points for was telling Amber to go to a certain place (to a square). Amber stopped at one point as if he wanted to ask me whether I was going to throw a ball... and then he went where he was supposed to go:D We didn't loose too many points because I didn't give too many commands.

We were very happy when we could get off the ring. I was happy that we made it, Amber was happy that he was free at last.
There were some more German and Belgian shepherds in class 1. I knew we were good, but I didn't expect such thing! Amber turned out to be the second best dog in class 1 and got 194 out of 200 points. He got the second place!!! This time he was better than German and Belgian shepherds. He was simply SUPER! I was amazed by his self-control on the ring and the precision with which he made all tasks.
After class 1 there was one dog in class 2 and then we were completely free. Amber recovered from stress in the afternoon swimming in a pond and playing with some she dogs. We, the owners, also relaxed talking about the competition by the fire.

I gave Amber a few days off after the competition and now we train again... I realize that it may not always be so well, but I know that there is a chance that a wolfdog can be compared with the best!

Ela