I have an American Bulldog that is 13 months old. Beside basic obedience, how do I begin to train him for competetions such as agility, protection, etc?
I have an American Bulldog that is 13 months old. Beside basic obedience, how do I begin to train him for competetions such as agility, protection, etc?
American Bulldogs are not AKC or UKC recognized. They are registered through their own breed club. That is where you will have to go to show him. There are agility clubs where you can train and compete. Weight pulling is another sport that american bulldogs excel in. For training your best bet is to find a club that specializes in the sport you wish to compete in.
There are different competitions. There’s breed competition, which is how well the dog conforms to the breed standard. There’s various levels of obedience, and if you write the American Kennel Club you can get a listing of the different ratings (like CDX, etc) and what your dog is expected to do, and agility is another thing altogether.
Agility only really works if the dog enjoys that kind of thing. Breed standard will work if the dog conforms pretty closely to the standard. If he’s reasonably trainable (food-oriented or attention-oriented) then you can do obedience.
Good luck!
American Bulldogs ARE recognized by the UKC, NKC, and the ABA. The WABA (Working American Bulldog Association) is the organization in which we choose to compete. There are several titles available such as the AD (Endurance, and Stamina), OB1 (Obnedience Test), BST1 & BST2 (Breed Suitability Tests), WST1 & WST2 (Working Suitability Test) and the TE (Temperment Evaluation). Only the OB1, AD, and TE (I think) don’t require protection abilities. Our local training club informed us that b/c American Bulldogs are not recognized by the AKC, they cannot compete in any of their obedience trials. The UKC on the other hand will let American Bulldogs compete if they are registered with the club. If your dog is not registered with the UKC, all you have to do is send the an application along with a copy of your dogs current registration papers and a side shot of the dog and they will send you your spankin’ new UKC registration papers! The UKC offers Obedience Novice, Obedience Open, and Obedience Utility titles in competition obedience. If you go to either the WABA or UKC website they will walk you through each routine and just practice practice practice. If you get stuck you may have to go to somone for help figuring out how to execute a certain command, but it is frustrating at first, and rewarding for later! When we take our dogs to the park and they are the best behaved, people say “they listen better than our kids!” or “do you do husbands too?” Good luck in your trialing!
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I don’t believe that American Bulldogs are recognized by the AKC…However, thery are recongized by the UKC (United Kennel Club). By visiting the UKC website http://www.ukcdogs.com you can find a local obedience club or you can even post on their message board.
What you will need to do is find an obedience training club. You can check the AKC website to find a local obedience club. AKC training clubs do welcome non-AKC breeds and mixbreeds in their training programs, including their competition programs.
What you don’t want to do is go to a PetSmart or PetCo. You need someone who has competed in competitive obedience, have trained their dogs to advanced titites, know the rules.
For agility, there are many venues to compete that welcome all breeds and mixbreeds. NADAC, USDAA, CPE just to name a few. Visit the CleanRun website http://www.cleanrun.com to find a local agility training class. You want to be more careful with who you find to train agility. You want to find someone who has competed with many different breeds, in different venues.
Many people who do obedience also do agility, so once you get involved in one sport, usually someone can recommend an agility trainer. BTW, you will want to take a basic obedience class before you even think of starting agility. Your dog will need a reliable recall (come when called), sit/down stay.