Baxter was the BHP Taggessieger in group Hochrhein

 So the first in a series of updates and where to start...

Baxter and Simon took part on the 19th of October in the BHP exam in the Hochrhein club in the Badischer Dachshund Club of the DTK. The day started with coffee and choosing of the numbers (which were baked into dog biscuits).

The festively decorated table in the clubhouse

Which is the right biscuit...

Waiting for instructions

Finding out the order of the dogs

 This is an all day exam which consists of 3 sections:

BHP1:Führigkeit, Folgsamkeit, Ablegen, Verhalten bei Geräuschen, Verhalten gegenüber Menschen, Verhalten in Strassenverkehr

Ready for BHP 1 on the training space

BHP2: Führersuche & Warten

The view from the hills were the Führersuche was performed

BHP3: Wasserfreude

Baxter on a water retrieve

 So, for the non-Germans, I'll walk you through the test:

In the first section the dogs must show their obedience through a variety of tests, many of which can be performed with or without leash. First, the dog must walk at a heel over and around a variety of obstacles and they must demonstrate walking ~ 100 ft on heel off leash back to the starting point/judge. The dog must show that it is not afraid of loud noises, such as a pipe being hit with a hammer (ie, no running away from the sound). The dog is surrounded by people who approach the dog clapping and the dog also walks through a crowd. The dog must walk on the sidewalk next to a road and be approached by people with umbrellas, newspapers, bikers, cars, etc... going by. The owner must send the dog away from them and then call them back on command. There are variations of this part where more points are awarded if you can bring the dog to a stop on command before they reach you, but this is quite difficult. Finally, the dog can be free or on leash and they must wait. This test is done all at once whereas the other parts are done individually. The dogs are placed on a fence and told to lie down for 5 min in sight of the owner. During this time a person walks by and another dog walks by, etc... The dogs are allowed to stand and move a bit, but not to cry or try to walk towards the owner.

Waiting, waiting...

Iamira, the lone longhaired dackel in the test. She did excellent!

Waiting for 5 minutes to be called so the owners can go retrieve their dogs from the fence

Bax walking at heel with Simon during BHP1

Simon is a really great handler. Before each activity he makes sure the dog is calm and has his attention. This was before walking at heel back to the judge.

Checking for fear of sound. Baxter LOVES Eri! He didn't care about the long clang from metal on metal, he just ran laps around her until Simon called him back.

Jup and Kerstin showing off their skills in the street/traffic portion

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Baxter could care less about stopping to help with directions

Iamira was unimpressed by Eri and the umbrella

For the second test there are only 2 parts. First the dog is given to a handler while the judge and owner walk ~ 300 m (1000 ft) into a wooded area and hide. The track should include 2x right angled turns. Once the owner and judge are hidden, the dog is released and must track and find the owner. For the second part of the test, the dog is put in wait similar to in the 1st test, but the owner is out of sight. Again, bikes, people, dogs, etc... go by and the dog must stay calm and ideally not move.

Jup waiting while his mistress was out of sight.

For the third test, it is basically a variation of the Wassertest, except there is no gun shot and any toy can be thrown for the dog to retrieve.

Baxter with his favorite dummy duck

The dogs can pass each test individually which is then indicated BHP-1 or BHP-3, etc...

If the dog passes the combined test, it is given the title BHP-G (G=gesamt: entire)

We weren't sure how Baxter would do as we weren't able to go to many of the official trainings, but we do regularly train obedience and tricks with the dogs. Originally I was supposed to do the trainings with Baxter, but well, finishing up my degree got in the way and I was a mess of nerves.

Tallying the points

Handing over the score sheets

Handing out gifts to all of the helpers

Simon though is a star and amazing for taking over Baxter's training! He and Baxter totally shined and of the 6 dogs that participated in the test he received the maximum points he could get and was awarded BHP-G 1st prize Taggessieger (winner of the day).

We are extremely proud of our little dog! He performed like a star and worked perfectly with Simon. Simon said that the judge was especially impressed with the attention that Baxter gave him before each activity. Simon is big on making the dogs make eye contact with him before they start an activity and this was unique for the dogs at the test. It was a long day (roughly 6 hours), but well worth it! Baxter now gets to add the test score: BHP-G to his name. :)

The boys with the judge

Congrats Bax! Good job!

*** Many, many thanks to Peter for the pictures during the exam!!***