VERSATILITY IS JUST DAN DIE! By BJ Pumfrey & Heather Van Oen D ANDIE DIMWITT… these were the first words spoken to me by the instructors while I was registering for my first Obedience class and you will need to have them slow down which is not that fun. If you achieve this though… your Dandie can do just as well as any herding breed out there.
in life is to make you happy. A Dandie’s whole purpose is to find a way for YOU to make THEM happy. Your Dandie is not going to respect a person who barks out an order expecting instant adherence to some- thing that really isn’t important to them. Rally is a fun and attainable first sport since you are allowed to talk to your dog, pat your leg, clap your hand or even sing in the ring (if you so desire). In conventional Obedience you give a single command and expect instant compliance while withhold- ing praise or feedback until the end of the exercise… your novice Dandie could be two rings away by that time making friends with some nice person or sitting on an available lap. Dandies get bored with rep- etition even when they are being rewarded but your first rally title can be done “on leash.” From this title you are set up to pass your Canine Good Citizen test and Th era- py Dog International test too. For the Dandie adventurers there are other sports for Dandies to excel in. Although some say Dandies shouldn’t do Agility because of their long backs, the Dandie has a natural rise in their back making it possible to do jumps (albeit certain heights), A frames, teeter totters, tunnels etc. Th ey may not be the fastest time-wise as they have very short legs but they do very well and enjoy the sport. If you ever see a picture of a Dandie doing Agility, you will see a smile on their face. Nosework is a fairly new sport but one that allows your Dandie to work indepen- dently and find that “hidden” scent. Th ey are natural hunters and very accurate once they understand the purpose of the “hunt.” Once they find “it” they need to tell you and it builds a unique communication bond with your Dandie. Th ere are four obtainable titles in Nosework. Although there are VERY few Dandies that do Herding, the ones that do man- age very well. You as an owner will need to be able to move fast and be in control of your dog. Perseverance is needed with this sport as your Dandie will love the “chase”
If you’re completely ready to have your Dandie embarrass you, try Canine Free- style Dance. Th is is probably the most di ffi cult sport of all. I have a Dandie that knows 65 commands that he does amaz- ing tricks to. We set that to music and we dance and sometimes we get our title and sometimes not. On more than one occa- sion, my Dandie has decided it was far more interesting to stop in the middle of the ring and watch me dance for the audi- ence. Entertainment at its finest, he has won Judges Choice and Most Memorable routine prizes for his “comedic stage pres- ence.” If you’re not so hung up on winning and interested in FUN, this is the sport. So… As you can see the Dandie Dinmont is a great little dog with versatility plus. Th ey are a fun breed with loads of personality. BIOS BJ Pumfrey grew up with Bassets, hav- ing parents who showed in Conformation and Obedience. She started competing in Juniors with the CKC and after complet- ing college, reentered the dog world by showing Cairns for over 30 yrs. She finally got her ‘Dream Dog’ Dandie 8 years ago and has been competing with Dandies in AKC Conformation and Rally ever since, adding two more female Dandies to her family who are also working on Agility. Her oldest Dandie is also a Th erapy Dog working at Children’s Hospital in Canada. Heather Van Oen has had pet dogs all of her life, but has never trained them before. Her first Dandie love came into her life in 2005. In 2007 and 2011, she added her current Dandies, Sam & Gracie Mae who participate in companion events from Ral- ly, Herding, Nosework, Agility and Free- style Dancing - the first and only Dandies to compete in dog dancing. She’s active in Canadian and Pacific NW events and has been a DDTCA member since 2010.
with Hannah. I was crushed and then I got mad and vowed to make them eat their words. Since then I have heard this expres- sion on numerous occasions at ringside (including from 2 judges) and delight in showing them just how wrong they were. I’m not claiming that Dandies are easy to train (they aren’t Border Collies) but they are far from stupid. In fact, Dandies are probably overall one of the cleverest breeds around once you figure out what their moti- vation is and keep them from getting bored with the training process. Th is is nothing new… we must remember that besides being vermin hunters, they were highly prized as “Tinker’s dogs” back in the 1700 and 1800s when they were used to entertain and draw in potential customers by these travelling salesman. If you decide that you would indeed enjoy working with a Dandie, you must first and foremost possess a sense of humor, a lot of patience, the ability to recover from public humiliation and be prepared to spend a lot of time hunched over with you knuckles almost dragging on the ground in an “ape-like” position. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at the reception you’ll get work- ing them at “their” level. You have to real- ize is that your Dandie’s head is below your knee and because of their confirmation, it isn’t natural for them to walk around gaz- ing up at you. Th ey want to look where they are going, not follow you blindly into who knows what situation. Th e next important di ff erence in work- ing with Dandies, more so than other breeds, is that they are so smart that they get bored quickly. When they do some- thing right, they see no reason to keep beating it into the ground. A Border Collie or a Golden will just keep doing what you ask ad nauseum since their whole purpose
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