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Wednesday, November 12, 2008

British Forces Open Day 2008 - RAF dogs

As promised the dog handling part of the day.

I'm not really into obedience and agility as I dislike the idea of performing animals. Having said that I couldn't resist watching the dogs, and I guess they are demonstrating their performance as working dogs rather than performing for the sake of it.

Some photos of the two GSDs just before they began their demonstration.









The first demonstration was obedience/agility, with the dark GSD. After walking to heel and obeying various visual commands, he went flying through the hoop.



And sat beaming at everyone enjoying his moment of glory. He really looked so pleased at the admiration and applause he received from the crowd.



Next up was Archie. This demonstration was to show that he could tell different colours, despite the fact that dogs have different colour vision to people.

In the tunnel were three coloured objects, blue, red and white. Archie was shown a flag of one colour and shot into the tunnel to retrieve the matching coloured object. Clever dog, he got 3/3.









Next was the spaniel doing his sniffer dog routine. He had loads of bags to check out, but when he got to the offending one, he sat down, with his tail going ninety to the dozen.





And his reward, a tennis ball.



Then we had catch-the-villain. This was Archie's territory and he duly attacked the villain with typical GSD ferocity.



And after that, the other GSD demonstrated a different tactic with villains, where he sat guarding the offender - without attacking him - waiting for his handler to arrive.



Great dogs, and a great display by them and their handlers.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I used to be frightened of GSDs but now I have got used to them.

They are wonderful working dogs too.

A friend of ours, ex police dog handler, had quite a few in his time in the force, and they were all grand dogs.

This was a very interesting post, I feel as if I were there with you. And the dogs!

Jeannie

Letty - A Little Girl With A Curl said...

The GSDs are amazing dogs.

The photos show how happy they are to be doing such work.

Thank you for sharing a really interesting day with us.

I wrote a comment just now which was much better than this, but blogger swallowed it up. ;0(

I have enjoyed reading it all.

Poopsie aka Blue said...

Great show by the Alsation but that lively Springer of course won nmy heart,
What a terrfic day to witness.

Love
Blue

Anonymous said...

mmmmmm! loved the dogs, but where are the pictures of the handsome sailors?

I need handsome sailors, there is a hullabaloo going on here in Taramasalata Towers, what with the recent departure of a much adored and loved one.

I need men to cheer me up, pictures of men, or real men, something to take away the misery of our loss.

Which was deep and horrible, and I have leaked enough for now.

Scarlett The Harlot

Anonymous said...

sorry in my grief, I spelled my name incorrectly.

Scarlett With Two Ts.

"my wheels will not turn any more I fear"

James said...

Great to see some GSDs doing their thing. Great photos. Freda is impressed.

∆≈

Letty - A Little Girl With A Curl said...

GSDs are the best.

Frasypoo said...

Loved the pics.Our airport uses Beagles to sniff out fruits and vegetables coming in from foreign countries.Scares me all the time !

James said...

Kate,

I suppose Pippa has barked about the passing of our Freda Saturday afternoon. Just wanted to make sure he passed on the message. Her passing was peaceful. She looked just as if she were sleeping.

I miss her.

∆≈

Lola Smiles said...

GSDs rule! :)