Delta Canine Services: Arizona

Welcome to our new clients training for French RingSport in the Phoenix area. French Ring is a very exciting and demanding dog sport. And we are extremely excited to be bringing a whole new level of training to the Phoenix area for this sport.

For those of you interested in more information of the sport or to join us for some training please click here for our contact page.

Exercises

Ring Sport consists of a number of exercises.  A dog that has been trained for Ring III level of competition will be able to do the following:

NOTE: when competing, the dog has no collar or leash on at any time except during the heel on leash.   

DICTIONARY:

Decoy – A skilled person dressed in a costume that protects against being injured from a dog bite. The decoy assists the Judge during the protection phase of the program. Certification is performed by NARA for levels 1 through 3
Barrage – Decoy tries to intimidate the dog to stop him from biting. Depending upon the type of attack, this is usually with the baton in front of the decoy.
Baton – a bamboo stick that has been split multiple times, or pieces of rattan tied together at one end to form a handle.
Esquive – dodging, evading, etc. to make the dog miss its bite, or slow the dog down on the entry.

Agility

Palisade – dog jumps and climbs over a wooden wall, then does a return jump and returns to handler 2.3 meter maximum
High Jump – dog jumps a hurdle, then on command does a return jump and comes to a heel position by the handler. 1.2 meter maximum
Long Jump – dog jumps a long jump with key 4.5 meter maximum

Obedience

Heel on leash – in a pattern determined by the judge with multiple stops and starts
Heel with muzzle – Heeling off leash while the dog wears a muzzle
Long Sit/Down – done with the handler out of sight, the dog stays in a position 1 min.
Food Refusal – dog is thrown 4 pieces of food (usually meat or cheese) while on a down stay with the handler out of sight.  Dog must not eat the food, and if it is “accidentally” thrown into dogs mouth, he must immediately spit it out.  The field is also baited with 6 pieces of food, in strategic locations(i.e. by blinds, jumps etc.)
Positions – the dog is told to sit, stand and down in random order decided by the judge. the handler is approximately 20 ft away.
Retrieves – the dog does three retrieve exercises, a thrown retrieve, an unseen retrieve, and a retrieve where the handler drops the object and the dog immediately picks it up and returns it to the handler
Send Away – the dog is told to run in a straight line away from the handler until called, then it returns to the handler  

Protection

Face Attack – the dog is told to attack a decoy who is facing him about 40m away behaving in a menacing fashion
Fleeing Attack – the dog is told to attack a decoy who is running away
Defense of Handler – the decoy comes up behind the handler, and as soon as the decoy “attacks” the handler, the dog bites the decoy.  After the dog is told to out, he guards the decoy until recalled.

Attack with Gun – the dog attacks a decoy who is firing a gun.  After the bite/fight, the decoy freezes, the dog lets go and guards the decoy.  The decoy tries to escape twice, the dog bites each time, and then the handler disarms the decoy and heels the dog away.
Search, Hold, and Bark – The dog finds the decoy who is hidden in one of six blinds, and barks to indicate the decoy has been found.  The decoy attempts to escape, while firing a gun, and the dog stops the decoy by biting.  The decoy attempts another escape, then the dog escorts the decoy to a designated spot, preventing two more escape attempts by biting.  The dog has no set pattern to run the blinds in.
Call Off – This is done exactly like the face attack, with the decoy acting menacing and the dog being told to attack.  When the dog is 1 to 4m away, the handler calls the dog who returns to the handler without biting the decoy
Guard of Object – The dog is told to guard an object, and the handler goes to a place out of sight.  The decoy tries three times to steal the object, and the dog stops the decoy each time by biting.  As soon as the decoy begins to move away from the object, the dog lets go to remain close to the object he is guarding.

Levels of Competition

There are four levels of competition.  They are the Brevet for Dogs of Defense, Category I (Ring I), Category II (Ring II), and Category III (Ring III).  To compete in Category I, the dog must have earned a Brevet.  To compete in each following Category, the dog must first earn 80% of the possible points under two different judges in the preceding category.  To earn the Brevet title, the dog must receive 80% of the possible points, and at least 75% in each of the bite exercises.  At Ring III if the dog scores below 240 (80% of the Ring II routine) twice in one year, the dog must repeat the Ring II qualifications before competing at Ring III again.

Brevet – 100 points
EXERCISE  / MAX. POINTS
Heel on leash 4pts
Refusal of food (1 piece thrown) 10pts
Heel off leash w/muzzle 8pts
Down for one minute w/o handler 10pts
Defense of Handler (w/2 gunshots) 30pts
Face attack at 30 meters 30pts
General Outlook 8pts

Category I – 200 points
Brevet exercises plus
One Jump 12pts (Hurdle-1m, Palisade-1.9m or Long Jump-3.5m)
Retrieve (throw is seen) 4pts
Change of Positions 20pts
Refusal of Food (4 pieces thrown) 10pts
Fleeing Attack  30
Attack w/Revolver 30pts
General Outlook 12pts

Category II – 300 points
Category I exercises plus
Long Jump 3.5m 12pts
Hurdle 1.1m 16pts
Palisade 1.8m 10pts
Long Stay (down or sit) 10pts
Retrieve dropped article (seen) 8pts
Refusal of Food (4 thrown, 6 on field) 20pts
Search, Hold, and Bark 40pts

Category III – 400 points
Category II exercises plus All 3 jumps at max. 20pts ea
Send Away 12pts
Retrieve dropped article (unseen) 8pts
Stopped Attack 20pts
Guard of Object 30pts

Increments Used for the Jumps
(1m = 39.37in)
Hurdle: 0.9m for 8 points with each additional .05m worth 2 points for a total of 20possible points/1.2m.
Long (Broad) Jump: 3m for 8 points with each additional .25m worth 2 points for a total of 20 possible points/4.5m.
Palisade: 1.7m for 8 points with each additional .1m worth 2 points for a total of 20 possible points/2.3m. Note: on the hurdle and palisade, the dog receives half the points for jumping over, and half for jumping back.