Brace

[hallswel]

Alright call me crazy but looking in the past I have seen many pics of Terriers shown in Brace. I am going to try it with Harley and her brother Bobby. I will get Bobby for about a month before I try so that I can work with them together. Any tips on showing Cairns in brace would be greatly welcome. Especially getting them on the table......

[eastofeden]

Sorry no tips....but WOW..... A terrier brace!

Out here brace entries are very small and almost always shelties, goldens, border collies etc. I have thought that seeing a terrier brace would so cool...and a Cairn one even better.

Best of luck and keep us posted on how it goes.

[bradl]

And also, pictures

[kjwarnold]

Okay, I had to look up "show in brace" to confirm that it was showing two dogs together, but why do people do it? Do you have to show them in a special show or regular ones? Not that I'm a big show person, but in my limited knowledge (from dog shows on Animal Planet), I've never heard of it.

[eastofeden]

Brace is an Obedience event.....in which two dogs and a handler go through a series of heeling exercises with both dogs side by side. This is very difficult to do, as both dogs must keep their attention on the handler and execute the commands asked of them in tandem.

It is usually a class at any Obedience trial, however at all the trials I have been to the entry numbers have been very low (even for those take direction wired herding type dogs this requires MUCH focus, concentration and patience. Most dogs and handlers find this difficult to execute). But it is a sight to behold.

Unfortunately Obedience events don't make good television. They don't have the action of Agility or Flyball and certainly can not be dramatized like confirmation. I have never seen Animal Planet air any straight obedience events.

If you want to see Brace, Rally or the traditional obedience classes check with your local dog club and find out if they host a trial. Also, most AKC sanctioned confirmation shows usually have Obedience Trial associated with them. Simply ask someone to direct you to the obeidence rings and ask them for a schedule of events. Usually the obedience classes are early in the day and may be done before noon depending upon the size of the show...so try to get their early.

[tomq]

Brace is also a conformation event. You are not only showing the dogs individually, you are showing the consistency of the breeding

by showing that two different dogs are so alike. We have shown 2 different braces of cairns, one of males, one of females. It used to be funny to go around the ring with the boys and hear the comments that 'you can't have a brace of unaltered male terriers', but they were and showed together nicely, although we always lost to a pair of malamutes in BIS. (never lost at the breed or group level!)

Tips: Use a VERY short brace coupler - best is to clip the rings of both collars directly on the end of the lead. If they walk shoulder to shoulder,

touching or almost touching, they'll walk in sync and look better (If their leg length is sufficiently different or their gait sufficiently different that they can't

walk in sync, you won't do well anyway) - our girls (mother/daughter pair) even wagged their tails in sync!

As for the table, it is VERY simple. Remember that cairn tails are good "handles". Use a collar that won't dig in too much or choke them,

then lean down, gather both tails with your left hand, and hook a finger of your right hand under the brace coupler, then SMOOTHLY lift them

up, walk them over to the table and lower them to their feet. My wife could do the girls so that they landed on the table perfectly stacked!

If your movements are jerky it will tend to make the collar dig in, so make it as smooth and swooping a motion as you can.

I've also seen it done where you put your right arm under their necks (ahead of the front legs) and lift that way, but our girls weren't secure that

way and preferred the collar lift. You'll have most of the weight on the tail, and land them on their front feet first.

Practice with each dog individually first, when they are comfortable with that method of being lifted to the table, try with them together.

[hallswel]

Thanks for the table information. I am going to use a brother sister team. Both will be a little over a year old. Harley is mine and she is great on a lead. Bobby is not quite as good as her but I think she will help settle him down.

This was not my idea orginally. I was at a show and I had them both and I was walking them around together and one of the handlers said they should be shown in brace. They told me to put Bobby on the outside and when I put them on the table you would not be able to tell there were two dogs there. We will see.

Brad.....how can I take pictures and show the dogs? I am not sure I want any pictures of me trying this.

Here is a picture of Harley and Bobby

[dianer]

I used to prefer walking my moms cairns with a very short "Y" connector because both dogs behaved better. Chester was afraid of his own shadow and Ginny was gung ho so alone that became troublesome but together it slowed her down and made him feel safer. They were just a delight but it helped that although Ginny was certainly an alpha girl she was not mean, just assertive. I can really see how two dogs together could show better than if they were separate after that experience.