..::: Insights on Mondio Ring

Mondioring, though it was intended as an avenue through which working dog enthusiasts could have fun, it is a sport that tests precision, coordination and clear communication between the handler and canine participant. It demands a lot from the dog and handler tandem as well as the trial decoy whose job is to thwart the attempts of the dog to engage him in combat. Like a “corrida”, this morality play of sorts requires that the characters prepare and study their parts well in order to produce a less-than-hour spectacle which does not disappoint, but rather entices the viewing audience to become participants themselves – either as part of the dog and handler team on one end, or to be a judge and decoy on the other.

..::: The Mondioring Handler

A mondioring handler has to have a passion for 3 things – his dog, dog-training and competition. The prospective mondioring handler should first of all have a pre-selected and pre-tested dog with good working potentials . He has to have the resources to provide for his dog’s nutritional and veterinary needs. Working dogs need to be maintained for them to do the job properly and that requires time and money. Yearly vaccinations are a must for all dogsports.
The prospective mondioring handler should be a member of any MR club affiliated with the PMRA because such clubs are the only venues where he or she can learn the rules of the sport correctly and receive guidance from seasoned competition veterans and teaching decoys. As a member, he should also view himself as a trainer-in-training and as such, be humble and be willing to receive corrections from his head trainer and seniors. He should be assiduous and diligent in attending training sessions.

Outside the training ring, he should at least aspire to be more driven than his dog. He should have the time and desire to develop and correctly train
his dog in obedience daily. If he is working with a puppy, he should understand that the timing and manner of introduction of any stressful stimuli would either make or break the career of his dog and this requires that he not only receive proper guidance but also do his own research. He should find opportunities to expose his dog to different environments and situations so as to break him out of a boring mould of routine. By doing this, he not only strengthens their bond of trust but it also builds endurance and the ability to process and respond instinctively to the possible distractions that he might confront in a mondioring trial.

Studies have shown that this out-of-the-ring training sessions constitute 70 to 80%
of the dog’s skills acquisition. During the trials, the mondioring handler has to remember that mondioring is a sport with rules to be respected. However, though the rules are set, different trial judges have their distinct ways of interpreting and enforcing the rules. The handler during the trial should remember, that it is considered unsportsmanlike to question and/or second guess a judge’s decision and behaviors of this sort could incur suspension from the sport.
Though the spirit of competition on a trial day is at its peak, the handler should remember that this is also just a game to be enjoyed.

..::: The Certified Mondioring Judge

“Experience is the best teacher…” so the saying goes. In order to be a certified mondioring judge you have to be CREDIBLE and hence, you MUST be or have been a mondioring handler/competitor and MUST have titled your dogs to a given level (depending of the rules of the governing mondioring body for a given country). Only through competitive experience could anyone have a mastery of the rules of the sport and hence be a fair and competent judge of mondioring. Apart from this would come periods of apprenticeship. So voila!

..::: The Mondioring Decoy

The mondioring decoy also has to have a passion for training but more importantly he has to have a thorough knowledge of and respect for the rules of the sport. A potential mondioring decoy has to have a humble and teachable attitude because as the saying goes “…good decoys are made.. not born”. Because of the nature of the sport, he has to know the goals of the job at hand and where he fits in. On his own, the potential mondioring decoy has to be committed to his own physical maintenance through regular exercise and training the merits of which are seen during certification day when they are put to a grueling series of tests by a certified mondioring judge. An experienced certified decoy has to absorb punishing entries and grips, has to have excellent speed balance and timing to “ read” the dog whether to build him up or make him run away the proper combination of which portrays artistry in motion (or none-motion as in the case of a scenario in an MR3 face attack). As a teaching decoy, he develops the skill and heart of the dog for the protection phase of mondioring but as a trial decoy he becomes the extension of the judge in testing the tenacity of the dog for protection work and lets loose his bravado to deter the attacking dog within the confines of the rules that are set.

..::: The Mondioring Dog
The dog is the featured character in mondioring. All eyes are on him and it is said that “a good working dog is a good working dog regardless.” The potential mondioring dog is tested from puppyhood if he has the genetic prowess for work. It is preferred that the potential canine candidate display a tenacity to work even under stress (from handler correction, environmental distractions and decoy pressure), a “happily-hyper” character, clear-headedness and closeness to the handler. Dog selection along good working lines for breeds with instinctive protection traits is both a science and an art and having a good eye for a potential mondioring dog will require years to develop.