TRAINING A DOG

Devon had a whirlwind of agility trials in November and the first weekend of December, and Page came along for some fun. When Devon was Page’s age, I was working on Ian’s MACH and finishing Connor and Ian’s RAE titles. Most of our weekends were spent at agility or rally trials, and Devon learned she got “her turn” working obedience in the crating areas and near the rings.

But for Page’s early months, we’ve been working on Devon’s Senior Hunter and Page’s tracking titles. Page hasn’t spent time in the distracting environments of agility trials. So, I was looking forward to these weekends to see how Page would do at the long days of a trial.

The first surprise for me is that both girls handled mesh crates without a problem. Our first two trials were local, so I took the van and had metal crates available if the girls decided to throw fits and eat their way out of the mesh crates. Happily, the girls were contented, even Devon who has always thrown royal fits when I took Ian out for his runs. The only problem I had with her was dumping her water bucket. On day two I got creative with Velcro cable ties and fixed that problem! I’m now much happier lugging around mesh crates for the show site and hotel versus metal crates!

The next surprise was how good Page was at the agility trials. Long days in the crate, periodic trips out to potty and train, and then more long hours in the crate didn’t bother her. This girl is a trooper! Of course, after the first two 3-day weekends, she needed to burn lots of energy on Monday!

And finally, Page’s training mostly held up, which I hoped would be the case. Page went through the skills she knew well and gave me lots of attention when I had high value treats (well, pretty much any food treat is high value for Page). One thing I learned was that I couldn’t keep her out too long, or her attention would fade and she would want to “play” with every dog she could see.

Page’s first reaction when she wants to “play” with a dog is to launch herself at them front feet first. Most adult dogs aren’t amused, and many puppies are overwhelmed. Using short sessions out and getting her close to the activity when she was fresh and eager for cookies worked best. As she was out longer, I actually faded the distractions since she was getting tired of the “tricks” and the treats.

I was most pleased that she offered a nose touch on the steps at the Merrillville trial. This was a skill she hadn’t worked on much at the time, so the fact she was able to sustain it in a very distracting environment made me quite happy.