Today was another wonderful day although Alex embarrassed me at first! We started off with Canine Good Citizenship tests and I was asked to be one of the people that works the dogs. Since Alex couldn't come with me, I almost just put him in a down stay, but I wasn't 100% sure that he would stay, so I attached him to a chain on the wall. For the first minute he was good, but then this little whimper started. I tried to ignore it and kept hoping that he would quit, but that whimper slowly got louder and louder and finally Jeff (the instructor) asked me to leave and deal with Alex. Oops! :( Heck, I should've just put him in a down stay or a sit stay because as you can see by the pictures, he was PERFECT. I did everything I could think of to distract him to see if he would move, and he didn't. He thought about it a couple of times, but one no, no, from me and he stayed put.
Next we started doing detail work on the forced retrieve. This is important for the working dog to learn if he is going to be hunting or in therapy work. Or for just plain fun tricks for your pet. Why is the forced retrieve so important? First, it teaches the dog that you are the boss, and secondly it teaches him that he has to pick up and bring articles to you in the order that you command him to and without dropping or damaging them.
After the forced retrieve, seven of us went to lunch at St. Louis Bread Co. (which is called Panera Bread in most of the country) and I really had a nice time.
After lunch we started protection work and I was able to start Kyla, the German Shepherd, in some very beginning exercises, and she was MAGNIFICENT!!! I couldn't believe it! The beginning exercise was to tie her to a two foot chain on a wall and start swinging a toy or ball just out of her reach. At first Kyla looked at me as though I had lost my mind and she just sat there. I finally said to her, "Kyla, you have the blood of champions running through your veins....I KNOW that the instinct is there". Finally she started lunging against the chain to reach the toy.
The purpose of swinging the toy just out of her reach is to build up her frustration levels and to get her to bark and get very determined. And man, did she ever! Once she reached that point, then I let her "win" and be able to grab the toy. And did she ever grab it! Wow! And her bark was unbelievable! I praised her greatly when she grabbed it and then we started the whole game over again. We didn't play for very long because I was able to see that she was starting to lose interest, so I stopped.
The picture on the top left shows some of the criteria for passing the school. I have to click on the picture to make it large enough to read but it's quite impressive! We did beginning narcotics work today also. Kyla and I just watched, but it really looked like fun. The dogs were sent chasing after a ball that had the scent of cocaine on it (pseudo-cocaine that smells like the real thing) and then the ball was trapped under a box, and the dogs had to figure out where the ball was and try to reach it.
Thus ended another day at Tom Rose where I left and went to Culver's (where else) for dinner.
Right now I'm trying to persuade myself to do a load of laundry. Tomorrow we meet at Tom's ranch in the morning for some tracking work. I think that I'll try a little bit of it with Kyla and Alex and see how they do.
2 comments:
Thanks for your encouraging thoughts on my blog! I read your post about Ted Bundy and my heart breaks for you... If you don't mind me giving some advice, remember God in the grieving... Because you are grieving... not necessarily for his death, but for the death of what you thought you knew him as. And the shock of finding out these unpleasant things is a grief process in itself. God is the great healer of bodies and souls and he feels as much pain as you!
I'm glad that it seems you have a fresh new start on life with your new man and this dog training school. Good luck to you!
Lindsey,
Thank you! I am beyond touched by your words...and you are RIGHT! I grieved a whole lot for the death of what I thought I knew him as. I had never looked at it that way before.
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