Gone to the Dogs

This is one of my newer schemes.

Our old dog, Em, was one of those Free To Good Home dogs. I definitely got the feeling that if we didn't take her, her next stop was the Humane Society. She was a young black lab mix with a very sweet nature. Forward three years, Em is still very sweet natured--which does not a good farm dog make. We have seen the chickens chase her into her dog house and if a sheep stamps its foot at her in the pasture, she hides behind our legs. So we had rather given up hope for good old Em ever making much of herself.

However, 9yo Sue decided she wanted to take the 4-H dog project this year, and Em was to be her accomplice. The local 4-H dog club hosted a sampler workshop in December and wonder of wonders, we discovered that Em had some talent in the area of agilty. (jumps, tunnels, teeter-totters, etc.) So for Christmas we bought S. and Em a 6 week class of agility training. That went well.

In the meantime, S. had been working on C. for over a year to soften him up to the idea of an indoor dog. Eventually she wore him down. So on Feb. 1, we did what you are not supposed to do and bought a pug puppy from a backyard breeder. Little Tweetie. When I asked S. if she planned to show T. in agility also, she told me that she really didn't think that a dog that would grow up to be shaped like a sausage would do too well in a timed event. But, she began to cast her eye toward a new type of dog competition--freestyle.

After considerable time online, I learned that freestyle is a combination of many basic obedience moves, plus a few tricks, set to music, so that the dog and handler appear to dance together. OK....to be honest, T. doesn't seem to be very...how do I put this...graceful at this stage of her life. (She's a sweet little bug-eyed fuzz ball that zooms and rolls and wrestles her way through life.) I found that they could also go for the comic routine instead of Princess Grace and her Escort. So Laurel and Hardy II may be in the making.

So far T. has learned to heel some on the left and right, to sit, to lay down, to touch her chin to the palm of our hand, to come when called, and to spin to the left and right. But of course, as an 11 week old puppy, she does all these things when it pleases her or when she remembers what it was we asked her to do before that piece of lint so enticingly caught her eye. She seems smart, but retention does not seem to be her strong point.

And there you have it. Em is learning to climb to great heights and to weave through upright poles like quicksilver. T. is ready to start working on a sideways move called a sidepass and to shake her head No. As the Mommy-In-Charge, I am expected to guide and assist but not to do the training for S., since this is a 4-H project. It is tough to determine where to draw the line at doing it for her and teaching her to do it. I do fine with agility, since they are in a class and I trust the teacher to teach S. how to teach Em to do the work. But for freestyle we are on our own. So I am trying to explain, demonstrate once or twice, and then have S. work the pup through the behavior several times. Then I have S. do the initial review at the next session and I explain and demo training the next thing.

This is a very complex issue. I absolutely want S. to learn and also for T. to learn too. It is frustrating to see kids at the fair whose parents are washing, grooming, and prepping a kid's livestock entry while Junior hangs out like a ring vulture on the top fence rail gossiping with his buddies. Then Junior takes the lead (his dad has to show him how to hold it properly) and goes in and wins big. I want the best of both worlds, I guess. For S. to have a realistic chance of winning and also for her to learn how to train and handle her own animal.

Such profound concepts being played out with a pup who's best skills currently are sock biting and pottying behind the furniture.

I was supposed to go to an introductory 4-H seminar tomorrow to learn more about the options for showing dogs, but a winter storm warning and blizzard advisory for most of our state have cancelled my plans. Now I am praying for the weather to be bad enough to also cancel our 4-H club's ice skating trip. I had so brazenly lamented that I was so sad that I had to go to the training seminar and couldn't come skate--I was planning to get out on the ice and go for it before I found out I had to (heavy, dramatic sigh here)put fun aside and further my education as an advisor. Good heavens--my bluff may have been called!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!
Lori