Three Dogs Blog

So – Brenda has been pushing to have me post something on the blog. This may be rambling, so have patience! By way of context, the last several months have been a swirl of stress. I work for a City and revenues have tanked, just like everywhere else, and we are in cut mode, big time. Laying off people and leading an organization in a high level of uncertainty for many months. Not done yet. Brenda and I both have family members struggling with cancer. Mine are 3000 miles away in Kansas, which presents its own set of logistical and emotional challenges and stress. So enter Susan Garrett coming to Auburn for a series of dog training workshops. YES!!!! Susan is one of a handful of folks who teach and compete and publish and make a successful living in canine sports. As a reward for myself, I signed Crickey and I up for four days. Yesterday was Day 1 – Foundations in Handling. These are my obersavations:
1. I will start with the furrowed brow. At some point early in the day, Susan pronouced that agility only has “Winners” and “Losers”. Which she even wrote in big letters on the white board. And announced that she was only about winning. That set me aback. I can understand that Susan is about winning – she needs to win to sustain her business and lifestyle and self-goals. But that is not my objective or even high on my list of goals. Which is not to say that I would choose losing over winning – do not misconstrue:>) My focus is on the relationship with my dog and the emotional connection and learning and fun exercise. She does not care or know if she has a title. She just knows if we’re having fun. Cricket was her usual flashy, fast self. I struggle to keep up. “Lovely dog – too bad about the handler” might capture this observation if you know Greg Darrett.
2. My goal for the day was to work on generalizing skills. Cricket actually has many foundation skills – in the backyard, at the local park, at MegaDogs. She can do Susan’s one jump exercises in her sleep. So this was a chance to get her out in a new environment with other dogs and people working. And it really turned out to be about me. I am a professionally compentent person and can wow a packed audience with a presentation. Like rows of hundreds or even thousands of people. I am not shy about being on stage. I can run the dogs on a team in flyball. But standing in the middle of a workshop with a row of spectators just left me nearly brainless. And of course, what do we all do under stress? Revert to patterned behaviors! Some of which I have worked hard to break training Cricket for agility and my new behaviors just flew out the arena. Lesson that I already knew: agility is more about me than Cricket. She will do what I ask if I am consistent and clear. When I get rattled, she goes off. Duh.
3. Criteria. I do absolutely agree that dogs are black and white. Flyball is not nearly as an exact a sport or nearly as complex. So I really don’t have the experience I need in creating and applying the level of detailed criteria that is necessary for successul agility. (Success = my partner understanding what I want and executing same). I am not very skilled at seeing or processing the level of detail I need to be at to help us be “successful”. Being shown is extremely helpful!
4. Cricket is actually a lovely jumper but chose to go over and under alternating jumps in the five-jump “go” exercise. She has done this rarely at home early on. So I was not shocked but have always wondered what triggers her going under vs. over. Susan’s question was – “Did you train her with gound level jump equipment as a puppy?” Yes. She went on to say that – “diverging from all the other professional trainers out there” – she does not let her pups train near agility equipment until they are ready to train. And that she has correlated dogs going under jumps with those who have trained with ground-level jumps as puppies. Cricket left every bar standing that she actually jumped. Almost all dogs knocked at least one bar going over the five. I think I have a workable plan to fix this. We’ll see.
5. The young border collie. People seem to have widely divergent views and expectations based upon the age of a dog. I find this perplexing but I guess not too different than society treats all of us “generically” based upon age. At 16 you can drive – whether mature and balanced or not. At 21 you can drink – whether mature and balanced or not. Etc. I was relieved to have Susan recognize, and refer to her, as “that young border collie”. Every dog has a different temperment and personality. Every momma has different objectives. I, personally, am interested in pushing her learning bubble but have no interest in short changing her puppihood. In fact, I mostly delight and encourage it. She is, after all, the Crickster:>) With a fabulous sense of humor and knack for finding the edge. Puppies are precious beings and should be cherished every day for who they are and what they bring to our lives.
6. I love my Crickster. I adore her:>) She is perfect for me!
7. Tomorrow and Friday are all about “advances in dog training”. I’m sure I will learn alot. We will have a great time. Susan is a very good presenter – highly skilled, very thoughtful, and definitely worth the time and money. I am going to be more structured and detailed about my training criteria as a result of yesterday. I do think, however, that what we need most right now is to get out in different venues and experiement. Cricket has the talent – I need some work!