Sunday Salutations and Dog Jumps
This weekend marks the beginning of a new dog class for us! New tricks to learn, old tricks to hone, and perfect. We are off to a jumping start. Although we had a few stumbling blocks right out of the gate.
The rally skills class was supposed to start last weekend, but the universe conspired so that almost every one of our classmates (including us) could not make the first day. Ours was a mild emergency, but Tod’s hand is healing. And mandolins – the food guillotines of doom – are now officially banned from our house. (I did not actually hurt my finger on the guillotine blade. I hurt it on the julienne blades, while I was using the huge guard. Either way, they’re still banned. -Tod)
Our wonderful instructor rolled back the class day, so the three of us that missed it could make all the classes. We are super grateful to her and our other classmate(s) that were willing to wait for those of us that were going to miss the class to be able to attend.
This class is both a review of skills as well as learning new skills for the more advanced rally course. I think over half the class is really for the trainers, with a little bit for the dogs. (I think most classes a really that way. -Tod)
Yesterday, once again we got to see how insensitive Crokell is. I have to say I love the big lug, but I think it was the first time the other trainers saw a dog walk on or through the jumps and not notice they were there. I have to say, at least he doesn’t startle easily.
It was pretty funny. On the board jump, Crokell just walked over it, without noticing his nails clanking on it. You can see me laughing since he didn’t even slow down or acknowledge it.
The long jump is two long metal boards raised up off the ground. Dogs don’t like to step on the boards, since they’re unstable. Stepping on and disliking the unstable boards, the dog learns to jump instead. My silly, goofy dog just walked on them like they weren’t there. (A trainer behind me in an awed voice whispered, “He’s not learning anything.” -Tod) The picture below is from a second run, where he actually jumped.
Then there was the bar jump. Just like the name sounds, it’s a raised bar, set so it can fall on either side of the stand, so a dog coming from either direction is safe. The huge Newfie decided to just walk through the bar jump. Didn’t even notice the bar falling. Picture below is again from a later off-leash run where he jumped.
We don’t plan on having him jump much if at all and in competition. We don’t have to worry about it for two levels. But I wish Tod had gotten a video of him walking on the planks of the long jump. (Me too. They started before I realized what was happening. I got used to the courses class, where I knew when Anna would go. -Tod) Crokell apparently saw no reason to bother himself with stepping over them at all. I will say this for him, he was living up to his old nickname of Bulldozer. (They called him that when he used to go to daycare. -Tod)
We will get better, once I stop laughing at his and our mistakes.
What did I learn here? The major thing was: relax, have fun, don’t forget to enjoy your mistakes, and sometimes the secret is to put a little more fun energy into making those jumps! And Tod learned to have the camera ready.
Hope everyone had a good weekend and doesn’t take life, work, or hobbies too seriously.
It is something I struggle with, which is why Crokell is the perfect dog for me. Who better than a huge, goofy Newfie to teach one to be less high strung.
Your high-strung author(s),
Anna (and Tod)