Clean Run - January 2018 - 33

Training Freedom:

HERE I go AgAIn!
By Jo Sermon, photos courtesy of author

This month was Shady's birthday! He was
12 months old, a good time to assess
what we have. Physically he's still growing into himself and all the training in
the world won't speed that up. Although
when you watch him you still think, "gangly teenager," his physical skills are improving daily. Cavaletti are now easy for
him; he can adjust his stride for extension
and collection and is fluent in that adjustment. His speed across the ground is
increasing as his body comes under control; he can now match Darcey (Whippet)
for short periods of time.
I love watching the three young dogs
playing together. Darcey obviously has
the out and out speed, but Shady has
the brains to anticipate her direction and
take the shortcuts to catch her. I watch
them carefully as Shady is so much bigger; Darcey is fragile by comparison.
Shady's instant down is excellent and
if the games get too rough I drop him.
Dexi (small crossbreed) is hopelessly
outmatched, but Shady will slow down
for him and they play chase all around
the property. It's lovely that the three of
them are firm friends.
Two weeks after Shady's birthday was
my granddaughter's first birthday. One
of Mariella's godparents bought her a
rocking horse and two of our dogs took
a dislike to it. Dexi growled ferociously
at it through the window, but when he
January 18 | Clean Run

realized it had no scent he was happy
to ignore it. Poor Shady was horrified,
however! It took him a week to get
over it and I resorted to putting the
horse away when the baby was asleep
as that deep chest gives Shady a huge
bark! Eventually one morning when the
baby was out I got the rocking horse
out and let him get on with it. Clicking
and rewarding him for approaching the
rocking horse made it worse-it's often
worth remembering that clicker training
does place pressure on a dog. There is all
that reward history telling them action
is expected and it was more than Shady
could deal with. He got over it in his own
time, although he regarded it with suspicion for the next couple of weeks.
This was also the month Darcey came
into season. I took him to his class and
all he wanted to do was lift his leg. But
I took him back about three days after
she finished and I was really proud of
him. To begin with he wanted to look
at the other dogs and cry and whine.
He refused food, he didn't want to play.
I backed out of the immediate area until he would play with me. He then did
his nice recall bits and across the hour
we gradually worked our way back in
amongst the rest of the dogs. He finished up working nicely and I was really
proud of him. I will say I worked my behind off, but it was worth it.

Skill Assessment
* Self-Control/Impulse-Control:
Shady has a nice 10-minute down-stay;
I'm now beginning to leave his view
for tiny periods of time. He can watch
and wait whilst his ball is placed out in
front of him, but he can't yet hold position whilst it's thrown. He waits until
released out of doors, out of the car,
and for his dinner with no problems.
He can down-stay for short periods of
time whilst his sire is working as long
as it's fairly low level work; he can't yet
stay whilst Tyzer is moving at speed.

Shady has a nice 10-minute down-stay
and is doing well with distractions.
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run - January 2018