DOG TRAINING
So I’ll start with some possible causes for amusement – and move on to a few thoughts of how I plan to proceed next time. (Scroll to the end for some excellent book suggestions!) Back in the beginning we went along to the obedience classes run by our local dog warden in the church hall. Sam was the only Beardie among about twelve German Shepherds and two crossbreeds. Why there were so many German Shepherds I don’t know. I was a little in awe of them – but not Sam. Nothing and nobody ever awed him. Ron, the warden, certainly understood dogs and their humans. He laid the law down and soon had us all jumping through hoops. Not literally, although at times it felt like that to me. We learned to sit, stay, come, walk to heel and generally to behave ourselves. Sam quite surprised me with his abilities and the speed with which he responded to instruction. This was very different from his responses at home. I took on board the authority in Ron’s voice and made up my mind to sound more authoritative from then on. My surprise turned to astonishment when Ron began selecting Sam to demonstrate certain skills to the other dogs. Basking in the limelight, Sam actually listened attentively before doing exactly as he had been told to do! So there we were, Sam and I after a while, showing a group of German Shepherds and their humans how to conduct themselves. I told him to sit and he sat, to stay and he stayed. He came when I called him and walked to heel as if this were instinctive behaviour. And Ron watched, chuckling to himself at times while shaking his head and commenting: “What a character!” You see Sam, ever the individual, did everything with great enthusiasm and a distinct air of ‘Look at me. Aren’t I a star?’ He clearly revelled in his role and had no intention of putting a paw wrong. So he didn’t. He just kept on doing Ron’s and my bidding while loving every minute. Dog training, I decided, was a piece of cake. And I couldn’t wait to put it into practice in the great outdoors. That was why we were doing it, after all – so that we could, when necessary, walk sedately and so that Sam would always come back to me when I called. Have you guessed the rest?
Yes, I expect you have! For Sam, indoors and outdoors might as well have been two different planets. Once we were out there on the moors Ron was forgotten and my voice obviously lost its authority. I say ‘obviously’ because the moment a seagull flew overhead Sam took off like a rocket. He was quickly out of earshot and I was left calling to myself. I felt foolish as well as inept. Would Ron have fared any better? I often had cause to wonder this - for example when Sam and I ended up on opposite sides of a fast-flowing river! We were on our morning walk one day in winter and Sam was 'doing his thing', dog training forgotten, keeping Three Cliffs Bay gull-free. The trouble was that the river dividing the beach in half was much deeper than usual - and in full flood. Both of these facts were apparently lost on Sam when he chased a seagull across it. But once on the other side he paused to reflect, reaching the conclusion that he didn't want another wetting! He told me so, emphatically, barking fit to burst and refusing to budge even when I turned and walked off in the opposite direction. Sad person that I am, I eventually turned back - and, yes, went still further than that! In my wellies I stepped into the river and started to cross it, alarmed by the strong current that nearly swept me off my feet - and by the fact that freezing water was flowing over the top of my boots. By the time I finally arrived at Sam's side I felt quite murderous ... Then, having snapped on his lead and emptied my boots of surplus water, I had to deal on soggy feet with a very circuitous route home to avoid another river-crossing. All this before breakfast! If you'd like to read the full story of that morning walk, along with other actual adventures (some quite hair-raising!), please just click on the link for downloading the FREE Beardie e-book. So it went on: in dog training classes Sam excelled. Out of class (as you can see in my Beardie Picture Gallery) he reverted to his former self. No question, he was the pack leader while I was a Sam-follower. How had that come about? Well, in my defence, I simply hadn’t read the right books!
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