Jenn and the Dogs

This weekend was spectacular although it was just a crumb taste of what I plan to dedicate my life to. Saturday I spent 3 straight hours helping Teresa train some of our newest, and possibly most troubled, customers. The first hour class was small as only three people/dogs showed up. There were 2 labs and a spaniel mix. The spaniel mix looked nothing like a spaniel to me. It looked more like some sort of spitz breed as it had a double coat and a plumed tail that curled over the back. Only the shape of the dog’s head and the bent-over ears didn’t look at all like a spitz. Anyways, all three of these dogs clambered out of their owners’ vehicles like the incredible hulk busting through a brick wall. These dogs where not at all vicious, they were just used to dominating their owners. After about 45 minutes of teaching them heel, sit, and wait, and a long talk about how to be your dog’s leader, those same three dogs left our class happily fallowing the heels of their owners, tails waging behind them.

The second hour class was bit more hectic. At one point, Teresa left me completely in charge of the puppy class as we had a huge number of dogs attend the second hour class and some of them needed much more attention then others. All in all, I think the second hour class went well. Maybe not as well as the first class since we were able to give a lot more one-on-one attention to those three dogs, but it was still a good out come and we could definitely see a huge difference in a number of the dogs from the second hour class.

The third class was an intermediate/advanced class that was mostly for us trainers and our dogs, though there were two customers who were invited to stay for the third class, and they did stay, so that was good. Unfortunately it rained on us the entire time.

Sunday I went to an event that was hosted by the Humane Society in Kenosha, WI . It was a make-shift doggy carnival. Only instead of rides, there was a lure course that the dogs could try, and there were obedience demonstrations. There was, of course, food and drinks, and games for the kids, and booths full of doggy products and services for sale. Teresa had a “Tricks for Tips” booth set up at which I volunteered to help with and all the “tips” we raised went to the humane society.

During the second half of the event, Teresa and Cindy got the brilliant idea to bring a couple of the shelter dogs out and walk them around and work with them so as to show them off and increase their chance of getting adopted (it was weird as I had assumed that the shelter’s dogs would be out, but for what ever reason they were not). The owner/manager of the rescue was more then happy to let use take a couple of the dogs out with us. They even put little vest on them that said “adopt me” on the sides. I chose a small black-lab mix named Damon. He was a high-energy guy and was obviously overly excited and overly stimulated by the shear thought of being let out side with people and other dogs around him. I admit he was a hand full when I first brought him out (he jumped on the “tricks for treats” booth and knocked over a few things and stole a bunch of treats that we’d been saving). I realized immediately that I had to get Damon to settle down and control himself or he’d create a bad rep and never find a good home. So I decided to start by teaching Damon so sit. I took a little while to get his attention as he was very distracted by every thing and every one. But he was soon easily motivated by treats and within a matter of minutes he was sitting on command, much to my own surprise! Okay, I thought, if he can sit then he can lie down too. It took only the first try to get Damon to lie down and he performed the down command perfectly every time after that. Infect, I think Damon was better at “down” then he was at “sit”. Once Damon realized he could earn treats from me by behaving, he was much, much calmer and easy to manage. I became a little eloped in my work with Damon and almost forgot about where I was. When I finally looked up, there was a small audience of people watching me train Damon. Most of them were volunteers who worked at the Human Society. They were in awe of how quickly Damon learned to sit and lie down, how well he responded to me, and how his behavior had transformed so quickly. Now I became a little bit aware of myself as I was being watched. I felt as though my “audience” was waiting for more. The grand finale, perhaps. Originally I had taught Damon sit and down so he would be easier for me to manage and so he wouldn’t look like a barbaric beast in front of potential adopters. But since I was feeling proud in front of these people, I decided to try teaching Damon to roll-over. Why the heck did I go for Roll Over? It’s the most difficult trick to master. There is an endless list of tricks that are so much simpler. Damon has no prior training and only a small hand full of dogs can roll over, how naive am I to think that Damon could do it?

Again, to everyone’s surprise, Damon nailed it. He rolled over! And he rolled-over time and time again, for anyone who wanted to see. Damon and I were a real crowd pleaser that day and I was so proud of him and of myself. People and children came right up to pet him and to ask me about him and Damon was ever so gentle and appreciative of all the attention he received. Later that day I was told that I did an outstanding job with Damon and that two families had gone to the shelter’s office and expresses their interest in adopting Damon. Both families said they had watched me train him.

Damon didn’t actually get adopted that day as I imagine there is a long adoption process. But I have high hopes for him. It was difficult saying good bye to Damon at the end of the day because we had bonded so well. I wish I could have taken him home with me.