Achievements

Our two happy kids

 

You set goals, then you determine the steps you'll take to achieve them and the measurements you can use to evaluate your progress along the way.  Some days during your work toward the desired end result, you get to go "wow, that's working great!".  We've had a few of those happy "wow" moments this week. 

One of our primary goals from the day we brought Stetson home has been to develop a relationship based on trust and a solid running partnership. We focused hard the first two and a half months on physical conditioning in order to make him a great distance running partner.  Over the Christmas holiday, I realized he'd achieved a level of endurance that allowed me to take him to the next level - trails.  I get most of my distance on trails on the weekend; Saturday or Sunday are my planned "long" run days.  I try to get a minimum of 6 miles in on these runs.  Running a dog on trails vs. the road poses a couple of different concerns.  First, foot/pad protection for them can be a problem and needs to be handled carefully.  Secondly, dealing with deer, turkeys and other large wildlife we don't see in the neighborhood. 

We worked through the the pad situation while we were building his endurance by gradually increasing distance, frequency between runs and adding rougher terrain as available.  He has super pads and I don't have to be concerned about them not being tough enough for what we do (although they do get checked before runs, at rest stops and after each run to be sure they are healthy and injury free).  Wildlife, deer in particular, have been a concern for me.  Mira didn't attempt to chase wildlife other than squirrels, and most of them she'd ignore if Madison wasn't around to incite a chase.  We could come across several deer on the path or close by in the woods and Mira would simply stop and watch, then off we'd go.  I doubted from the beginning that Stetson would be as unstimulated by their presence, or even their scent as she.  This is a major safety concern for me.  I'm not a large person and if taken by surprise, I could easily be thrown to the ground by a dog that lunges unexpectedly off the trail.  Unfortunately, I know this from experience and I intend to do my best to avoid the drag and bounce injuries I've encountered in years past.  We've been on several trails and he's solid with dogs, even dogs who snarl and lunge at us; but I hadn't had the opportunity to deal with reactions and train expectations on large wildlife.

Sunday last week, we were finishing a run at Kennesaw Mountain when I caught a glimpse of three deer on the path ahead of us.  I caught sight of them before Stetson, so I pulled him to me and changed the clasp of his lead from his collar to his harness; I wanted to be in total control and able to get his front feet off the ground if he decided to chase.  I decided before we moved further ahead that I was going to use this as an opportunity to "correct and direct" behavior in a way that would help me train him to stay on task.  I had him by the harness, with about two or three feet of loose leash between us.  We began to walk forward until he spotted the deer.  As soon as he left his stand, whined and tried to lunge I took my opportunity to correct and guide him into appropriate behavior.  In this situation, "correct behavior" is, passing without lunging, whining or otherwise acting like the predator we both are.  He took two firm corrections before he was confident that I was right and we should move forward rather than into the woods after the deer, who by now had crossed our path and bobbed deeply enough into the brush that I had to really focus to see them. We finished the run with him receiving tons of praise for moving forward and not looking back again.  I know I'll have to work with him more and he will have to continue to gain self-control.  But for a first lesson, I'm really glad he was willing exchange his instinct for my leadership.

On Wednesday he put his fears aside and took my leadership to jump into the back seat of an extended cab pickup rental I was using.  It was narrow, beyond his ability to visualize where he was going to land once he launched and basically a cruddy place for any pressure sensitive being to have to jump into.  He looked me in the eye and left no doubt in my mind that if things went wrong, he was holding it against me personally, but he did it.  I was really proud of this guy that won't jump into the bath tub or onto a grooming table for this moment of faith in me!

Thursday evening while on our run we had a loose dog in the neighborhood charge down a side street toward us.  Dave had Maddie and I had Stetson.  As I was muttering to Dave that I'd of course left my pepper spray at home...Stetson flipped around to face the dog who was a couple of houses behind us and stood firmly planted in the road.  I pulled him and coaxed him and got annoyed with him for not moving before I realized he'd stopped the other dog in it's tracks.  The loose dog walked over to a mailbox and sniffed and marked it, not giving us any further issue.  I've never had a dog that took control of a situation and left me feeling safe.  Stetson did nothing other than turn and stand his ground.  There was no growl, lunge, whine...he simply turned around and waited for the other dog to offer an acceptable response.  It was an amazing feeling to have a protector.

Today we took Maddie and Stetson to the river for a three miler.  I knew the recent rain and warm overnight lows would leave the mountain a slimy mess, so I nixed the longer mountain run.  The river wasn't much of a picnic - people , dogs, crates and the truck needed cleaning up when we got home.  Thankfully both the Siberian Husky and Australian Shepherd coats clean up easily.  It was a fun way to end a really great week together.

Her tummy was speckled brown and gray from the mud before a good brushing - white again!

 

His front, legs and tum dripped with brown/gray muddy slime before being wiped down and brushed out.