Perhaps a New Virtue is Developing

 

 

 



 



 

 

My best friend says about me, "you don't suffer fools well..."  I would add that I don't suffer foolish behaviour well either.  I am a straight shooter, I'm quick to make a decision and I'm quick to respond if I think a decision needs to be made.  Indecisive behaviour makes me crazy.

True personalities tend to come out in a person when they are training or working with an animal.  As a running partner, there's not much that Stetson has to "get" other than move forward, don't pull and don't act a fool toward other dogs.  Building teamwork hasn't been a mental stretch for either of us with regard to running.  Obedience and Agility is another story all together.  My intentions are not casual.  I expect to earn titles in both venues, and intend to do so to the best of both of our abilities.  This expectation and goal requires me to step back and evaluate myself as a trainer/handler as well and my dog.  I'm not too good at looking objectively at things, because well, normally I'm too busy handling them to think about it.

At obedience work, Stetson is at the place in his training that he is "offering behaviours" to me when he doesn't understand what is being asked of him.  This is a good problem to have.  It means I have a dog that is interested in working, interested in being "right" according to my standard and strong minded enough to try "tricks" until I hopefully reward something.  The first problem with this is that I lose my patience if I don't get the "right", (again, according to me), response.  I typically don't spend enough time letting him figure something out before I "lure" him with food.  I never had a dog that offered what they thought I wanted them to do, so I'm learning that I have to be patient (new word for me) and give him a bit of time before I step in and redirect him.  My obedience instructor is working with me to get me to "slow down" and give him an opportunity to give me the right behavior.

Tonight during agility class, these lessons I'm being taught about slowing down paid off while he learned the difference between the teeter plank (which tips and bangs loudly) vs. the dogwalk plank (which doesn't tip and is three times as long).  When we began reviewing the teeter with Stetson tonight, he left the entrance (down side) and popped up on the end of the teeter causing it to crash to the ground.  Creating that kind of noise is normally scary to a green dog, but he is smart and anxious to get the food reward at the end, so he repeated this behaviour several times and when he began to take the teeter correctly, he popped off before it tipped and walked over to slap it to the ground.  I didn't get frustrated with him tonight.  The instructor was pleased with his interest in smacking it down (knowing that he really can be worried about noises and new experiences) and somehow I knew that he wasn't trying to avoid, he was trying to cut to the chase and figure out how to get his reward.  It didn't take very long and we were able to get him going over the teeter, beginning to end...and the results on the dogwalk were even more exciting and faster.

I knew I could teach a four year old dog many, many new tricks; but I'm thrilled that this fifty year old woman is learning too.  I have always heard "patience is a virtue".  Perhaps I'll be known as patient someday.
 

A Personal Best for Stetson

A very calm dog during recovery after our run

Spring is coming in with an easy transition for my running endurance this year.  This is the first time since we have lived in Atlanta (10 years now), that it feels like we're experiencing Spring.  From my own conditioning perspective, I am grateful for the slow transition to warm or hot weather.  It is such a shock to my system to have a run on a 30 degree morning one weekend and the next weekend it is a warm, muggy 54+ degree morning.  It can make for a long, wheezy run that often left me feeling like I had zero conditioning and less than zero desire to put my sneakers back on a couple of days later.  Once I acclimate to heat, it's game on - bring up the temp and I'm out there, but that transition period can feel like starting at nill all over again.

This year, I also have Stetson's conditioning to contend with.  We have only been running together for six months now.  During that period, we've both have down times due to injury and/or illness, so reaching and maintaining a solid level of performance has been a moving target this winter.  He's given me some stellar 6 milers in cold conditions, but heat is something we haven't experienced together.  I decided to take it really slow and work him at mile and a half "warm up" distances and then drop him off so I could continue solo for a period, hopefully sufficient enough to allow him to acclimate to the heat gradually.  This plan was intended with the dual purpose of keeping his safety and comfort as my number one priority, while giving me some ability to determine how far we can target building up to for the season of warm and humid conditions.  Regardless of how far he ends up going into the heat this summer, I'm stoked about some fast and long runs come fall with him with this extra time of conditioning.

This morning it was 54 degrees and we hit the trail at the Hooch for an easy, flat 5K.  I haven't really asked him to do three miles for awhile, so I was prepared to hang back to see if he had any issues.  We stopped at the turn taking us from the river to the "inland" section of the trail to offer him water and he just looked at me as if to say "go ahead, whimp, I'm good".  So we finished without any further attempts on my part to baby him.  I stopped several times to walk and regain my breath, but he was never hesitant to start back into a trot again.

When we finished and I stopped my lap meter on the heart rate monitor, I realized we completed the trail in under 13 minute mile averages.  Madison is incredible for a 13 year old dog, the fact that she runs with us at all anymore is amazing; but our total time difference between the river runs with her this winter (in cool or cold weather), and today is over 13 minutes.  I'm thrilled with that performance and crazy excited about building on it!