A Whole Lot of Dammit

I know the title of this post seems crass.  It is, I was, and I probably should apologize publicly in some fashion to the other people on trails at Kennesaw Mountain  this morning who likely heard the irritated, breathy muttering (or louder) of the word frequently during the run.

Dog training normally begins with baby steps, toddler steps, pre-teen...  You get the picture, you don't just pick up a dog one day and put them in some performance situation and expect them to know what they are doing.  That's the point of training, using building blocks to create bridges between the necessary skills, one at a time until you chain enough together to perform.I don't do slow well.  I always push the envelope, always have and I should probably quit trying to be surprised when that habit smacks me upside the head on occasion as if I should know better.

Training Edge to run with Stetson and I seems like a good idea. I have laid out the steps I think are necessary to build him to the point of being able to go a reasonable duration on trail.  We began on the road, ventured to the trails at the river which are wide, flat and have very few foot obstacles that require my attention, thus I can focus on the puppy.  Do you see where I was going with this action plan?  Taking the process one step at a time...he has been doing really well and I have begun to not dread taking him with us as he's learning enough that I can actually use a normal stride and be reasonably comfortable with him in hand.

All week I've been planning on a run today, the day after Thanksgiving.  Dave had to work, so I was up and ready early to head to the mountain with JUST Stetson.  It would be so nice to have some time with just my boy and I.  The temperature was 27 degrees and I was really excited as I pulled the truck out of the garage to load.  Coming back into the house, I see Edge in the entry.  Such an eager and happy boy!  I walked into the kitchen and prepared our water bottles and post run goodies, (recovery I swear).  I headed back out to the truck to put things in and when I returned into the house I had two leashes and two collars in my hand.  Oops.  Oh well, I thought. He's been so good and tries so hard, it could be fun, so I loaded both dogs into the truck.  The moment your decision is no longer based on the big picture is the moment you open yourself up to a whole lot of dammit. And so it began shortly thereafter.

It started immediately, just barely onto the trail and out of the parking lot.  I fumbled to find my "hidden" pocket for my keys and both leashes fell out of my hands and to the ground.  Stetson stood by me, but Edge had his nose in the wet leaves and was off like a flash.  Zoomies around the parking lot as I muttered the first dammit and called his name sweetly, another round of zoomies and I began walking the other way hoping he'd at least do a fly by and I could grab or stomp on the lead.  Well he didn't, something moved or fell or whatever in the woods and he stopped dead and put all his energy forward looking intently into the woods.  Okay, now I think I'm completely in more trouble that I can imagine when he glances over to me as I called his name.  At the moment he looked our way, Stetson, my hero, flopped into a play bow and woofed at him.  Edge came flying over and pounced on Stetson and I took the leash in my then frozen hand as if he'd been by my side all along.

I probably achieved the cardio workout intended without having moved ten yards yet, but it didn't end there.  We cross below the Illinois Monument and begin a downhill stretch of path when I realize that this was the first time I'd been out on a trail with my new contact lens, with improved reading capability, but slightly reduced distance ability.  Looking down at the leaves quickly passing beneath my feet, I realize that the path is a bit blurred.  Another curse as I slip on the heavily covered wet leaves.  Okay, let's walk a bit.  Blink, walk, blink, blink and my eyes seem to adjust quickly to the new prescription and we're off again.

It didn't take long to realize that Edge had too much lead to keep him from lunging and pulling in his excitement.  By coiling his leash a couple of times I could keep him close enough to me that a leash correction caught his attention and he quickly remembered to not pull.  At this point, I'm feeling okay.  We've been up a few inclines and walked a few descents when we came to a nice area of flat trail.  I decided to keep Edge in and let Stetson have his full six feet of leash.  Yes, this seems to be working well and I allow myself my full stride for the first time.  Taking a short choppy stride is a defense mechanism I developed when running with Maddie and Nakeeta because it gave me better control to keep myself upright in the event they decided to try to chase a squirrel or pull hard on the lead for whatever reason.  It works to stay upright, but it actually kills my lower back and causes extra strain on my knees.  So letting go felt really good.  Until we approach a horse pile that apparently was beyond temptation for Edge.  Here's the lineup; Edge on my left and barely a shoulder in front of me, Me at full stride, horse poop pile on my right.  One stride into it and he cuts in front of me with his head bending down.  I'll let your imagination take you wherever you wish to go regarding my verbal reaction to this one.  Thankfully I didn't fall, except in good nature.

The rest of the run was pretty smooth.  By the time we hit three miles he was relaxed and into the groove of things.  I don't much like the first three miles anyway.  And then here's this face coming out of the crate at me later.  He isn't trying to get out of the crate to run off, he's trying to get to me with big happy kisses.  Yes little man, it was still much better than "Black Friday" shopping or a day at the office.

Deer Proof and Squirrel Proof

He is smart.  You can see it in the way he watches you, he considers your every request and does his best to comply.  If you put him up, or finish training obedience or agility exercises for the day and the next day you ask him the for the same new behavior he was introduced to the day before, he simply begins to do it as though he had done it many times before.  I will be challenged to not increase my criteria often enough with him.

Run training is not an exception to the way he learns.  The stimulus of nature was pretty intense for him the first time we ran at the river.  He wanted to pee on everything and tried to dart in front of Dave's path on more than one occasion after a squirrel the first day out.  A firm "leave it" and "on by" weren't seeming to get me far, but I was intent on getting my message across.  Then my one of my worst fears on a trail (based on previous experience with Nakeeta and/or Madison), deer.  Two of them.  They weren't peeking at us from behind cover, of course not, they were grazing alongside the trail.  Dave and I estimated the two doe were within ten feet of us as we passed.  Thankfully they didn't start and run, but the excitement was high for Edge.  He stopped and looked, checked in with me and then looked back at them a few times after we passed.  What a good boy!  I was thrilled.

The second time out the squirrels were everywhere.  Darting across the path ahead of us, scrambling up trees trail side and noisily scurrying under leaves on either side of the trail.  A couple of good firm "leave it" or "on by" demands from me and he was done.  Early in the run he began to show attention to them and slow and then move forward and continue on.  Occasionally he would check in with Dave or I, but for the most part he was making decisions on his own.  It is huge that he has this much control.  Our safety depends on good decisions by all of us.

In time, he is going to be a great running partner.

Knowing Your Decision is the Right One

When we determined that Stetson wasn't going to physically hold up well to a career in Agility I sank pretty low.  Yet I knew he wasn't fun for me to work with in the sport.  His cautious personality doesn't fit my need for the rush of the sport.  I rarely enjoyed our time training or competing, so being let down seemed silly.  To my rational self, it actually seemed ridiculous to get wrapped up in it and think of it as a loss.

What I did hold onto though was the rekindling of my love for the sport.  Having brought Edge into our home and beginning agility training him has on occasion given me the temptation to see if Stetson might be able to compete in Preferred and seek his preferred novice titles.  The temptation is however fleeting because doing what is best for him will always be my primary focus, yet it has flitted in the back of my mind for some time.

Obedience has a minimal amount of jumping and, depending on the dog, it is more controlled.  In order to be certain he would be comfortable for a long career in the sport, I began incorporating strength training that targeted his front end, I started over on jump training.  I wanted to ensure he is knowledgeable and using his body correctly.  We began with ladder work, then moved to poles on the ground, uprights without poles and finally jump chutes.  He is retrieving over the high jump and landing more appropriately than he did prior to the groundwork and jump chutes.  I feel like he will always need jump chutes as part of his training every once in a while to keep him mentally on the game.

The past few weeks we've done jump chutes a couple of times a week plus he has been run more frequently.  I have been of the mindset that we put in the work, it was time to test and evaluate our results. The training and reconditioning is paying off as he is stretching out after a workout without trying to pull back on me when I work his front end and today he even let out the long, heavy sigh of relaxation.  He is relaxing so deeply during the stretch that he is going to sleep.

He is recovering to normal respiration very quickly after 3 mile runs.  Before we stepped back and started over on training and conditioning, he would occasionally "miss" launching into the truck to kennel and hit at his chest on the bumper.  I have become so confident in him the past two weeks that I haven't even thought twice about letting him launch into the truck.

Over this weekend we have run almost three and half miles on back to back mornings, not something I would have considered with him only five months ago while we were battling what seemed like one injury after another.  This afternoon I sent him over the panel to retrieve over the high jump twice and he sailed smoothly over and picked up and returned the dumbbell to me smartly.  When we finished working in the yard and I ran my hands over him, there was no heat and no sign of avoiding my handling him. No more questions.  No more second guessing.  Pulling him out of agility was absolutely the right thing to do.

I am not looking back anymore.  I have confidence at last. He is strong, he is sound and most importantly, he is my partner.

New Dog Training

We've taken Edge out a few times to run, but honestly, the run is kind of sacred between Stetson and I.  I'm the most insanely sentimental person I know and what I have been able to accomplish in the past 24 months partnering with this dog in performance events, human and canine, is just not something that I want anything else walking on.

On the way to the river this morning

That being said, Dave offered to run the river this morning instead of going to the gym since it was a chilly thirty two degrees and he knows how much I love to run cold.  I couldn't pass it up.  My scheduled run yesterday with Stetson was cancelled due to my strong dislike of wind, so this was the perfect make up session in my opinion.  So off we went at 7ish this morning, Dave, myself and two dogs.

Green dogs have a way of screaming novice at you no matter the situation and today was no exception to the rule.  Stetson came out of the truck politely by Dave's instruction and gingerly stretched before he gave a quick spin of eagerness to hit the trail.  Edge on the other hand, came out of his crate and promptly sat down as he has been trained to do so I can put his leash on, but when I released him to the ground, he hit the end of his lead hard enough to force a soft cough.  Yep, it's going to be one of those days.

My best running buddy

And so it went for just over three miles - trotting, lunging, stopping to get him collected, trotting, lunging, stop to get his attention, trot, lunge...  My scheduled core and upper body workout at the gym will either be a) unnecessary in the morning or b) I'll be too sore to lift a single weight.

Reward for good work, or work anyway...

All the complaining aside, there were moments of genuine gift out there this morning.  Times that he checked in with Dave and/or myself to make certain things were going as they should.  Times that we needed to walk and he let the lead fall limply between us.  Lastly, the enormous kiss received when he loaded back into the truck seemed to temporarily erase my desire/need to train a new running partner.  He loves to be a part of anything and the moment he thinks he is wrong, his little world crumbles in front of you.  I love this dog, he is everything that I consciously requested when I decided I needed to run agility again.

Keep on trying little man, you melt me every time I catch you watching me, waiting for our next adventure.