Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Work is Play and Play is Work, or Training Terriers

With the departure of Ike, the weather has been stunning. Brisk 40s in the mornings, just reaching 80 in the afternoon. The nights are so clear you can read by the full moon. Too bad I'm stuck inside all day but at least my office has windows.

Gracie finally started her agility class on Monday night. I'm taking her to the same instructor that I have for Mimi. Debbie's facility is a large field next to her house. Simple but quite functional. It was the usual first night of a beginners class. Lots of sitting around, going over housekeeping and basic rules of behavior, demonstrating sits, downs, and stays, all of which Gracie does pretty darned well when she isn't sproinging around me like some crazed flea.


To be honest, Mimi does the crazed flea thing too. It's my fault, of course. I encourage them to jump up in the air next to me and they are often rewarded with toys, treats, and attention, so of course they offer ever more spectacular displays in the hope of getting ever more fabulous rewards.

Anyway, I did teach Gracie three new tricks while we were sitting there: tap my hand with her paw, jump over an outstretched leg, or go under and around my bent leg. And I worked on getting faster downs. Oh, and I also started teaching her to spin the other direction.

Dogs are handed just like people. Harry and Mimi turn to the left on the flyball box. Iz turned the same way. Oddly, Gracie prefers the other direction. Which means turning to her left is really hard for her. The first few times I lured her around that way, she corkscrewed herself up so tight she just plopped on the ground. She got better at it with some practice.

Gracie just might outshine her sister in agility. It's a bit early to say for sure but based on our work in the backyard, it's clear that she's got insane drive like Mimi (all that drive comes from the dam) and is wonderfully athletic. Plus, I don't need the super-special bunny fur tug-n-treat for Gracie. No, just offer her a regular fleece tug or a tennis ball and she's having a blast.

So Gracie's class ended at 8:15 and I got home just after 9pm. I was exhausted. Keeping Gracie calm and focused and happy for an hour and a half--after working a full day--was about all I could manage. After I got all the animals fed and had a bit to eat myself, it was well after 10pm. I collapsed into bed only to have the alarm go off at 5am...because Mimi's class is on Tuesday mornings!

And if Gracie is a handful, Mimi is three times that. I was so tired that I didn't do too well in class. For the jumpers sequences, we had box work and a bunch of 270's that required well timed handling. I just wasn't pulling it off today. Mimi could tell that I wasn't fully invested in the game so she was a bit distracted herself. But really, she worked hard for me and it was good Mimi in class for the most part.

1 comment:

UTB flyball said...

Oooooh, bad timing for both classes. Yikes!
Woo Hoo for Gracie - you kinda suspected she's got some hidden talents after all. Maybe agility will be her game.
Keep us posted.

Gosia