Saturday, January 22, 2011

To My Terriers

I know, I know, I owe you at least one more France adventure posts. I won't make lame excuses for failing to deliver. That last post will come, but I felt inspired to write about something else tonight.

I've completed the first two weeks of the latest round of my dog training classes--I'm getting lots of positive emails from the participants and am pleased with their progress so far. (This is my one year anniversary for teaching the classes with Aramco Community Education--I think I'm getting a lot better at this training business.) I'm teaching two sessions of the basic obedience classes, one here in Dhahran on Thursdays and the second in Ras Tanura on Fridays. Both classes are full (I set the limit to 8 dogs per class). And I'm teaching a Rally Obedience class that runs for two hours on Thursdays. That class has 6 dog/handlers enrolled, 7 if you include me and Mimi since she and I take our turn on all of the courses. The Rally class is going really well--some super fun handlers with very good attitudes who are doing amazing things with their dogs. Mimi features prominently in all of these classes as a demo dog, so her weekend schedule is quite busy.

In the Friday RT class, there are two pure-bred salukis, littermate brothers. They are short haired and tan colored. Sadly, the owners named the dogs Barney and Peanut. (Arabic has to be the least melodious language I've ever encountered, and the culture hasn't advanced in 600 years. Nonetheless, I'm surprised the owners couldn't come up with cool Arabic names to suit these beautiful animals. But that's what you get when you let children name dogs.) These seven-month-old pups, whose heads reach up to my hip, are absolutely gorgeous dogs. I plan to study the breed standard because I suspect that although they are not perfect specimens, they are still very nice examples of the breed. In fact, I'd say they are pretty unusual examples.

Both pups are outgoing, friendly, engaged with their people, happy to take treats, and so far doing quite well in the obedience classes. Hardly the characteristics one associates with a saluki.

I've also got a private student, a Saudi guy, who got a saluki from a puppy mill in Dammam. She's had several litters (he doesn't know that but all the signs are there) and she is physically deformed from her puppy mill confinement (feet splayed out because her tendons have stretched and weakened due to lack of exercise; numerous scars on her head, ears, and flanks from dog fights, etc). Faiz named her Lucky because, as he told me, he thought that he was lucky to have picked her. She's a gem of a dog--patient with his kids, tolerates the chickens running around in his yard, and totally trainable. Lucky and Faiz have to be two of my best students so far. I told him that he was lucky to have found such a special dog!

This set of salukis has made me re-evaluate my prejudices against the breed. Sure, there are plenty of horribly dog-aggressive salukis and saluki crosses on camp with horribly clueless owners. But I am starting to understand what makes the breed appealing.

Still, I'll always love the terriers more than other types of dogs. I love my feisty little smooth foxes. I embrace the fact that I have to put up THREE puppy gates in my shitty little 800-square foot apartment to keep my dogs from misbehaving during the day. I love the fact that I can experiment with training a front and finish with Mimi using three totally different methods and she is cool with all three. I love the fact that my dogs destroy most plush toys in seconds. I am happy that my terriers accepted Tsingy into their--and her--new home and treat her like another dog.


I am not at all surprised at how well the terriers have adjusted to this new place--the heat is bad enough but the dust and salt compound the insult. The smooth foxes take it all in stride.

This post is dedicated to Harry, my little old man (12 1/2 years old) who is now starting to stumble over curbs (does he just not see them as well or is he getting a bit forgetful about the concept of curbs?), who tolerates Mimi with an infinite patience that he never had in his youth, who brings me his favorite babies over and over again hoping to entice me to play, who loves his belly rubs, who is getting very gray indeed, and who curls up next to me each and every night.


And it is dedicated to Mimi, my vivacious little terror, who absolutely and utterly ignores every dog in every class because for her, it's all about training with me (many thanks go to the trainers who helped me get her to that place), who steals toys from Harry with impunity, who plays with the cat, who despite more than 5 years of training still has no recall, who tries to eat every loose bit of flotsam she can find inside and outside the house, who goes berserk over the sight of every feral cat we encounter, and who curls up with me each and every night.


Here's to Harry and Mimi, whose follow the afternoon sun like plants. To Mimi, who sits on the dining table looking out the window each afternoon waiting for me to get home from work (she apparently anticipates Upul's lunchtime arrival every day as well). To Harry who may miss flyball but has the class not to complain about it.

Here's to the terriers. Tough, feisty, fearless. Guardy, stubborn, and quick to bite first, ask questions later. Full of life and bounce. As ready to go for a jaunt in the jebels as they are to curl up on the couch and take a nap.

2 comments:

seniormoments said...

So proud of my little granddogs. Gotta love 'em.

Anne said...

Once again, you have literally brought me to tears writing about your dogs. Oh, and it's about time you posted something!