Archie Goes To School

Archie went to school with me this week. I'm pleased to report that he received a perfect score--a perfect Body Condition Score, that is. For the last lab of our Clinical Nutrition course, some of us were asked to bring in pets (dogs and cats). I offered to bring in Archie. He had to hang out next to my table in a crate for over three hours before the lab, although he had potty breaks between classes. He was a bit cramped in the crate--it's one that I keep in my car for short trips with a terrier, not well suited to such a long nap. But that's pretty much what he did, snoozed quietly.

One important addition to his training occurred first thing that morning: stairs. Our classroom is on the second floor of the building. All the entrances are on the first floor. Archie took one look at those industrial grey stairs and said, nope, no way, not doing that. What an oversight on my part. I had to bribe him with a trail of treats to get him up those stairs (I of course came loaded with an entire training bag full of treats). Going down the first time was not much better. But after a couple of trips up and down for his potty breaks, he was getting the idea, bounding up and down the stairs ahead of me.

Once the lab began, I put him up on one of the desks while an array of my classmates came by to conduct the exam. Evaluation of BCS requires the vet or the vet tech to examine several parts of the animal: neck, shoulders, spine, ribs, hips, and base of tail. For cats, we also have to examine the abdominal skin flap. Lots of cats fill that flap with fat. You can do this exam quickly without too much prodding or poking of the animal. I held Archie's collar and fed him a slow but steady stream of treats.

There were cats everywhere: cats in arms, cats walking on leashes on the floor, even a cat on the end of the same table that Archie was standing on. He behaved perfectly. No whining or barking or lunging. Oh, sure, he thought about doing all those things. He kept looking at me, I think worried that he might miss a signal that would give him permission to launch into action. 

In addition to being a smooth fox terrier, generally a pretty social breed, Archie was well socialized by his breeder. He got to meet over a dozen new people during the lab and rather enjoyed being handled by them. It's always a fine balance between bribing and rewarding but the treats kept him from getting too distracted and wiggly.

After we all examined several animals each, the instructor came around to each animal, examined it, then discussed with the whole class the BCS score he would use and why it applied to that animal.

Archie got a perfect BCS score! All of my classmates and the instructor gave him the same score: 3 out of 5. In fact, the instructor said that he was in "excellent condition". I was very pleased that he said this. I measure my animals' meals down to the kibble piece. I always feed a bit less kibble than I think that they need because that frees me up to give them many treats on any given day. It's a little harder to reach the right balance with Archie because, with his near-daily training, he consumes a large volume of treats every week.

Quite a few people complimented me on how good he was being with all the cats and strange people and handling and having to chill in a crate. He was indeed a very good boy!