I’ve always said and truly believed that when I enter a dog trial and NQ (aka FAIL, NOT PASS, BLOW IT), is when I learn the most and identify the holes in my training with that dog! I knew I had a problem with Jake pulling me to the start line from the blind and in the last few months did some “obedience for a bite” training with Terence hoping it would transfer to “obedience for a rat” so he would not try to pull me into the ring.
Take note: Small dogs dragging their owners into the ring is cute people think… “oh look at all the drive” spectators say… “he really likes this!”
Jake is not a a 20 pound dog, or even 30 or 40 pounds. He is 80 pounds and clearly stronger than I am. So today, as we approach the ring, I try to hold him close to me but he’s pulling and I give the leash a little slack which Jake apparently took to meant “lunge forward” so he did dragging me to the start line… on the ground! No, I wasn’t hurt, but, clearly, it took me by surprise!
I wrote this on Facebook:
Day 1 - lol... well let's say, it was another learning experience! Good news is that we did get our first MASTER leg this afternoon and he did walk nicely to the ring instead of pulling and then jerking me to the ground like he did in the morning!! (we had a discussion about that between trials!) And since he decided to poo in the ring in the morning trial, he was cleaned out in the afternoon so I didn't have to worry about that happening again! In the second run he found 2 rats in under a minute and then I spent 2 minutes wondering if there were more!! There weren't! It was fun!
Day 2 – Master leg #2 in the morning…good job Jake!!! ….in the afternoon.. oh no.. ..more poo… how can that be with the small amount of food I gave him… well I yet again learned a new term … I need to “match” my dog before the trials.. THAT will be interesting! Google it!
Overall - I can’t complain!
2 legs in MASTER!! 2 BLUE ribbons!!
Really.. that is a good weekend!
Look at the tail! A hunter at 3 months!
No wonder he likes Barn Hunt!