Distractions – 11th October 2009

It is always useful to repeat training exercises in an environment that provides a few more distractions than normal, if for no other reason than to remind yourself that training is contextual.  I really believe that Grace thinks the signal for a drop, if all around is quiet, means drop.  If another dog walker is in sight, however, it means stop for a second, calculate the chances of getting away with a complete disobeyal of the instruction, then run up to the other dog leaping and writhing like a ten week old puppy.  This is obviously what happened today.

We went up to the racecourse for a bit of direction work, drops, recalls etc.  It was Sunday though and the sky was blue so we weren’t alone.  I can honestly say that I have put so much more effort into training Grace to drop than Archie and with Grace I still haven’t got it anywhere near bomb proof.  In fact, looking at both dogs you would swear that it was Grace that had only had six months of training.  Both dogs noticed an oncoming couple with a dog and Grace behaved as described whilst Archie dropped immediately to the ’sit’ and waited for me to go over and slip on his lead.  By this time Grace was making a prat of herself, writhing about like an idiot in front of what turned out to be a Tibetan Terrier that wasn’t the least bit impressed.  Luckily its owners were far more tolerant.

We had a chat and the owners of the terrier asked what dogs I had.  We talked about training and they asked if they could see Archie drop to command again (as they had seen him do it earlier).  I cast him off, turned him on two pips to the right, recalled him and dropped him in front of me.  It was a risky thing to do as any ‘demonstration’ is destined to be an episode of severe embarrassment, but it worked.  Archie did everything right whilst Grace, on the lead by this time, wriggled about like an eel on a line.  We said our goodbyes and went on our separate ways. 

Without distractions Grace was dropping fine, which was good.  Doing the same in front of other dogs was another story.  Both dogs had a good run though, and Archie even managed to find a badger dung pit to roll in.  Great.

It is getting colder now so, as a treat, I have replaced the kennel pop hole door.  I have two parts to the kennel, one side as original with its plastic pop hole curtain intact – reserved for guests (their dogs that is).  The other side is ply lined and partially insulated, with a raised bed, and now with a rather stylish curtain made of two hessian sacks (Archie ate the original one and its replacement).  It is now quite snug inside but I give the door three days before Archie has shredded it.  We will see.