I'm one of those overly competitive
types. I like seeing how my training stacks up against other people's work. I
didn't used to be terribly interested in shows or competition. Then Duncan and I
began taking classes. He did well and I had fun.
We started in rally, where the signs told
you what to do. We earned a title in a weekend and I was hooked. For a while
there wasn't much else to do, as Duncan is a mutt. I had looked into mixed
breed obedience titles, and UKC was well out of the way. Then the AKC opened
events to mixed breeds and we got started there.
In the Intelligent Disobedience post, I
talked about our failure leg. It was the only leg where he didn't earn a qualifying
score. However, I began to notice that he didn't like playing the game. He'd do
it, and score well, but he didn't like show grounds. It was little things- eyes
dilated, ears back, lip licks. He never ran from the work. I guess the sounds
were too much like the shelter.
It got to the point that I was leaving
him in the car until the dog before us went into the ring, then running to grab
him and tossing him in the ring cold, so that we'd be done with the run and out
of the ring before his pupils dilated and the stress panting began.
I wanted to do more, but I had a dog who
didn't like the ring. He did well in class, he did well at home, he was doing
the service dog thing in public. He performed well, despite his stress. His
last leg in the ring he did perfectly, I was the one who missed a station. That
he kept trying for me says just about all there is to say about Duncan. He tries
his heart out for me.
To be fair to him, I quit trialing. We
still play some, but it isn't something we're going to go after.
I have hopes that Keeper, raised as a
show dog, will enjoy the ring. I'd like to put titles on her, because I enjoyed
showing Duncan. Maybe she'll like playing the game with me. I can hope, and
train. I still want to do the obedience ring work, and I want to have a happy
partner, not one who’s doing something they don’t like because I asked. As
gratifying as it is to know he’d do the things that scare him for me, it wasn’t
fair for me to chase ribbons when he was having troubles.
I do wonder, now, if there might have
been indications that his CCL was starting to go, if it was the long car rides
to get places that set up his dislike of the ring… or if it really was just
that a concrete building full of dogs is going to bother Duncan for the rest of
his life. Either way, he earned the first titles I ever put on a dog, and has
his handful of ribbons from our short time in the ring.
He even made the AKC newsletter, as we
went out early in the mutts-are-welcome program, and there was a photographer
at our show. I’m proud of him, for so much more than the ribbons and the brief obedience campaign.
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