Rally Class, Day Two

Okay, so we aren’t going to win any awards. For a while, at least.

We started class with introductions this time. And we were supposed to say what we liked most and least about our dogs. Most for Parker? He’s a quintessential Poodle. Least? He’s not nearly as shy as he used to be and he’s making up for it by acting the clown. It’s a period I loved the most about raising children. Those terrible twos when they started developing personalities, learning that they didn’t have to do and say what Mom and Dad asked for. Not sure why I loved it so much in children and find it so distasteful in a dog, but there you are.

Then we put the dogs in crates and walked the course. Parker either whined or barked the entire time. A definite first for him. I suppose some of those dirty looks were deserved, but I ignored him. I didn’t want to go back to the kennel to correct him, mostly because getting me to come back was what he wanted, and trying to yell at a barking dog is just saying, “I hear you, can you hear me?”

There were several new signs, and we were able to do the course twice, as well as a second course, which was much more advanced, with about five new signs.

When we started, the first sign was a “Halt, down, stay, walk around the dog, sit it, and take off.” Parker did the down just fine, but kept popping up as I walked around him. The instructor walking next to me told me to (1) keep my hand on his head and (2) keep saying “stay.” I did the former but not the latter. I’m a firm believer in not repeating myself. It kills me to listen to folks saying, “Stay. Stay. Stay.” All that does is teach the dog that it has to stay as long as you keep repeating yourself. Problem with keeping my hand on his head (which worked a treat, by the way) was that, by the time I got back around him, I was dizzy and fell over on top of him. He forgave me.

He was much better on the front thing (one step, two steps, three steps backwards) because we’ve been working on it very hard this past week, although sitting straight isn’t in his repertoire yet. And he did as well as could be expected on the pivot signs, considering how off balance *I* was doing them.

On the second course, there was a jump. When the instructor started telling us what to do, I said that Parker had never seen a jump before so if he showed any hesitation, I was just going to walk on by. Which I did the first time. The second time he was approaching the jump straight on and when I said, “Hup,” he lifted himself right over, no problem.

All in all, a good day.