Unexpected Achievement

The Trick Dog training had been a lockdown challenge.

While Mum had lined up her projects for the duration of the lockdown, she wanted to allocate time to engage with us. Without being able to go out for long walks during the two months plus – she made sure we were using our minds.

It started off with snuffle mats and puzzles to keep us entertained but when Julie started the Barnaby’s Trick Dog team on Facebook, Mum thought we could give it a go. Truth be told, she didn’t have much confidence in me getting past Intermediate. And she didn’t even think George would be capable of any of them.

But then she looked at the list of tricks that we can choose from for each level, and realised that through the years, she had taught us some of them without knowing they qualified as tricks. So it gave her a morale boost.

George and I got to Novice very quickly.

And Intermediate looked achievable for me.

When we got to Advance training, there were tricks that Mum really wanted me to learn. And I did.

After a lot of sweat (very hot summer weather) and a lot more patience – I managed to complete the fourth title – Expert!

For Expert, I needed to do:

• Weave through poles –
• Footsies and Walking – standing on Mum’s feet and walking
• Cross my paw – just to look lady-like
• Distance work – six tricks done from 12 ft away
• Shell game – scent training with pots

Woohoo!!! I think we’ll take a break now and let George have a go at Intermediate. I am proud to have come this far.

May’s comment: Who knew?!?!?! I was so nervous just before we began the challenge – thinking of failure, inability to teach and impatience would get in the way. Well, impatience did get in the way and I had to remind myself to stop and that this should be enjoyable rather than stressing about it.

It taught me a lot about myself as well as getting to know Darcy even better. I know she has a lot of trust in me and she needed that to do some of the tricks. And in return I needed to be precise and consistent – and to watch her threshold of knowing when I must stop pushing her. I also needed to identify the tricks that would be suitable for her. There were some that she would never be able to do because it’s not in her nature.

With all this done and dusted, there were still a few more tricks I would like to teach her – all for the fun of it. And we continue to practice the ones she had learnt but not yet her second nature. For example, the Weave – for the purpose of agility training when we can go back to doing that.

And now we focus on George. He is very different from Darcy. Darcy observes, reacts. She thinks, processes and tries to please. George is completely distracted by the treat and will jump through hoops to get it. His energy is very different so it will require a different approach with him. He doesn’t give up and never walks away from a session. He doesn’t really understand that I want him to something specific. So will need to find a another way of communicating with him.