Yesterday Jonah and I went to DogStar to practice running Pairs.
It was kind of a disaster.
Jonah barked when Grace brought her dog in, and I thought that was pretty much to be expected, but then he slipped out of his collar and was free, sniffing the other dog's butt. Luckily he was great, but it was a bad start. I thought I tightened the collar enough but soon he slipped it again. I think from now on I'll just bring our agility collar/leash to classes since our 'around the house' collar pulls over his head too easily.
So, for our first run we went first. We just did a super easy loop around the outside of the ring. Jonah looked a little concerned that there was another dog in the ring at first and he started a little slow but picked up speed and looked really good. As we were heading back towards the 'exchange area' the last obstacle was 6 weave poles. Jonah saw the other dog and just got super excited and distracted. He ran past the weave poles twice before he even saw them. Goof. At least he wasn't running over to the other dog--he was just clearly over stimulated. After he did the poles he sat nicely and I handed over the baton.
I thought we were free and clear until our 'partner' dog started...and Jonah decided to follow! I wasn't holding onto him tightly enough and hadn't gotten the leash hooked on yet, so before I knew it both dogs were in the tunnel, with Jonah chasing the other! Yikes. I called him and he came back afterwards, and thankfully the other dog was very generous and didn't react. I was really shaken after that. Yarg.
We did do two more runs as a pairs team and both of those went smoothly aside from some excited barking. Still, though. It was not what I'd had in mind for the lesson and I was pretty disappointed.
It was encouraging that Grace doesn't think we're crazy to try pairs, though. She said that we just have to be heads up, because he won't be the worst dog out there. That was encouraging. We aren't the only crazies :). The thing is, I know Jonah would never go after a dog to hurt it, he's just talkative. The concern is if another dog is aggressive and Jonah's barking sets the other dog off. So, we just need to be careful.
Things we learned:
1. I can (and should) have Jonah on leash the whole time except while he is running his part of the course.
2. I need to think about where I throw my leash when I run so I can get it easily after we finish.
3. If I go first, I need to tell my partner to please wait until I have Jonah on leash before she/he starts.
4. We need to plan out where the dog who is not running will wait while the other runs.
5. Pairs is a time + faults scoring, so you can Q if you knock a bar or something so long as you're fast enough (I've never actually read the Pairs rules yet since I haven't run it yet).
After the lesson I was feeling like I needed to give Jonah more socialization (even though in class we talked about the fact that our time in VT may have made Jonah overwhelmed and he might need a few days to recover), so we went to Petco and Willards.
It was like he was a completely different dog. He was perfect.
At Petco he walked confidently ahead of me up through the automatic doors and met a nice lady coming out, who ooed and ahed over Jonah and petted him while he smiled politely. We got his food and went to the checkout counter where he met three more nice ladies who all pet him happily. I was very impressed. Good boy. He didn't look shy at all.
At Willards I started with him on leash but, as always, I wimped out and let him off because he wanted to run with the first dog we met. They had a grand time and we walked (well, the dogs ran, the people walked) with them for the rest of the loop. We met several other dogs and Jonah was as friendly and happy as could be. I think he was sucking up after the lesson. I hope it lasts.
Tonight we go back to Grace's and we're going to spend some time in the ring while another dog runs and also have another dog in the ring with us while we run. Should be...exciting!
It was kind of a disaster.
Jonah barked when Grace brought her dog in, and I thought that was pretty much to be expected, but then he slipped out of his collar and was free, sniffing the other dog's butt. Luckily he was great, but it was a bad start. I thought I tightened the collar enough but soon he slipped it again. I think from now on I'll just bring our agility collar/leash to classes since our 'around the house' collar pulls over his head too easily.
So, for our first run we went first. We just did a super easy loop around the outside of the ring. Jonah looked a little concerned that there was another dog in the ring at first and he started a little slow but picked up speed and looked really good. As we were heading back towards the 'exchange area' the last obstacle was 6 weave poles. Jonah saw the other dog and just got super excited and distracted. He ran past the weave poles twice before he even saw them. Goof. At least he wasn't running over to the other dog--he was just clearly over stimulated. After he did the poles he sat nicely and I handed over the baton.
I thought we were free and clear until our 'partner' dog started...and Jonah decided to follow! I wasn't holding onto him tightly enough and hadn't gotten the leash hooked on yet, so before I knew it both dogs were in the tunnel, with Jonah chasing the other! Yikes. I called him and he came back afterwards, and thankfully the other dog was very generous and didn't react. I was really shaken after that. Yarg.
We did do two more runs as a pairs team and both of those went smoothly aside from some excited barking. Still, though. It was not what I'd had in mind for the lesson and I was pretty disappointed.
It was encouraging that Grace doesn't think we're crazy to try pairs, though. She said that we just have to be heads up, because he won't be the worst dog out there. That was encouraging. We aren't the only crazies :). The thing is, I know Jonah would never go after a dog to hurt it, he's just talkative. The concern is if another dog is aggressive and Jonah's barking sets the other dog off. So, we just need to be careful.
Things we learned:
1. I can (and should) have Jonah on leash the whole time except while he is running his part of the course.
2. I need to think about where I throw my leash when I run so I can get it easily after we finish.
3. If I go first, I need to tell my partner to please wait until I have Jonah on leash before she/he starts.
4. We need to plan out where the dog who is not running will wait while the other runs.
5. Pairs is a time + faults scoring, so you can Q if you knock a bar or something so long as you're fast enough (I've never actually read the Pairs rules yet since I haven't run it yet).
After the lesson I was feeling like I needed to give Jonah more socialization (even though in class we talked about the fact that our time in VT may have made Jonah overwhelmed and he might need a few days to recover), so we went to Petco and Willards.
It was like he was a completely different dog. He was perfect.
At Petco he walked confidently ahead of me up through the automatic doors and met a nice lady coming out, who ooed and ahed over Jonah and petted him while he smiled politely. We got his food and went to the checkout counter where he met three more nice ladies who all pet him happily. I was very impressed. Good boy. He didn't look shy at all.
At Willards I started with him on leash but, as always, I wimped out and let him off because he wanted to run with the first dog we met. They had a grand time and we walked (well, the dogs ran, the people walked) with them for the rest of the loop. We met several other dogs and Jonah was as friendly and happy as could be. I think he was sucking up after the lesson. I hope it lasts.
Tonight we go back to Grace's and we're going to spend some time in the ring while another dog runs and also have another dog in the ring with us while we run. Should be...exciting!
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