Whirlwind Weekend Away

[Adina P]

It seems wrong to post a blog THIS long unless it's as funny as Laurie's (Fudge and Vern), but I had to share anyway.

 

I had been wanting to meet with my trainer for a while for help in fine tuning my handling skills of Boca.  However, my trainer lives about 4-5 hours away (depending on driving speed) in Portland OR and, well, it's not the easiest trip for a Mommy to make!

 

I finally decided it needed to be done and this past weekend was the chosen weekend.  I was going to go alone with Boca, but Clark convinced me that I should take Natalie too since I'd be staying with relatives and she'd have a grand time hanging with her cousins -- really I think he just wanted a weekend to himself ;-)

 

But he convinced me and so on Thursday afternoon I loaded up Boca and Natalie and we drove off (with a little fear and trembling about how I'd manage a toddler and a dog if/when we had to make a pit stop).  Luckily the drive itself was easy.  Natalie was a trooper and Boca basically napped the whole time.  I even survived our potty stop halfway there.  It's not the easiest to carry a toddler on one hip and manage a dog (thank goodness she's good on leash!) who doesn't really like going potty on leash while it's SUPER windy and you're quite pregnant.  We did okay.  Boca didn't pee or poo and I decided that she didn't have to go bad enough so on we went.

 

The tough part was coming up.  The relatives are wonderful and sweet and I love them.  The only glitch is that they are 'outside dog' people with unfenced acreage (at least it's not completely fenced) and goats on one side of an easy-to-climb-through fence.  I was anxious about how Boca (and I) would handle this because obviously it was going to be more work than just opening up the back door to a fenced yard.  To add to my worries, the largest crate I have that fits in my trunk is a bit snug for Boca.  So I was feeling guilty and nervous about how I'd juggle her needs with everything else. 

First night was tough and she whined quite a bit in her crate--not for terribly long, but long enough to make me get up early the next morning to give her a break.  Next day was better...I cycled her between supervised off leash play, tie out, and crate time.  2nd night very minimal and short-lived whining.

 

Friday was our first training 'lesson' and it went extremely well.  I swear my trainer cast a spell on her and *I* was the one working her!  But she did far better than I expected.  One of the things I wanted to work on was my response/correction when she whines in the presence of new/other dogs.  This has been a big issue when we work outside the dog park and I hadn't been able to get a handle on it.  But with the exception of less than a handful of minor whines, she barely whined at all--and this park had a number of dogs pass by at various distances.  My trainer also had her airedale with her and her co-trainer had his feisty but well-trained airedale AND a 3.5 month pit bull pup.  We did heeling past the pup.  We did a long down stay near the pup.  The pup bounced around near Boca, sniffed her, etc and Boca held her stay beautifully...and for quite a while as this pup attempted to befriend her.  Yeah Bocadoodle!

 

We also did some recalls with all those dogs on either side of her in a line -- so she had to heel through a "distraction tunnel" essentially-- and my trainer squeaked and tossed a ball in her path.  This was much tougher and we had to do several repeats before she both A) came immediately and B) Didn't try to pass me in the recall.  Funny enough, her response was NOT to go after the tennis ball (despite somewhat of an obsession with them) or stop to visit the dogs, but simply to hesitate through the "tunnel."  But we just did it over and over and with varying distances until we got a good response.  We also heeled through the "tunnel" with decent success.  Of course, any failure on her part was totally MY fault.  I felt a little performance anxiety as I just am not used to listening to obedience ring commands like "forward," "about turn," etc.  So I was a little scattered and rough. 

 

In the meantime Natalie was back with her cousins having a blast!

 

Saturday was even better.  Once afternoon hit, Boca got tons of play time outside and didn't have to be crated until bedtime....  And even though she had to spend some time on the tie out, this made me feel SO much better.  While I didn't ever use her recall command unless she had a line on her, using informal calls and clapping my hand kept her away from the goats when they were present (as did tennis balls =)) and also worked decently to keep her from the cat who had already taught her a lesson (twice) about greeting cats you don't know.  And Natalie continued to have a blast with cousins and a couple of very young uncles =)  She also said one of her first sentences: "Lemonade, Papa make" noting that the lemonade was made by her cousins' grandpa =) 

 

Sunday was our 2nd training day and it was even better!  We actually met outside of Normandale Dog Park--much, much busier than ours at home, with dogs going in and out and lots of dogs playing inside the fence.  It was like Boca was a different dog!  She whined perhaps twice as I opened the door to my car (and never attempted to jump out even though she was NOT on any command or warned) and then again a couple times in front of my trainer.  We were joined by her co-trainer and a training mentee who brought her pit bull mix foster dog.  We did heeling past each other, sits near each other and various heeling patterns.  Once when Boca was holding a sit stay a HUGE black dog suddenly appeared next to her, sniffing her.  The dog's owner was on his cell and his dog was pulling at the end of the leash--which is how he ended up next to Boca.  It took me by surprise, but Boca didn't leave her sit stay (may have lifted a paw and turned neck toward the other dog, but that's it).  RIGHT ON BOCA! 

 

We even got as far as some off leash (but attached to a VERY thin line) heeling...and that too went as well as our usual heeling (which isn't polished, but very practical).  All in all a great training day.

And then what happened? Well I got to have lunch with some new DK friends: Pat & Traveler and Lauria Orr!  They are both very sweet and each of them kept me from getting lost at some point.  I'm the worst navigator in big cities :-(  Lauria couldn't bring her pups Morgan and Melody but I did get to meet Traveler and he's a sweetie...hard to believe he would be ever greet someone inappropriately!

 

Now for photos:

Look of dedication???

So, after lots of worry over "WHAT HAVE I DONE?"  Things turned out great in the end and I'm very glad I made this trip.  Boca was pooped on our way home Sunday afternoon.  And, at least, that night, she seemed to have found a new appreciation for the life of an 'indoor dog' because despite her usual insistence that she needs to spend ALL her time outside, she may have rung the bell ONCE that whole evening and enjoyed her house privileges =)

[Lindsey]

Wow! You did take on a lot, but WAY TO GO BOCA!! and Natalie-for saying her first sentence :-)

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Adina, I so admire that you took this on.  Pregnant, a toddler, and a Doodle puppy....now that's a challenge.  I know how much you enjoy training, and so I'm sure it was awesome to get this "face to face" coaching from your trainer.  It sounds like Boca certainly "did you proud"......good dog!!!!  It's also really nice that you got to spend some time with a few members of your DK family.  Oh, and the pictures are great.

[Adina P]

I didn't feel brave that 1st night...I felt super regretful and stupid! But really glad I went :)

[Camilla and Darwin]

Way to go Boca! And way to go Adina for being brave enough to handle a toddler and a pup at the same time! This post has renewed my dedication to step up Darwin's training.