Flying Poodles

Teamwork… How I learned to work with my dog

Elly has a mind of her own. I got interested in dog training because I wanted to figure out how to turn a wild dog into a pleasant companion. Thus, I got into agility. Agility training is all about learning how to persuade your dog that agility is more fun than a lot of other things. Remember, it’s done OFF-LEASH.

Elly has run out of the ring to chase birds, eat horse poop, beg the food people for tomato soup (which she loves), snatch a hot dog from a child’s hand (yep, he was leaning over the rail). Once she left the ring to drink water from another dog’s water bowl. I don’t lead out now, because that just gives her time to get distracted.

Remember, not long ago, Elly was having so much fun tracking a rabbit that she actually managed to wedge herself into a tight spot so thoroughly that it required a crowbar (on a rock not on the dog) to get her out. She is not a biddable dog.

In training and in casual advice, over the years I have been told to be more fun than horse poop, digging up and eating field mice, chasing birds, and a few other things. And over the years, I have occasionally managed to be more fun than those things–for whole minutes at a time. It has now been six months since my dog last ran out of the ring in search of “more fun” during an agility trial.

Elly and I have worked out a deal. During agility, she gives me her entire attention for several minutes at a time. If she can’t give me her attention, she goes back to her crate and I work with my other dog, also a standard poodle. We don’t do much training, which I’m sure is obvious to all the people I know.

In exchange for the attention to agility, I give Elly a lot of attention to what she wants. We go to the puppy park, where I swap treats for a regular check-in with me. We do a few minutes of clicker training every evening, in exchange for her dinner. And I always use the best quality treats, which she insists on. (I even make my own treats.)

Dancer arrived at my house at three months old (she’s now almost two years), and immediately decided that I was the source of all good things. I’ve never had to fight with horse poop or anything else for her attention. She’d work for love–as long as I didn’t ask her to do the teeter. Right now, she is asleep on the floor near my chair; Elly is asleep on the couch in the next room.

With Elly, I have to be more *important* than the environment–and I have to be an effective and benevolent leader, so that she thinks it’s worthwhile to follow me. Fun is a small part of the equation.