Flying Poodles

High Energy Training

Debbie has been after me to only train when Dancer is at her highest energy level. This takes some doing–I need to plan pretty carefully, get ready thoroughly, and then quit while she’s still peaking.

This morning, Jay and I went out to breakfast (we rode our bikes together, I am SO proud of myself) and left the girls in puppy jail (their spacious and very comfortable crate) while we were gone. When Dancer first gets out of the crate, she is just SO thrilled; usually I try to keep her from jumping on me, but this morning, I handed Elly off to Jay (who had a handful of treats and instructions to go work “sits, waits, and comes” until the treats were gone), and then I took Dancer and her tug toy down to the world’s smallest agility field.

I ran as fast as I could down the stairs (not easy after cycling up the Mt. Tabor hill, but what can you do?), pulled out the toy, let her tug for a few moments, then–following Debbie’s advice–pulled the tug away and didn’t ask for a wait or control, just sent her right over a jump. Wrap tight to the toy, tug madly. Send over a U of three jumps. Tug madly. And so on, for about four or five minutes. I was already dripping sweat from the bike ride–this just finished me off. BUT… I quit while Dancer was still eager to play. Yay for me!