ZOOOOOMMMM YAP! YAP! YAP!

When I take Layla for our morning constitutional, I sometimes pass a guy that lives in my neighborhood that I ran into at Best Friends Obedience a few times, (where I have Competition Prep Class and practice on Saturdays).  He has this cool little Aussie Mix that looks built for speed.  I remember him looking rather bewildered at open practice one Saturday while some of us had our dogs running courses (and blowing contacts, in our case) while he had just finished Agility 1. The teacher assigned to punch cards and take fees that day really tried to get him comfortable and give some good tips on working with his dog.  I haven’t seen him back much though, I guess he didn’t get as hooked into agility as some of us.  For me personally, I swear to God it’s crack!

He really should have stuck with it, at least his dog could wait for a command as a novice!  Layla would lay eyes on the agility field, and especially other dogs daring to DO AGILITY in her presence, and close her ears.  The leash would come off, I’d say jump, and “ZOOM yap yap yap yap”, as she would stop about two feet in front of the nearest dog telling them off for existing.  I’d get her back, get her to do a few obstacle and ZOOOOOM YAP!

The response from other handlers tended to be “You shouldn’t accept that”; and I’d think “HOW?”, or “You can’t let her do that!”; me, “what is this fabled not let?”

Folks were consistent in telling me what my dog shouldn’t be doing (NEWS FLASH: I had a clue), but people forgot to tell me the secret of fixing it.  I’m sure they didn’t mean to upset me, and seriously, all but one of these folks I really like now; but the sequel to ‘not let’ is more helpful than part one.  I didn’t dare take the plunge and buy a ticket with five practices for $20, I paid $5 per Saturday and people wondered why; heck, I thought we’d be kicked out at any minute and I'm to cheap to lose punches!

It got barely tolerable, but not much, as she got used to going there every Saturday; me still not in on the secret.  Then she went all wild-child at that agility trial and I ended up in obedience again (not the Pet Smart variety this time).  It helped that Layla’s best doggie friend had also shown some occasional canine delinquency and he was in the same class, distractions-distractions!  It was great.

What I didn’t realize is that not only would my crazy pup learn to have better self-control after a run in agility, but that it would rub off in a big way in practice.  Layla started ignoring the dog running the course.  She will bark at me demanding to be run, but that’s my tough luck, not some random stranger’s.  When we take a break from practicing I can say “go to your little house” and she will go back to her X-pen and start trying to find the opening (yea, I know, but she’s not full BC, so some smart genes got left out). "A" for more than effort Girlfriend!

If that’s the only secret I ever discover in this agility world, I’m still going to spread it far and wide; when someone wants it that is.  When I hear somebody, and I did, waiting with me to run our dogs when we were in novice AKC, talk about their dog tending to go wild after a run I tell them how much obedience training helped us.  Same with practice field fiascoes; I tell them that their dog can’t hold a candle to Layla’s former insanity out there, then what helped her get so much better.

It’s easy to forget part two when you’ve not suffered such humiliation in a while, or ever; but my dog still has too much over-drive, and I’m haunted enough by worst days to let someone in on the secret.