Man vs. Beast
For three weeks now, my daughter and I have been taking our two, year-old beagles to Doggy Obedience Class every Thursday at 5 p.m. She usually has Tony and I usually have Lexie although we have traded off when we get too frustrated with one or the other.
The first week went rather well, after our dogs greeted all the other dogs there with ARFFF!! Arrrff!!! ARFFF!! and Arrrrhhh-wwwoooo!!! Arrrrhhh-wwwoooo!! Lexie has that distinctive deep-throat beagle bark which must carry at least 15 miles with a good back wind however Tony's is more a regular, annoying dog bark.
Once they looked at all the dogs there, which included a very laid back Rottweiller, a mixed Australian shepherd/spaniel, a miniature pinscher, a 4 month old Black Lab and several other nondescript dogs that I can't remember because I haven't seen them since the first class, they pretty much went about their own business. The problem with this dog class is that if you miss your day on Thursday, you can attend the alternative class on Saturday and vice versa. So last week we had a new dog show up that belonged in the Saturday class. Our two dogs made a huge racket over this new dog because they knew he "didn't belong" since he hadn't been there the first week. None of the other dogs minded and kept heeling obediently but mine had to sniff, bark, Arrrrhh-wwooo all the way around the perimeter of the large area we walked our dogs in. This was a little embarrassing but not unfixable and we left class when it was done with high hopes for the next time, congratulating ourselves on being able to teach them to heel, sit and stay.
Then we came to tonight which would be Week Three. Everything started off calmly enough with just a few barks and Arrrhh--wwoos and soon we got them under control and sitting correctly while we waited for the rest of the class to show up. There were only 4 of us there and the teacher said, "That's ok, I can concentrate on the 4 of you more closely now." But that was all to change in the next 15 min. In walked a team of large Golden Retrievers, my dogs went nuts, lunging, barking, whining and somehow I got positioned between both of them. I had Tony at this point and he either wanted to lunge ahead and sniff the dog ahead of us or he was looking behind him to see how close the big one in back was getting. Then in walked a lady with an overgrown "Benjie" type dog and she proceeded to join the rest of us but then for some reason, she left the line of dogs and owners going around and around and decided to position herself just off the path on the cobblestones and teach her dog to sit and she WAS USING DOGGY TREATS!!! Each time my dogs passed that area, they lunged toward the dog or the treats, I'm not sure which, in between barking and Arrrrhh-wwoooing. The teacher said, "Well, you have beagles, you didn't think this was going to be easy, did you?" and we both laughed (on the outside).
Then, about half past the hour, in walks another new dog, this time a little Yorkshire Terrier
with an elderly lady with her knee in a brace. My dogs went berserk again and I wondered why anyone would show up to class when it was half done. Somehow this lady got in front of me. We now have around 15 people and dogs in the procession and my dogs don't know which dog they have to keep any eye on anymore. Their heads are swiveling around so fast, they have no idea what they are doing and they are certainly not listening to our commands half the time. I am growing a little cranky.
Suddenly, the lady ahead of me, the one with the brace and the Terrier, stops, turns and says to me, "Please don't follow me so close." I stop, glance back and suddenly I have a Golden Retriever with it's nose up my butt (well almost) and there is a congested line of impatient dogs and owners behind him. In fact, the whole other side of the room was empty and we were all squished behind this one lady who then says to me, "You know, I can't walk that FAST." I mumbled something that might have sounded like "I'm sorry," but I was trying to understand how she thought she was going to keep up with everyone else with a bulky brace on her knee. The fact was, we had been going at break-neck walking speed all night and I was ready to fall over. I blame it all on the big dogs.
Meanwhile, because this doggy training area is in a vet clinic, we are situated between their exercise yard and their kennels so that means that every dog that is being boarded there has to cross our area in order to be taken out to be exercised. There was a nice young man there who was doing this on a regular basis. First he hauled a big white dog across the paved area, then a little while later, he hauled it back again only to emerge with a Chow which he paraded across our training area and then back again. My dogs did not miss this. In fact, they wanted to bolt away and follow the disappearing dogs out the backdoor. I was getting tired.
Then came the time to teach the dogs "a new thing". This usually happens after a good half hour of walking, turning, stopping, sitting, heeling and staying. She had us all line up against the far wall, toes on the inner cobblestones and we were told to make our dogs sit and stay. Tony was ok with that part. He was more concerned about "Pseudo Benji" panting next to us. Sandy, the teacher took "Benji" and used him to demonstrate the new technique which was to make your dog sit, stay and then you push down on the shoulder blades, pulling up with the leash and force your dog down to a laying position, firmly and gently. Everyone beamed at cute Benjie and she took him back to his owner. "Ok," she said, "We will all do it one at a time starting on this end." That happened to be my end. Benjie was first and he performed it perfectly but I decided it wasn't fair because he had prior knowledge of the procedure. Tony was next and everyone looked at us expectantly. "Sit, Tony!" I said encouragingly, "Now Stay, good boy!" "Ok, now down," and I did just as the teacher demonstrated, pulled up on the leash, pushed down on the shoulder blades and ......nothing happened. He didn't budge an inch. I tried again. Same results. In fact, he was beginning to look annoyed. I hunkered down next to him and this time put all my weight into the push this time and he moved maybe an inch and sprung right back up. I began to use all my best wrestling holds, I twisted, I pushed, I pulled and this little thirty pound dog was able to resist me at every turn. By now, the teacher had moved on and was almost at the end of the row. I glanced up to see every dog laying down calmly. I then hefted Tony in my arms, turned him on his side and forcibly laid him on the ground where he stayed about 2 seconds before he popped up. When I reached for him the final time, he let out a very nasty growl and snapped at me which shouldn't have surprised me. I looked up again to see all eyes on me, including the teacher's and all dogs watching with interest except the Golden Retriever on the end who was trying to chew a piece of the potted plant next to him.
The teacher came over and said, "That's ok, we are trying to teach him the dominant "down" and he doesn't like it. He has to learn. I hope you're going to work on this at home this week." I muttered something like, "Of course, every minute," and she laughed.
I got home and collapsed in exhaustion wondering why they didn't just let 6 or 7 cats loose in the room with us while we're trying to train them. It couldn't hurt.
By the way, Spell Check tells me a good substitution for Arrrghh-woooo, is WWII. I agree.
The first week went rather well, after our dogs greeted all the other dogs there with ARFFF!! Arrrff!!! ARFFF!! and Arrrrhhh-wwwoooo!!! Arrrrhhh-wwwoooo!! Lexie has that distinctive deep-throat beagle bark which must carry at least 15 miles with a good back wind however Tony's is more a regular, annoying dog bark.
Once they looked at all the dogs there, which included a very laid back Rottweiller, a mixed Australian shepherd/spaniel, a miniature pinscher, a 4 month old Black Lab and several other nondescript dogs that I can't remember because I haven't seen them since the first class, they pretty much went about their own business. The problem with this dog class is that if you miss your day on Thursday, you can attend the alternative class on Saturday and vice versa. So last week we had a new dog show up that belonged in the Saturday class. Our two dogs made a huge racket over this new dog because they knew he "didn't belong" since he hadn't been there the first week. None of the other dogs minded and kept heeling obediently but mine had to sniff, bark, Arrrrhh-wwooo all the way around the perimeter of the large area we walked our dogs in. This was a little embarrassing but not unfixable and we left class when it was done with high hopes for the next time, congratulating ourselves on being able to teach them to heel, sit and stay.
Then we came to tonight which would be Week Three. Everything started off calmly enough with just a few barks and Arrrhh--wwoos and soon we got them under control and sitting correctly while we waited for the rest of the class to show up. There were only 4 of us there and the teacher said, "That's ok, I can concentrate on the 4 of you more closely now." But that was all to change in the next 15 min. In walked a team of large Golden Retrievers, my dogs went nuts, lunging, barking, whining and somehow I got positioned between both of them. I had Tony at this point and he either wanted to lunge ahead and sniff the dog ahead of us or he was looking behind him to see how close the big one in back was getting. Then in walked a lady with an overgrown "Benjie" type dog and she proceeded to join the rest of us but then for some reason, she left the line of dogs and owners going around and around and decided to position herself just off the path on the cobblestones and teach her dog to sit and she WAS USING DOGGY TREATS!!! Each time my dogs passed that area, they lunged toward the dog or the treats, I'm not sure which, in between barking and Arrrrhh-wwoooing. The teacher said, "Well, you have beagles, you didn't think this was going to be easy, did you?" and we both laughed (on the outside).
Then, about half past the hour, in walks another new dog, this time a little Yorkshire Terrier
with an elderly lady with her knee in a brace. My dogs went berserk again and I wondered why anyone would show up to class when it was half done. Somehow this lady got in front of me. We now have around 15 people and dogs in the procession and my dogs don't know which dog they have to keep any eye on anymore. Their heads are swiveling around so fast, they have no idea what they are doing and they are certainly not listening to our commands half the time. I am growing a little cranky.
Suddenly, the lady ahead of me, the one with the brace and the Terrier, stops, turns and says to me, "Please don't follow me so close." I stop, glance back and suddenly I have a Golden Retriever with it's nose up my butt (well almost) and there is a congested line of impatient dogs and owners behind him. In fact, the whole other side of the room was empty and we were all squished behind this one lady who then says to me, "You know, I can't walk that FAST." I mumbled something that might have sounded like "I'm sorry," but I was trying to understand how she thought she was going to keep up with everyone else with a bulky brace on her knee. The fact was, we had been going at break-neck walking speed all night and I was ready to fall over. I blame it all on the big dogs.
Meanwhile, because this doggy training area is in a vet clinic, we are situated between their exercise yard and their kennels so that means that every dog that is being boarded there has to cross our area in order to be taken out to be exercised. There was a nice young man there who was doing this on a regular basis. First he hauled a big white dog across the paved area, then a little while later, he hauled it back again only to emerge with a Chow which he paraded across our training area and then back again. My dogs did not miss this. In fact, they wanted to bolt away and follow the disappearing dogs out the backdoor. I was getting tired.
Then came the time to teach the dogs "a new thing". This usually happens after a good half hour of walking, turning, stopping, sitting, heeling and staying. She had us all line up against the far wall, toes on the inner cobblestones and we were told to make our dogs sit and stay. Tony was ok with that part. He was more concerned about "Pseudo Benji" panting next to us. Sandy, the teacher took "Benji" and used him to demonstrate the new technique which was to make your dog sit, stay and then you push down on the shoulder blades, pulling up with the leash and force your dog down to a laying position, firmly and gently. Everyone beamed at cute Benjie and she took him back to his owner. "Ok," she said, "We will all do it one at a time starting on this end." That happened to be my end. Benjie was first and he performed it perfectly but I decided it wasn't fair because he had prior knowledge of the procedure. Tony was next and everyone looked at us expectantly. "Sit, Tony!" I said encouragingly, "Now Stay, good boy!" "Ok, now down," and I did just as the teacher demonstrated, pulled up on the leash, pushed down on the shoulder blades and ......nothing happened. He didn't budge an inch. I tried again. Same results. In fact, he was beginning to look annoyed. I hunkered down next to him and this time put all my weight into the push this time and he moved maybe an inch and sprung right back up. I began to use all my best wrestling holds, I twisted, I pushed, I pulled and this little thirty pound dog was able to resist me at every turn. By now, the teacher had moved on and was almost at the end of the row. I glanced up to see every dog laying down calmly. I then hefted Tony in my arms, turned him on his side and forcibly laid him on the ground where he stayed about 2 seconds before he popped up. When I reached for him the final time, he let out a very nasty growl and snapped at me which shouldn't have surprised me. I looked up again to see all eyes on me, including the teacher's and all dogs watching with interest except the Golden Retriever on the end who was trying to chew a piece of the potted plant next to him.
The teacher came over and said, "That's ok, we are trying to teach him the dominant "down" and he doesn't like it. He has to learn. I hope you're going to work on this at home this week." I muttered something like, "Of course, every minute," and she laughed.
I got home and collapsed in exhaustion wondering why they didn't just let 6 or 7 cats loose in the room with us while we're trying to train them. It couldn't hurt.
By the way, Spell Check tells me a good substitution for Arrrghh-woooo, is WWII. I agree.