An 'interesting' week - Tuesday a recent tick bite flared up into the classic Lyme's disease bullseye rash so half a morning at the doctors for antibiotics and a blood test. Wednesday - a phone call to tell me my son had been missing for 12 hours in the Cuillins (a jagged mountain range on the Isle of Skye ) he was walking the ridge on his own after splitting with his girlfriend. All however ended well; looking back it was interesting to see how one copes with that sort of news - you hear what the person says to you but you don't comprehend the content beyond the basic statement. Thursday the garage's initial diagnosis of the engine noise is - needs a new gearbox. Friday saw me carrying five sheets of plywood up a windy beach - most amusing to the spectators my spins and turns. Made me feel my age!
Saturday had a long delayed outing with a young Viszla and his owner, a sort of 'exploratory' outing to see where if anywhere I could help. The dog had done well at some working tests - retrieving - but had always been marked badly on hunting. After an hours walk I felt it was a combination of a young dog who did not really know the 'game' who was looking rather than hunting, it was a dog that had often gone out with two spaniels run by a handler who would not let them out of his sight and an owner who was unsure of what she should or the dog actually do. i had Catja with me - the Viszla initially ran around after her like a wasp however soon settled into doing its own thing - it quartered nicely, flat and not to wide, kept checking back with the owner, came to its whistle well - a nice dog without experience, time is on their side.
When we did some retrieving exercises the dog ( called Barney) was very keen on the dummy, but spat it at his owners feet - she was doing the classic 'lunge' to catch it before it hit the floor. The dog had no 'hold' command and also would reject anything put to its mouth even if it had only just retrieved it. Whilst explaining the idea about not taking the dummy immediately I threw another for it and on the dogs return caught it by the collar and stroked its chest and talked to it - it held the dummy without chewing and gave it on request. I tried something different - sat the dog out and held it on a hand signal (arm up like a policeman), threw a dummy and then released it on its name. Nicely to hand.
This was quite a moment for finally seeing the obvious for me. It would seem handling dogs is not about 'training' them to do as you want but it is about 'understanding the cues we have to give to get the behaviour we want'
Sunday - the Brittany Club Open show. Catja is looking very good at the moment so I had high hopes, once in the ring she had other ideas - so put on her best beagle ears would not stand still - until after the placings when she stood magnificently, elongated her neck and put up her ears - something not lost on the audience judging by the roar of laughter.
Fresco managed First in puppy dog - but then he had no competition and His sister first in puppy bitch, Fresco taking Best Puppy in Show. He has a long way to go body wise but it was reassuring to talk to those more experienced than me and hear their words of advice, he seems very popular.
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