One Track Mind!

So, what is Winnie's very most favourite thing to do? More favourite than food? More favourite than chasing a ball? More favourite than stealing another dogs ball? Agility - oops sorry Winnie, I know that should be  - AGILITY!!!!!!!!!!!??????********!!!!! (runs round the room screaming with anticipation yelling at the top of my voice)

Agility is Winnie's reason for being. Agility is Winnie's world. You could safely take Winnie into an area where the agility equipment is set up, release her to go off to the equipment and then walk off and leave her. You could come back an hour later and she would still be there playing on the equipment - yes even the weaves....

So given her attitude to agility you can imagine that taking her training is not something to be undertaken lightly. Firstly you must understand that ALL agility equipment belongs to Winnie and is there solely for her own use - and no-one elses! Should some other dog get on to her equipment she naturally has to tell them off - usually by barking at them very very loudly until their run is finished. She tells me there are a lot of rude dogs around - especially at shows and on training nights. So much so, she sometimes has to queue to use her own equipment - how very dare they!!!!

When she realises we are going to a show or to training she bounces around so much in her car dog crate that she's positively vibrating on the spot. She makes a noise a bit like the air being let out of a balloon interspersed with her trademark guinea pig noises and by the time I open the tail gate of the car to get her out of her crate she is trembling with anticipation. Once lead and owner are attached to her, Winnie carries out another one of her 'defying the laws of science' tricks - this tiny dog manages to pull her considerably larger and heavier owner to the training area or competition rings so hard and fast that it is perfectly possible to feel like you are flying.

Having arriving in the near vicinity of the equipment it is now useless for anyone or any other dog to try to attract her attention - Winnie is now 'in the zone' - mesmerised by the brightly coloured kit as she visualises herself running, leaping and jumping over everything. Amazingly the only person she listens to is me and that is probably only because I am the 'enabler' that allows Winnie to get her Agility fix.

Now we are on the start line and I'm armed with Winnie's wages (Kong Squeaky tennis ball ). She is really trembling with anticipation by this stage - so much so that she's having trouble keeping her bottom on the ground as she tries to do a sit wait. Often the combined effect of this means whilst her body is stationary the mouth goes into overdrive - this always means we are in for a bumpy ride. If the mouth has taken over completely, then there will be the inevitable wait break, then the inevitable loudly shouted excuses from her whilst I take her back to the start line and put her back into her sit wait. She seems to feel that if she tells me loudly enough why she had to break her wait. I'll understand and not take her back to the start. You can't blame her really, its just a variation on the technique that so many British use when trying to make themselves understood in a foreign country! 

Finally we've got the correct start and I've released her onto the course. Bearing in mind that the force of the mouth can take over at any time it is essential that I keep all verbal commands to a minimum so that I neither encourage her to join in, or to try and shout me down with her own course direction choices. Whilst we are running I must never, never attempt to correct her during the course as this will unleash The Fury! The Fury is Winnie telling me just what she thinks of me making her go wrong. It is delivered in rapid staccato barks at top volume and goes something along the lines of -

"now look what you've done, you've made me go wrong AGAIN, that's what I get for listening to a human, they're so indecisive, and you're one of the worst and you made me go wrong AGAIN...."

...and so on ad infinitum. So not only do you have the humiliation and self recrimination of going wrong, plus the comments from your trainer and club members, but you also get the very loud telling off from a diminutive terrier - delivered in such a way that no one can be in any doubt that this is exactly what she is doing - telling me off.

As we finish the exercise or course I lob the tennis ball for Winnie's wages. Winnie becomes an exocet missile in terrier form as she darts off to catch the ball and SQUEAK it. Any confused doggie bystander that even thinks about going after the ball is blasted out of the way by the shockwave left in the wake of the Winnie - missile as she captures her prize and skips happily round the ring showing off her prize.

Whew - running Winnie can leave you battered and bruised both mentally and physically, but it does leave you with that lovely feeling of triumph at having survived another training session.