A young dog and the dog walk

Two weeks ago during agility class Magnum was running on the dog walk at full height, which is about 4 to 5 feet off the ground.  He is at an age where he still doesn’t pay attention to his hind legs.  Running on a dog walk isn’t all that easy because it is about 12 inches wide, so a dog really has to pay attention.  Young dogs like their handlers right next to them so that they can see them.  If not, the dog may turn its head to find the handler and in doing it lose their balance.  I was right next to Magnum, but he still got one of his back legs off the walk and couldn’t get back on the walk.  I stopped and helped him and he finished the dog walk.  But after he wouldn’t go on the dog walk again.  He displayed a number of avoidance behaviors.  So, we decided it best to not ask him again and wait until the following week.  Previously Magnum had fallen off the dog walk, but that didn’t faze him.  It was the inability to get his foot either back on the walk or touching the floor.

Magnum was the only dog in his class of 8 puppies (all older than him) to walk over the dog walk initially without luring him (using a food treat).  It’s his personality to be curious about the equipment and unafraid to try new things.  So I was a little concerned about the dog walk.

My instructor had told us about how Linda M., one of the current best agility handlers in the US and whose style of handling is emulated by most of us, trains her dogs on the dog walk.  She uses a very low dog walk to give her dogs’ confidence to race over at top speed.  At Linda’s level of performance a half a second is important.  So, I decided that perhaps lowering the dog walk for Magnum would be helpful.

I have an old full size wooden dog walk (dog walks are big and take a lot of space in the yard).  Alan cut the legs of it so that it is about two feet off the ground.  Later on if I want it high, he’ll put new legs on it.  Magnum had no fear and is having great fun running across it.

At class the following week, the instructor moved the dog walk, so the A-frame was in its place.  He went over the A-frame fine, but then didn’t want to again.  We used food treats and after a couple of times going over, he was fine.  We started off on the dog walk with food treats and he did it fine.  Then he started racing over and passing up the treats.  So, it appears, at least for now, he has worked out the fear of the dog walk.

Last night, December 22^nd, I finished the stocking I was knitting for my grandson, Ajax.  It was a complex pattern with four colors.  I had trouble with it and went back to the knitting store for help.  The staff person told me I was knitting left handed – and I am not left-handed.  She said it used to be the way many people were taught and thought to be elegant.  A friend who is an experienced knitter said I was not a left-handed knitter, but I knitted in the continental style,which is considered more elegant.  I use my left hand as much as I use my right hand.  My grandmother taught me to knit when I was 6 years old.  I hope the stocking will be treasured by Ajax, as he grows older.  Anyway, its great to have it completed.