Sadie Hits the Road

Well winter is over and spring is on the way. The temperatures is creeped up to over 50 and it is time to see how much damage vegitating over the winter has done to the dogs and I. Sadie just came out of her 3rd heat cycle and I need to see what kind of shape she is in. With this goal in mind I got out the bike and hit the road. I decided to take the dogs one at a time on this first outing of the season just to evaluate their condition. I took Storm first simply because he makes the most fuss if I go biking without him so I figured if I tired him out first he will be calmer when I take the other dogs. All my dogs do well with the bike and love the exercise. Each one has its own issues but none of them are serious.

As expected Storm immediately went into his flying trot. Those of you that have seen him in the ring know that I am not bragging when I say he moves like a dream. Once we start moving he is totally focused on the run. His head is always straight ahead and never varies even if a dog should come after us. He is oblivious to the world around him. However, if you remember, I said that each dog has issues and Storm did not fail to disappoint. No matter how long it has been since he went to the bathroom about a mile into the run he has to go again. He is so focused on the run that he does not miss a step. He just goes like a horse plop plop plop. As a matter of act I did not even know that he did it until I gave Sadie her turn on the same course and I noticed the large pellets that he left behind. He completed the run of about 2 miles without missing a step and was not panting very hard so I will increase the distance for him tomorrow.



Sadie was next. She is more interested in what is going on around her then Storm is but stays in position without fail. She does not have the trot down yet and still starts out with what I can only describe as a collie hop. Part of my goal with Sadie is to get her into the grove and improve her trot. Since she is the youngest we did about 2.5 miles. She did not get near tired enough. It took her until the last 1/2 mile to relax and slip into the flying trot but she will get there. Her issue is loss of concentration. For example on one leg of the course we have to do a 1/4 of a mile on a fairly busy street, I feel much more comfortable when that leg is over because I worry about the traffic not giving us the right of way. Just as I made the turn onto the busy street a Doberman came out of no where, ran out into the street with the owner yelling and running after him. Like I said Sadie is easily distracted and immediately turned toward the dog with her hair up all the way down her back, so I had to stop in the middle of traffic. I did not have a training collar on her so I did not want to take a chance correcting her while riding the bike so I stopped and let the Dob catch up. I gave a simple "Ah" and made her stand her gound. The dob came up to her and they did the mine smells better than yours dance and by the time they were finished greeting each other the owner caught up with us. He apologized and said that the dog bolted out of the house before he could do anything. I told him it was no problem, gave him one of my cards, hint, hint and we went on our way. Sadie was not near tired enough when we got back so I will definitely increase her distance tomorrow.

Next I took Pepper my Border Collie. Pepper is the oldest and the most over weight so I keep her run down to a couple of miles at a very slow pace. Pepper does not know how to pace herself so when we first start out she runs so fast that it is hard for me to keep up with her on the bike but, this only lasts for about the first 1/4 mile befor she wears herself out. She also notices everything and has something to say about it so I have to watch her the whole time and catch her attitude change before it escalates into a all out chase after what ever catches her attention. Last year she caught me off guard once and ran down the road after 2 Doberman's and a lab. I did not see it coming until she was ahead of me. I hit the brakes on the bike but the rear brake failed and the front one caught. For those of you that ride bikes with hand brakes you can guess what happened. The only thing that stopped was the front wheel and i ended up on top of pepper surrounded by 3 other dogs and their owners wondering what had happened. Fortunately the only damage was to my ego for doing this in front of my neighbors and their dogs. I know they were thinking what kind of dog trainer is this. In any case I have learned to pay a little more attention to her than the other dogs. When we got home she was exhausted. She was going so slow that I had trouble keeping my balance on the bike.

Finally it was Lizzy's turn. Lizzy is a Collie/Shepherd Mix and about a year younger than Pepper. I took her on the same 2 mile course as Pepper and it fit her like a glove. She was winded when we got back but not excessively. I will work her up to longer distances gradually. Lizzy has long since gotten over her issues. She had a bad case of separation anxiety when I rescued her from along the road. It was so bad that when I first picked her up and tended to her wounds she went thru a 2x4 wall to be with me. This has long since been cured and she can now be left alone all day, if necessary, without worry.

Well that's our first outing for the season and my chance to refocus on the dogs. Over the winter I tend to get a little side tracked but this change in the weather is just what I need to get back on track. I have another blog that has pretty much gone dormant due to lack of enthusiasm on my part and I think it is time to wake it up as well. (http://pawpawmikes.blogspot.com/)