Fridays are a busy day for me. Yesterday I was rushing about doing various chores, making soup and doing some Down Dog stuff. I was aiming to have lunch ready before an online meeting at 1pm, because my friend was picking me up at 1.40 for us to go to our craft class.
Needless to say things didn’t quite go according to plan.
Himself and Daughter No 2 had taken Gus out for a walk. On arriving at the beach they discovered that Himself had forgotten Gus’s lead, so they had a quick change of plan and went elsewhere, somewhere they could let Gus out of the car where it was safe for him to be off lead. All went well until they returned home. Himself wandered off to change his boots leaving Daughter No 2 with the car and Gus. Not knowing any better, because Himself had forgotten to tell her, she opened the car boot…..and before she could take a breath, Gus had vanished up the driveway.
As always he was easily found by the hedge where his nemesis lives. Regular readers will know that both dogs run up and down the hedge swearing at each other, but neither is brave enough to go through any of the several possible gaps to actually confront the other – which is exactly what happened this time, too.
After one or two fruitless chases up and down the lane, they managed to catch Gus quite easily in the end, by standing by a gap in the hedge and encouraging him to go through. While he was debating the wisdom of this previously unknown and unusual offer, Daughter No 2 simply took hold of his harness and clipped on the lead they had retrieved – and all was well.
That escapade took up several unplanned minutes and I ended up being 10 minutes late for my online meeting – but as the other person was as well, it all worked out OK. And we still finished in time for me to go to my card class.
Understanding how your dog will react in different situations and environments can help you know what to do when unforeseen events occur. Sometimes doing the unexpected is all it takes to turn a potential problem into a calm, managed solution.
For that you need two things – first, an ability to stay calm and think on your feet and second, to know your dog, what he is likely to do and how he will react in that situation.
Keep training,
Carol