moonsailnewf
New member
Belated Birthday "Thank You's" and for NewfDad - explanation of the "geese incident"
I just realized that in all the excitement, sleep deprivation, and **removed**, that I never expressed my thanks to everyone who wrote such kind words and sent such beautiful birthday wishes to JJ on his 14th birthday (originally posted on 4/12).
So, a very belated THANK YOU!!! To everyone!!! JJ did indeed have a wonderful birthday, complete with steak. :groovy:
In my original post, I mentioned the "geese incident" at a water test, but did not explain. Newf Dad asked for details.. so here goes..
NCNC held it's first water test at the facility where JJ and I trained. There were geese living on the premises which JJ loved to chase every chance he got, IN SPITE of my walking him near the geese on lead, and telling him "leave it."
The owner of the premises assured me that the geese would be gone for the test. Umm.. not so.. :uhoh2:
Fast forward to the day of the test.. The evil geese were still there, but staying well away from the test site on the opposite side of the water. That's where they remained, until.... Oh yeah, you guessed right, until it was JJ's turn! :grrr: To make this more interesting, remember JJ was the first dog I trained for a water title, and this was the very FIRST water test, for BOTH of us!
JJ saw the geese, but basically ignored them. When it came time for the tow a boat exercise, the boat rowed out to position, and I sent JJ. As JJ started to swim towards the boat, the geese decided it was time to take a swim as well. They had been on the opposite shoreline, on the very left side. They decided to swim from that shore, diagonally across the water to the very far right side just outside of our test area (their original nesting area).
JJ watched them the whole time he swam to the boat, but continued to work. I held my breath as he hesistated for just a second to decide whether he would swim towards his bumper, or swim towards the geese.
Thank GOD he has a strong instinct. He swam and grabbed the bumper and started to pull the boat towards shore. He NEVER took his eyes off the geese the WHOLE time he was towing the boat. The MINUTE he got the boat to wading depth and the stewards to "safety", he spat the bumper out as if to say, "you guys can take it from here", and took off like a shot towards the geese. :cussing2:
Yeah..I panicked, and started calling him to come in a high pitched voice which he promptly ignored! I managed to collect my wits, lower my voice and in a more commanding tone, said "JJ Halt." He did! I then told him to stand stay and walked over to him. I told him to "watch me", and then said, "JJ heel". We heeled back down the shore together to get him to focus back on his work.
Technically, he had not failed yet as I got him to stop before he left the roped off test area, and he the tow a boat exercise had not timed out yet. By this time, the boat had drifted into shore and all he needed to do to pass, was pick up the bumper and make the rope taut.
Picking up dropped articles was one thing JJ was never good at it. Mostly because he wasn't interested in them once he dropped them, and I, aside from being a novice trainer, was also a lazy one and didn't work too hard at it. :kgo_017:
He rarely dropped anything, so I decided that if I just made sure I was quick about grabbing articles, we wouldn't have a problem. And actually, we didn't ever again have a problem like that.
But, lesson learned, you can bet when I trained subsequent Newfs, I was insistent that they learn to pick up articles off the ground!
Anyways, I've digressed.. JJ ended up failing that exercise, and the test because I could not get him to pick up the bumper and complete the exercise before we ran out of time!
It "only" took us 5 attempts to earn his wd, and the other 3 failed attempts he did something equally as amusing! :sunflower:
Kathy
I just realized that in all the excitement, sleep deprivation, and **removed**, that I never expressed my thanks to everyone who wrote such kind words and sent such beautiful birthday wishes to JJ on his 14th birthday (originally posted on 4/12).
So, a very belated THANK YOU!!! To everyone!!! JJ did indeed have a wonderful birthday, complete with steak. :groovy:
In my original post, I mentioned the "geese incident" at a water test, but did not explain. Newf Dad asked for details.. so here goes..
NCNC held it's first water test at the facility where JJ and I trained. There were geese living on the premises which JJ loved to chase every chance he got, IN SPITE of my walking him near the geese on lead, and telling him "leave it."
The owner of the premises assured me that the geese would be gone for the test. Umm.. not so.. :uhoh2:
Fast forward to the day of the test.. The evil geese were still there, but staying well away from the test site on the opposite side of the water. That's where they remained, until.... Oh yeah, you guessed right, until it was JJ's turn! :grrr: To make this more interesting, remember JJ was the first dog I trained for a water title, and this was the very FIRST water test, for BOTH of us!
JJ saw the geese, but basically ignored them. When it came time for the tow a boat exercise, the boat rowed out to position, and I sent JJ. As JJ started to swim towards the boat, the geese decided it was time to take a swim as well. They had been on the opposite shoreline, on the very left side. They decided to swim from that shore, diagonally across the water to the very far right side just outside of our test area (their original nesting area).
JJ watched them the whole time he swam to the boat, but continued to work. I held my breath as he hesistated for just a second to decide whether he would swim towards his bumper, or swim towards the geese.
Thank GOD he has a strong instinct. He swam and grabbed the bumper and started to pull the boat towards shore. He NEVER took his eyes off the geese the WHOLE time he was towing the boat. The MINUTE he got the boat to wading depth and the stewards to "safety", he spat the bumper out as if to say, "you guys can take it from here", and took off like a shot towards the geese. :cussing2:
Yeah..I panicked, and started calling him to come in a high pitched voice which he promptly ignored! I managed to collect my wits, lower my voice and in a more commanding tone, said "JJ Halt." He did! I then told him to stand stay and walked over to him. I told him to "watch me", and then said, "JJ heel". We heeled back down the shore together to get him to focus back on his work.
Technically, he had not failed yet as I got him to stop before he left the roped off test area, and he the tow a boat exercise had not timed out yet. By this time, the boat had drifted into shore and all he needed to do to pass, was pick up the bumper and make the rope taut.
Picking up dropped articles was one thing JJ was never good at it. Mostly because he wasn't interested in them once he dropped them, and I, aside from being a novice trainer, was also a lazy one and didn't work too hard at it. :kgo_017:
He rarely dropped anything, so I decided that if I just made sure I was quick about grabbing articles, we wouldn't have a problem. And actually, we didn't ever again have a problem like that.
But, lesson learned, you can bet when I trained subsequent Newfs, I was insistent that they learn to pick up articles off the ground!
Anyways, I've digressed.. JJ ended up failing that exercise, and the test because I could not get him to pick up the bumper and complete the exercise before we ran out of time!
It "only" took us 5 attempts to earn his wd, and the other 3 failed attempts he did something equally as amusing! :sunflower:
Kathy
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