Yesterday it was Torque’s turn for a lesson with our trainer Dee Lulik of All Fours Dog Training. She’s an amazing trainer. I’ve never seen her stumped when presented with a dog issue. She finds creative, positive ways to deal with any issue we’ve ever had.
So I went in to the lesson yesterday with the plea “Torque’s got this weird thing going on, so I must be doing something wrong. Please fix me!” Generally speaking, I take the blame when something’s going on with my dogs. And I’m generally right.
Torque’s been learning to walk on things, climb over things, encounter things, and generally work and play arou
nd unusual textures, sounds, heights, motions, etc., so that he’ll be unfazed by all the sights, sounds, movements, etc. that he’ll encounter in obedience, rally, and agility competition. We want him to play and have a good time wherever he is, whatever he’s doing, including being obedient.
So we have these inflatable, squishy things that Torque’s been climbing on forever. He loves them, he’ll play tug on top of them, he’ll turn around, sit, lie down, etc. Completely calm and happy.
He would not, for any price (including cheese!), step foot on a solid board that rocks back and forth, three inches off the ground. It was the most terrifying thing he’d ever seen in his life. With much patience and lots of treats, I’d finally managed to get him to put two paws up on it, but the back feet were not leaving the floor. No way. Uh-uh. Not gonna happen.
Dee saw his avoidance behavior. And created a solution in the works. She put his beloved squishy thing on top of the board. So now it’s even more unstable – and yet Torque climbs right up, balances, plays, turns around, gets rewarded. Because he loves the squishy things and he understands his “job” when he sees them. We’ll transition the squishy thing off the board, when Torque’s ready to try it “naked.”
I learned the lesson. If something’s challenging, it’s worth trying. Just ask Torque.
