Long-Distance Recall

Finally! I got Crosby to "leave" me so I could call him back!

This is a video of Crosby in an open field in Seven Sisters Recreation Area. It is one of the few times he ever left my side on a 5 mile ride. You can see that Crosby found some sort of exciting smell (probably a dead animal - sorry, Barbara!), and he was engrossed in it when I called him. It is VERY hard for a dog to "leave" a great find like that, and return to the handler, but Crosby does it! What a good dog! I want you to notice, that Crosby not only "comes", but he comes to "hock". In other words, he could have come to the closest side of the horse - that would have been the "right" side of the horse. I expect Crosby to understand "hock" as coming to the LEFT side of the horse, and the left side ONLY. If Crosby had come for a treat on the right side, I would have corrected him and sent him to the left. (I teach each of my dogs to "hock" in a specific spot. Crosby's spot is the left side.) The fact that Crosby came all the way AROUND the horse to the left side shows he understands "hock"! I'm so excited! The video was actually taken last week, when the weather was still in the 50's.

Today was Day 39. The dogs and I walked in the morning. It was about 27 degrees outside. Crosby was just fine with it. His tail was out and wagging the whole time. Rad was cold by the time we were half done, and Rad's tail was hanging down. I believe tail carriage is a great indicator of the dog's physical condition. Not "show" tail carriage as in: "that dog carries his tail too high"; but tail carraiage as in: "that dog normally carries his tail a certain way, and but now the tail is down; what's wrong?" I have found that a very tired Dal, or a very cold Dal, or a Dal with an injured tail will carry the tail low or tucked or drooped. A Dal with a healthy condition and attitude will carry the tail "out" from the body. The tail carriage is a good indication of current physical condition. Crosby's tail carriage was good, even though it was REALLY COLD. We did keep moving, though!

I also practiced sit stays "on the ground". Crosby seems to have a clock in his head set at 50 seconds. (He needs to stay for 1 minute to qualify in a Road Trial). After about 50 seconds, he gets up. I think he is wondering why he hasn't gotten the treat yet, and he figures he must have misunderstood me, and maybe he should try something else! So we had to practice several times before we got a 2-minute stay (I always train for more than is required).

Later in the morning we rode the horse. It was cold and windy with snow flurries, but I was glad we did 2 1/2 miles in the AM, because the PM was WORSE! Crosby did very well. He sits well on verbal command now, but he is still questionable on the length of the stay. More to work on!

Mileage: about 3.6