DAY 53 (Friday, Oct. 23, 2009): I basically had the morning off on this day. I broke Crosby’s crate down and lugged it back to the car for travel. We went to the AAA office in Fredericksburg and asked for directions to the nearest Civil War battlefield that would have hiking trails. Then we drove to Chancellorsville Battlefield, which had a lovely 4 mile loop walking trail through the BREATHTAKING autumn woods! I really enjoyed visiting the battlefield, and Crosby got his exercise.
The leash law at the battlefield, of course, said I had to keep him on leash. I did for a while. He was SO excited, and the woods were SO thick, that it was hard to keep him on the flexi. We practiced our stays and comes and heel. There seemed to be no other hikers on the trails, so I finally took the chance and let Crosby run off leash, just to practice an off-leash recall in a new and exciting place. He did not run off, but he did not respond immediately to my first call to come, either! So he got a VERY strong, growling command. Then he went back on leash for a recall and collar correction as soon as he responded slowly again. The second time, he seemed to “get it”… that he has to come RIGHT AWAY, even if he is excited! So then it was off-leash again, and he responded PERFECTLY. (I was still offering venison jerky as treats for every correct response). We walked the rest of the mileage off-leash, with EXCELLENT recalls and “not-too-far”s and EXCELLENT 2 minute stays. What a good dog! Lots of squirrel smells and exciting stuff, and Crosby was perfect. It was like he suddenly “got it”. We finished our walk as though he had been off-leash all of his life.
I put the leash back on him as we approached the parking lot (we were still out-of –sight in the woods until we got right to the parking lot. It was a good thing we put the leash back on, because in the parking lot were two other dogs waiting to hit the trail. Not that Crosby would have had a problem with the other dogs – but I might have gotten in trouble had anyone known we had been off-leash.
Later in the afternoon, we had an appointment at the stables to meet our rental horse. Crosby stayed in the car while I met the horse and went for a short training ride. My mare’s name was “Molly”. I am not fond of mares, but I tried not to be prejudiced! Molly wouldn’t canter in the round corral, so we went into the grass arena. Molly cantered very nicely when asked! Actually, it wasn’t a canter at all – Molly didn’t seem to have a “slow” button. She broke right into a hand gallop, and wouldn’t slow to a canter without breaking down to a trot, but she didn’t seem to want to buck at all, and gave me everything I asked for.
Then it was back to the car to get Crosby, and try him with Molly. I didn’t put the leash on Crosby at all, because I didn’t trust Molly with a leashed dog, and I didn’t want to let him drag it and get stepped on. I did put a “tab” (short leather leash) on Crosby’s collar just in case I needed to dismount and catch him and correct him. I also had my treat bag at the ready.
Crosby took to Molly without any problem. Molly, on the other hand, was a little wary of the dog, but she was tolerant. No flattened ears or swishing tail (those would be bad signs). Crosby stayed right with me and right with Molly, as a matter of fact, he wouldn’t leave for a recall, so we practiced a stay and a recall. On the Hock, his hock position was a little farther forward than I would like, but otherwise he was perfect. As soon as I had practiced all of the exercises, I gave Molly back to the barn, and we were done. I didn’t practice the Speed, though. I just forgot. We would ride again for a short ride again tomorrow.
MILEAGE: about 4
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