I’m beginning to wonder if Lilly’s current incarnation of shutdown, which is a slow response, is a true shutdown.
Last Sunday, Lilly may have been responding to any number of things. Class took place on an open-space trail, near the Boulder airport. So, it’s possible the plane (both movement and noise) bothered her. That’s certainly happened in the past. It was also crazy windy. And, frankly, wind sucks. At one point, a noisy train clickety-clacked by with its whistle blaring.
And, there were many dogs we did not know … one of which came out of its collar and barreled at one of our reactive dog pals, causing him to snark. Thankfully, someone cornered the dog before it came toward us. Still, I’m sure Lilly noticed the break in protocol.
Lilly also had another wildly successful play date with our Borzoi pal, Katie, before class, so she might have simply been tired.
But, watching her poke along, working on trail manners, I wondered if she’s getting bored. I kind of am. Other than a distance WHOA, which for the life of me I haven’t been able to teach in a way that makes sense to Lilly, we’ve pretty much mastered the level 2 classwork. And, for the most part, Lilly will do this kind of work in front of other dogs. Maybe spring/summer (if it ever comes) will be more fun.
I really would like to try an agility lesson again, even if it’s an expensive private one, but I’d hate to see Lilly revert to a true shutdown, which is very dramatic.
There’s a new outdoor agility field that’s closer to us than our usual one (which we haven’t been to in like 18 months). I’m tempted to pop by there on a weekday and do a paid drop-in, just to see what she’d do. But, I’m worried about the traffic noise. We’ve been to this site before its total reconstruction, and the traffic really bothered my rural-minded Lilly.
Until I decide about that, I think I’m going to work on Lilly’s whiplash recall. She really does come when I ask, even if she’s playing with her new pal Katie, but I’d like that reorient to me to be faster. I tried several times this week to teach the turn, with clicker and super-duper treats, but I’m either doing it wrong or my timing is terrible because I’m just not getting her to whip. I even tried peanut butter jackpots for somewhat fast turns, but it didn’t noticeably speed her up.
In our possible boredom, in our never-ending winter malaise, maybe I’ve been accidentally rewarding her for being slow. That’s another possibility … handler error.
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