Clean Run - September 2017 - 25

Training Freedom:

HERE I gO agaIn!
By Jo Sermon, photos courtesy of author

Shady is the loveliest lad, he's a real gentle giant, happy to go anywhere, happy
to mooch around. He still prefers to be
outside, so I leave him to it and just go
out to check that he's ok occasionally.
He's easy going and fairly calm; he has a
very balanced temperament.

16-year-old Boogie! He has also learnt
that he is not to touch, sniff, or so much
as look at Tyzer when on my bed. In turn
Tyzer has accepted that I will protect his
space and so relaxes. There's absolutely
nothing better in the whole world than
a bed full of Beardies in the morning!

During this period we started to phase
out crates with him. One night he hid
and didn't want to go in his crate. I think
because it was hot. He's such a lovely
easy-going dog that tries so hard to
please, I had every sympathy and so
made a spur of the moment decision.
His crate in my bedroom is still there
with its door open. Shady sometimes
sleeps there, but more often sleeps by
an open window. His crate in my kitchen
is also still there, but he only gets shut
in it if he's been hosed off and is dripping wet. At night he is free to sleep
anywhere he chooses, and during the
day he is left loose in our kitchen. His
sire Tyzer is shut elsewhere if we leave
them during the day, as he's still unimpressed with Shady's more determined
overtures. To date the worst he's done is
stolen one of my shoes and slept with it
under his chin.

Shady can be relied on to turn the other
cheek in any confrontations and has
not one ounce of malice anywhere in
his oversized body. I've seen him stand
up only once so far and that was on the
third attack from a dog in a park. The
first two times he simply turned the other way and moved away from the dog.

His efforts to come up on my bed to say
good morning are nothing short of hilarious, as he has no idea about his back
feet! He is learning to settle quietly for a
morning cuddle and not to step on my
September 17 | Clean Run

His coat is starting to grow in and it's my
favorite type of coat-harsh and wiry,
slightly wavy, with a very fine undercoat.
I think he will suffer in the sun as black
dogs always do, but as we don't see that
much sun here in the UK it won't be too
much of a concern. I think-I hope-
that he's stopped growing.

Socialization in the Outside World
Socialization continues. It's important
not to think of this as being done and
finished, belonging purely to the tiny
puppy stage. Dogs need to keep being exposed to different situations and
rewarded for calm sensible behavior.
Because we live so remotely this is really important for Shady. So he goes

everywhere that I can take him, and we
go for an explore or a mooch about. I'll
then return him to the car and leave him
for a while. The next time I'll put his agility lead on and bring him out of the car
asking for focus on me. No sniffing, no
exploring, focus on me and work. We
do sits and downs, walk back, weaving
in and out of my legs, and heelwork. If
we're somewhere safe that he can go
off lead, we'll work some sendaways
and recalls too. Obviously as the distraction levels increase the distances
are shortened and the reward levels
upped. Shady is doing well at this; he
has no problems focusing with other
dogs around although he is still a little
distracted/worried about cars.
At the moment this is the most important part of the training for Shade. No
amount of fancy tricks or sexy moves
will help in an agility ring if your dog
can't concentrate or focus on you.
During this period he started to back
away from people who wanted to touch
him; left to his own devices he stays
away from people he doesn't know.
He's not nervous or aggressive; he's
simply uninterested. Remembering my
Yogi who once gave His Royal Highness Prince Michael of Kent a filthy look
for wanting to stroke his head, I've left
him to it. Working Beardies are in general fairly standoffish, and there are few
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run - September 2017
