Scary smart

Scary smart. I call Tristan that at least once a day. He continues to absolutely astound me. We have our daily routines. In the morning, Tristan goes out and then starts his routine of coming in to check on me then running back out. Next it’s running in to grab something and then madly dashing back out with his trophy - usually a shoe or underwear or other article of clothing. The funny thing is that he only does this in the morning. He can be in and out during the rest of the day but the stealing only goes on first thing in the morning.

In the evening, Tristan will come get me to play ball with him. His routine is to sit politely behind me when I’m working on the computer. I feel “the stare”. This is much better than the tug on the sleeve or clamping onto my arm which I have worked hard to stop. Between these two methods is the dropping the ball routine. He comes into the office with his ball and drops it in my lap or into a desk drawer. More later on the many variations of the drop the ball routine. Suffice it to say that it’s used very effectively when he wants to get into something he’s not supposed to be in. He drops his ball in and then gives me his “Hey, I’m just getting my ball here” look when reprimanded.

Tonight he pulled a new routine on me. Recently I’ve been playing a new game with him. He doesn’t usually play with his orange fetch ball during the day so I put it up. It’s an industrial strength rubber ball that cost $12. I know there are already two more buried someplace in the backyard so I don’t want him taking it outside and losing it there. I hide it in the kitchen and then have Tristan sit/stay in the living room while I get the ball. I hold both hands behind my back and tell Tristan to guess which hand. He lunges (nicely) for one hand behind my back and of course I show him it’s empty and then he goes for the other. It’s silly and I think Tristan indulges me on this game.

Tonight Tristan came to get me while I was at the computer in my office. He was pretty insistent and led me to the doorway of the kitchen. Normally he either goes to the backdoor if he wants to go out or into the living room if he wants to play ball. This evening he planted himself outside the kitchen doorway and just stared at me very intently and expectantly. Finally I asked him what he wanted and he did his lunge toward my back on one side and then on the other side. It was clear he wanted me to get his orange ball and to play our game. It’s so spooky when he does things like this. It’s one thing for me to see how fast he learns when I’m teaching him a trick. It’s quite another thing to see him take it to a different level.

Tristan is such a communicator. Sometimes I think he wonders what’s wrong with me. He’ll be making a fuss and it’s really clear what he wants. I may, however, not want to reinforce him so I’ll ignore the behavior. I’m sure he’s phoning his mom late at night saying, “I love P but, boy, can she be clueless”.

Good training day

We had a really good day training today. Tristan was so excited. He starts getting wound up as we hit Hwy 2 out of Everett. It’s the first glimpse of farm fields and Tristan immediately perks up. By the time we pull up to the tracking field, he’s going nuts.

I laid a longer track today but still not long enough. Even using a cane I have problems laying a long enough track. This week though I ran out of food before my knees gave out. Paul took Tristan down the track and said he is doing great. He wants me to have someone else lay the track next week so it can be a really long one.

Off to breakfast and then obedience and protection work.

It’s hard to settle Tristan down again when we arrive at the obedience field, and he sees the other dogs. I have a difficult time getting him to focus on me because he’s so excited and just wants to check out the other dogs and everything else that’s going on. He want so badly to be with the other dogs. They can be off lead and do obedience work but Tristan certainly needs to be on a leash. I keep reminding myself that someday – someday – Tristan will stay totally focused on me as a handler just like the other dogs do with their handlers.

Tristan did wonderfully on the protection work today. He immediately went into “drive”. You can tell because his bark gets really deep and low. That’s when I praise to reinforce it. Sasha held him while Paul threatened. After the final time, Tristan got his victory lap and then Sasha released him while he still had the sleeve. Tristan took off but went to the SUV and jumped in still holding the sleeve. He wasn’t about to let it go!

Tristan is officially a Wonder Dog. The trainer thinks he is really a great dog with tons of potential. It makes me feel so great. Obviously I think he’s wonderful but I love him and am always afraid I’m just prejudiced. I have a hard time believing I actually got the dog of my dreams. I did so much research and had so many hopes and dreams but you always know it’s a crap shoot. After all, even though I had pick of the litter, I had absolutely no Schutzhund experience, no experience with working dogs and no experience picking puppies. I wasn’t even clear whether I wanted my dog to be solely an assistance dog or to do Schutzhund work. I did know that I wanted a really smart, really well trained GSD who would foremost be my buddy and helper. The fact that he has such aptitude for Schutzhund work is icing on the cake. Truly I think he must be perfect.

Paul says he could title Tristan in a flash but he added that the thing he really likes about Tristan is how good he is with me. He said it’s clear Tristan respects me and he likes how careful he is careful with me. Tristan is so strong and even though he has high drive to do Schutzhund he’s still very careful with me and my physical limitations. Isn’t that sweet?

Tristan could have turned out to be a total doofus or just a lovely pet and I would still love him dearly.

The trainer is way too nice to say so but I know he thinks it’s a bit of a shame such a great dog has an incompetent or at least inexperienced owner. I’m sure he thinks Tristan is wasted on me. I teased him a bit about it when he mentioned again how good Tristan is. I told him to view it that it's good he's a great dog because I need all the help possible.