24 — Wednesday, Octcber 8, 1997 — North Shore News

Lah’s progress
along a sli

ONE thing became
incredibly obvious dur-
ing our fourth tracking
and obedience class
with Sierra P.A.C.K.
Leaders K-9 Training: I
need to buy wet weath-
er gear.

For the first time since
the course began I wasn’t
excited to go. Saturday
morning dawned grey and
very, very wet. I layered on
the fleece shirt and vest,
nylon pants, laced up my
hiking boots and loaded
Monty into the car.

When I stepped out at
the class’s meeting place, the
water covered the tops of
my boots.

J groaned. Monty, my
seven-month-old devil dog,
loved it. He splashed
through every puddle, ditch,
and just-formed lake.
Although his coat was soak-
ing wet within minutes, the
downpour didn’t faze him in
the slightest.

We hadn’t practised
tracking all week because I'd
injured my back (see last
weck’s column) and he was
raring to go.

Allow me to brag for a
moment. My black Lab is
darn good at tracking. This
week we increased the
length of the track to
approximately 90 feet.
Instead of a straight line, we
laid it in a U-shape and
eased up on our “scuffing”
in places to make it more
difficult for the dogs.

Putting down 90 feet
through heavy brush and
forest requires carcful plan-
ning and a good sense of
direction. I was never a girl

guide.

The only time he got
confused and looked to me
for help was when I forgot
where I'd laid the track. He

tried to follow it around a
tree, but I] stopped him and
forced him to go the wrong

way. It didn’t throw him off

however, and he was back
“on” again in seconds. |
waterskied behind him,
soggy, out of breath and
elated.

Class leader Barb
Maclagan recommended I
increase the length of his
track by at least one and a
half times while practising. I
was glowing with pride.

Not for long.

To work on our “Sit”
command I dropped his
leash. He took the opporrtu-
nity to balr.

Although I’m certain he
was hoping the whole class
would join in a merry chase
to catch him, Sierra co-
leader Joan Klucha caught
hira in minutes and brought
him back.

T immediately executed
the “Quit” command. Its
purpose is to get submission
from the dog. My throat
became raw from growling
at him, but I’m beginning
to feel less self-conscious. it
gets results. We got back to
work and he was slightly
more humble.

(I use quotation marks
for the commands because
each dog owner has come
up with a different set of
words for his or her dog.
According to Sierra leaders
standard commands such as
“Sit” are so overused that
many dogs become decondi-
tioned to them.)

NEWS photo Paul McGrath

THE ‘other’ Monty, a Wheaton terrier, receives his
‘Greet’ command from owner Michele (left), then
goes to Sierra leader Joan Klucha for a reward.

After the class I squished
and squooshed back to my
car. My boots felt like two
buckets full of warm water. I
squeezed a few litres of the
wet stuff out of my jacket
and climbed behind the
wheel. It’s easy to see why
Klucha and Maclagan don’t
run the classes through the
winter months, J was miser-
able.

The next series of classes
begins in February. For

information, call 657-8605.

Look for an update on
Monty's progress next
Wednesday.

as

To the gentleman who
kindly e-mailed me to cor-
rect my spelling of
“Dalmatian.”

Thank you ... but J don’r
think Monty will respect me
more if 1 spell it correctly.
He can’t read. Cheers.

~— deana@usnews.com

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