Training

I was tickled to pieces to finally have the dog of my dreams and she was smart. (I know all owners say that, but it’s true!) This was also my first AKC registered puppy. I was about to learn about a whole new exciting world that I never knew existed. Teri said that Vixen is “show quality” and that she wanted Vixen to participate in conformation shows to earn her Championship.  This is what culminates in The Westminster Dog Show here in the US and Crufts in Great Britan. Most dogs, obviously, never make it to that level.  The competitions are generally on a smaller scale and the dog wins points at the conformation shows based on whether it wins or not and how many other dogs it had to beat to get the coveted purple ribbon.

We signed up for puppy classes at one of the dog training facilities in our area. At our first class I felt like a total idiot.  Everyone else had relatively calm puppies compared to our little bundle of dynamite. They seemed at ease and as if they had been coming to puppy classes for years.

During “play time” when the puppies were allowed to run around off leash and play with one another, Vixen would run around as fast as she could inviting the larger puppies to chase her. Then she would jump in their faces, catching them completely off guard. I began to think she had been a kamakazi pilot in another life due to the way she would plow, head first into the sides of the larger puppies startling them. She became the master instigator strategically causing other puppies to be put in “time out” for bad behavior. Our furry daughter was the class clown. 

It didn’t take long for everyone to know Vixen.  As soon as we got out of the car she would jump up and down excitedly, smelling every blade of grass, every rock in the parking lot, tugging me toward the door. Once inside Vixen barked that extremely loud bark that caused the whole building to go quiet and look over at us. “Vixen is in the house!” She announced her presence with all the pomp and circumstance of Paris Hilton.

Occasionally I would fret that she just wasn’t “getting it” and just when I’d reach the height of frustration with my inability to communicate with her, she would do whatever lesson we were on perfectly. Almost like, “Oh, is that what you want?”  I think, too, I was the most animated human in the classes.  I don’t recall anyone else acting like they’d just won the lottery every time the dog learned a new command. 

Once she learned a command, Vixen was eager to do it over and over again. She would go so far as to run through her repertoire of commands in an effort to obtain the treat that was supposed to follow. This provided no end to the amusement during training classes. A “sit” would quickly turn into a “down” and then a “bang” (roll over) and then Vixen, pleased as pie looking up at me for her reward.

It was at one of these classes that we learned about a dog who was trained to ring a bell when he wanted to go outside. Vixen had learned that “outside” is where one goes to “go potty”.  When she wanted to go out she would quietly go sit by the sliding glass door and could go unnoticed longer than her bladder would hold out. We decided this bell trick was a wonderful idea and decided to try it.  We bought a package of Christmas bells at a craft store and hung one by a string next to the back door.  We then had Vixen ring the bell with her paw every time we went outside.

Vixen picked up on the idea rather quickly and, once she was fully convinced that ringing the bell was a command for Mom to let her into the back yard, she delighted in ringing the bell, even when there wasn’t any full bladder involved. Occasionally, Vixen would ring the bell while I was in the middle of something, so I’d tell her, “just a minute” and continue whatever I was doing.  Vixen might wait patiently or she might pull her paw back and hit the bell with all her might.  Then she’d turn her head and look at me, “I want to go outside, NOW!” Well, who could argue with that? 

We also learned how to “link” natural behavior to a command. One of our favorite tricks is “recon”.  This trick comes from Vixen’s fondness for stretching her back legs out behind her and pulling her body along the carpet with her front legs, head held high, grin on her face and tongue wagging away.