Holly came to me when she was 7.5 weeks old and I started her training immediately. Nothing too serious, just saying "sit" when she naturally sat and other key words and phrases at the appropriate time to start the connections between action and words.
I also signed her up with the local dog training group for puppy socialisation classes and for the basic road safety obedience training.
Puppy socialisation started when she was able to go out after her vaccinations. She didn't really enjoy the classes. Even then she wasn't keen on boisterous bouncy puppies and would simply walk away from them and come back to me. She did play quite happily with a few other calm and quiet pups when the bouncy ones were out of the way and she loved the ladies running the sessions.
When she was about 6 months old she started the basic road safety training classes and loved them. Her basic skills expanded and she developed a real enthusiasm for learning. She passed the basic exam with flying colours and was invited to join the intermediate group.
After a couple of weeks off we started the intermediate group. This stretched not only her mind and abilities but mine as well. She hated the out of sight down-stay, but after being taken into the room where all the handlers went to she did start to stay provided she was placed directly opposite the door. The emergency stop was great fun because it was a polished floor, her legs stopped on command but she was moving at such high speed in the recall that it took several more feet before she came to a halt. The exam was entertaining, I had to be given written instructions. The trainer would call out to you to turn left or right, to go at a slow or fast pace and when to leave your dog in a sit or a down. Only Holly was also listening to these instructions as well as the ones from me. So by the time the exam came round she was starting the turn or the change of speed before I had told her to. So we had to do without verbal commands from the examiner. Holly came second out of the whole group in the exam and got a rosette and a trophy. I still have the rosette but the trophy had to be returned after 10 weeks for the next group.
After the intermediate came the advanced group. This wasn't formal training sessions like the basic and intermediate, but more a social gathering once a week that built on the skills and gave the dogs something new to learn.
I had always taught Holly to obey hand signals as well as voice commands as I am prone to laryngitis. One week the dogs were all laid down on one side of the hall and the handlers were stood on the opposite side with our backs to the dogs. The idea was you would issue a voice command and get your dog to change position. It was Holly and me to go first. The instructor asked me to get her to sit. So I called out for her to "sit". No reaction. I tried again, still no reaction from Holly. So I bellowed out in a proper sergeant major command voice "SIT!" The instructor burst out laughing as every dog except one had changed from a down to a sit. The one dog still in a down? Holly. I put my hand behind my back and gave the hand-signal for sit and she instantly sat up. She may be fairly clever but she also has a stubborn streak.
Every year there was an exam for the advanced group, nothing too formal and more of a social afternoon. Two particular tests remain firmly embedded in my mind.
As this was the advanced group we did a certain amount of work outside (in an enclosed area) when the weather was favourable. On the exam day the out of sight down stay was conducted outside. The dogs were all lined up and put in a down and then the handlers walked behind a building so we were out of sight. We heard laughter from the examiners and a few moments later a parade of dogs led by Holly appeared round the side of the building. She wasn't going to let me out of her sight and when she got up and moved the rest of them followed. We tried again with the same result, so Holly had to miss that test.
Back inside the hall and one of the tests was a retrieve. No problems you may think. Lots of problems, the dogs were being asked to retrieve a sausage!
There were two lines on the floor about 15 feet apart, you left your dog at the first line and went to place the sausage on the second line. You then returned to the first line and were not allowed to step over it again until the end of the exercise. Mostly the dogs just ran to the second line, ate the sausage and returned. Holly got some marks for style. We had been warned about this task a week before the event so she and I had been practising with frozen hot-dogs. The sausage on the day was a vegetarian one as it was thought this would give the dogs most chance. Holly went to the second line, picked up the sausage and started back towards me with the sausage. She stopped a couple of feet short, sat down and ate the sausage before taking the last few steps back to me. Some marks awarded for effort, none for the actual retrieve but several for style.
Shortly after this we moved house and couldn't make those training classes any more. But I still run Holly thorough training routines to keep her active and thinking. Linus joins in as well, he worked out that it was a good way to get a treat. So while he may not win any rosettes for obedience Linus will come on command, sit when asked to and walk to heel - provided, that is, that he feels motivated enough to earn a treat.
