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Dog DemoJune 27, 2009 The sun came out! It stayed out nearly all day!! In the middle of the day it was actually hot!!! Well, OK, it wasn't hot by summer standards, but by the standards of the last six weeks, it was very, very warm. You could practically see blades of grass reaching toward the sun, growing before your eyes. (Did someone say that watching grass grow is boring?) Trav and I participated in a demonstration of the educational, rather than political, kind. The reborn Martha's Vineyard Animal Shelter, which has taken up the mission abandoned by the Massachusetts SPCA when they decided to close its Vineyard shelter, was holding a low-key meet-and-greet informational gathering at Sunset Park, near Oak Bluffs harbor (and right across the street from Our Market, my favorite purveyor of beer). Karen Ogden, our instructor, was giving an introduction to her "positive reinforcement" training methods and to "Rally O," Rally Obedience, which is what Travvy and I have been learning. He's pretty quick at learning the commands, and he's gradually developing the ability to focus in the presence of ever greater distractions, so I figured this experience would offer some serious practice in that department. It did. The gathering was 12 to 2 p.m., the hottest part of a very warm day and not ideal for a heavy-coated Alaskan malamute, even one who has pretty much finished blowing his winter undercoat. We arrived around 11:30 a.m. with a bottle of water, a water dish, a mat, and and a well-stocked "bait bag," all in a canvas satchel. The distractions started as soon as we got out of the truck. Travvy immediately spotted two miniature horses and a full-size pinto, not to mention half a dozen dogs, all leashed, of course. Managing both Travvy and the satchel was a challenge. Karen had staked out plenty of space in the shade next to Sunset Lake and set up a ring with orange snow fencing. The rest of our classmates, dogs and people, were already settled in. They've all got dog show or trial experience, so the little enclosure next to the ring had the feel of a campsite set up by campers who know what they're doing: Sochi the golden retriever was in his crate, working on a Kong filled with chicken salad; Willow the Aussie was in his crate, which was draped with a space blanket for better shade. The quarters were close, and Trav was keyed up but mostly under threshold. A few times he went over, usually because I wasn't paying close enough attention to what he was paying attention to, and lunged at another dog with a great Wooo! of challenge or warning. When we went into the ring to do our practice run, Sailor, a statuesque Great Dane who is just a year old, was still standing close to the "gate." I should have asked his handler to move and waited till they were out of the way. Passing that close to another dog put Travvy over the top: he lunged and wooo'ed and I had to drag him out of reach. By the time we got to the Start sign, however, Travvy was focused on me again. I thought back to our first Rally class, when Trav's mind remained out of his body for most of the hour, and was much encouraged. We had a good run, too, barring one pause to sniff an interesting smell on the grass. We hung around a little while longer, but Trav was keyed up and it was hot in direct sunlight (Trav snoozed in the shade of Karen's truck), so we decided to quit while our brains were still engaged. We got a nice purple ribbon for participating which I now seem to have lost so I can't tell you what it said on it, but maybe it'll turn up.
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