Hi!

Raj had his intro-treadmill session yesterday afternoon, and he had a good time. We will be working on this, very gradually.

Suzanne has a Jog a Dog. It has sides, so that the dog can’t jump off. She says she has the next-to-biggest–the top size was wider, but not longer (and she needs the length for GSDs and retrievers, but has no giant breeds coming in so she does not need wider). She removed the bar across the front that apparently was designed to tether the dog to the treadmill, since she can’t see why anybody would ever do that and take a chance of unexpected events and resulting accidents. At the time she bought hers, the largest size was also twice as expensive.

When we came in, she had a border collie do a demo for Raj, so that he could see how the thing works. He watched, and apparently he figured out how the thing works, because he did very well.

The treadmill is along one wall of the room, and there is a “room pattern” for doing the work: dog gets on from the back (set at 11-degree grade for Raj’s intro), does a short slow session to start learning how to balance and walk–Suzanne points down and very conversationally suggests “watch your track”–and he did, which helped to keep him toward the front of the treadmill. Today he was just doing a fairly slow walk, multiple reps of getting on, walking, learning to deal with stopping, then off the front of the treadmill, circle the room, go around the desk to a water bowl, then back on the treadmill from the back and another practice start and walk.

Today Suzanne did it all. Next week I concentrate on keeping him in place while she adjusts the speed. The session after that I learn to do the buttons and keep him in place. We are going to be walking for several sessions, gradually moving up to a trot.

Suzanne seemed to be quite impressed with our boy–and he did catch on to the whole thing quickly.

Raj had fun–but then, Raj always has fun. We go back for our next session next Friday, and then the week after will do Monday and Friday. Suzanne has found that doing a treadmill session on the same day that the dog will be going to training later has been very helpful in settling some dogs down for the training class.

You will not be surprised that Suzanne is a longtime horse trainer.

Still can’t believe our little group of nuts was out there on the training field for almost four hours last night. By the time I got home I was not sure my toes would ever thaw. But once again Mr. Raj enjoyed his evening. He seems to have decided that Charlie is his person. He was practicing his long down while Charlie and Jackie worked their dogs, and when Charlie gave his recall command, you know who thought he was going to leap into action. Unfortunately for our boy, I was standing on the leash.

Will let you know how we progress with the treadmill.

Ann

Raj
O-litter XBox – Allie