Stay-to-Train Testimony

Hey Clare, it's Sam smith here.

Just thought i'd drop you a little letter to tell you what a fab time both Lee and I are having with our dogs. As you know, we had a holiday booked to go to Wales. The place we were staying in was next to a sheep farm. Needless to say we packed countless balls, whistles and other paraphillalia to distract and entertain. Turns out, we didn't need it!

I'd been working on their off lead heel walking for a while. We had progressed from sterile open space to wildlife packed woodland with a few hiccups along the way. Just a few days before we left for Wales something suddenly clicked with both dogs.

On the approach to the woods we play and walk. The woodland is surrounded by fields and hedegrow. To access it you go through a gate. We approached the gate according to routine. The ball was retrieved and i made them laydown and wait until the gate was open and i had gone through. They usually dash through and run ahead to explore but on this occaision, they simply trotted through and sat behind me. I began walking and they followed. I was totally freaked out! They did this for the ENTIRE walk. 1 & 1/2 hours of calm submissive walking. Because they were so calm wildlife appeared in abundance. Squirrels, pheasants and even a stoat crossed our path and they didn't even flinch. At first i was worried. I thought they were sick or overheating or something, but the walk continued.

The next day the same thing happened and the next and the next. I told Lee. but i thn he thought i was waffling on or making it up.

Then Wales came and we took them for a walk along the coast path. They were both on the lead as the pembrokeshire Triathlon was going on with lots of athletes running past us. They didn't even flinch.

When most of the runners had past, i took them both of the lead, clicked my fingers, said 'heel walk' and they fell in line. Lee was absolutely gob smacked. The best part was that Lee had a go, copied exactly what i had done and they did the same for him.

This has to be the single most brilliant thing they have done and the weird thing was, i didn't really teach them to do it,it just kind of happened.

We took them through fields of sheep like this and neither of them were remotely interested in the sheep.

We even took them to a sheep dog demo (Pembrokeshire sheep dogs) and Finn fell asleep with his head on Lee's lap. Even the lady running the demo said how calm Finn was.

He is a different dog. Ripper just falls in line and follows. Peace and calm at last. No whistles or collars required, just the promise of play and the occaisional tit bit of food for Ripper.

Lee is now determined to teach Finn how to play frisbee and do frisbee tricks. This keeps them both busy. And Ripper is just the perfect little dog.

We still have little hiccups, mostly food aggression related, but now i know he can be controlled while we have a relaxing walk and that he can be recalled mid chase ( mostly chasing away the free range chickens that live in the property down the road) I know that he can work through the food agression thing. It's our next big thing to concentrate on. Afterall, Life with Finn would be boring if we didn't have a little problem or two to work through.

So i guess this is a thank you letter really. I know that Lee would certainly like to thank you for your input in changing the way we live with and enjoy our dogs.

Take care and I promise I will send a testimonial soon. I have a busy week ahead but will find the time this weekend to do it.

Bye