I won’t bury the lead on this column because I’m super proud of Mr. Aidan.
On Nov. 15, in just his fifth time in the ring, Aidan achieved his first perfect 100 score and his first Rally class win. He was tied with another dog but won on time by 10 seconds, which is a significant margin.
So, if you’d like to stop reading now, by all means go ahead, that’s the sound byte written version of the news. But, perhaps you might want to continue for the whole story?
By way of background for new readers, my previous Rally dog, Buzz, was one of the top dogs in the country for many years and achieved a number of national breed club records that won’t soon be eclipsed. And a few American Kennel Club (AKC) milestones along the way as well.
But despite all of the successes I had with Buzz, he rarely won on time. But now Aidan has achieved this goal for me. So he’s already exceeded my expectations.
I lost count of the number of high combined and high triple combined honors Buzz and I lost because we were always slower than the dogs tied in scores with us.
Our ace in the hole was his consistency and ability to perfectly execute the signs – especially in the Master class, which is the highest level. Getting perfect scores in that class was always my goal at every show, and my mantra with him was a fast 99 score isn’t going to beat a slower 100. So, we strove for perfect execution and let the time-clock chips fall wherever they did.
As a dog trainer, and a quite competitive one at that, these are little decisions you drop into a basket for the next dog as you continue along each dog’s unique training path. So when I started training Aidan for Rally, I dusted off that goal and put it into immediate action.
I vowed to change that disappointing statistic with Aidan. So from the get-go, as a wee puppy, I really picked up the pace while heeling. Or, as much as I could while still teaching him to execute the signs as close to perfectly as possible.
But as you know, poor Aidan has had to endure my retina issues, which threw a money wrench into his training routine and forced me to start fresh with a completely new body position. I needed to actually see him on my left side heeling next to me and my limited periphery vision proved to be a problem.
Plus, he had pressure issues that I unwittingly put on him and couldn’t seem to figure out how to overcome. I’m a rather competitive person and I wanted perfection. But I was going about this in all the wrong ways for Aidan’s timid personality. So, over the summer, I quit training in Rally, and strove to reset our partnership by bonding while doing other things – like playing ball and tug and taking walks together.
As a dog trainer, you learn from every dog you work with, and you strive to not make the same mistakes or improve upon the areas that are lacking. As I’ve stated before, I’m on a very different training path with Aidan than I was with Buzz. I’m learning from him to make this a two-way partnership.
I can always nitpick little things and tuck them away to work on while training, but overall, this month’s Rally performance was his best to date. So I think I’m finally on the right track. And, I’m hopeful that we are on the road to becoming the dog and handler team I hoped we might become.
I think another factor might be Master Drake, who has been, well, both a challenging and interesting addition to our world. Turning both of our calm and peaceful lives upside down in a tornadic explosion of non-stop puppy energy and antics.
For you see, unlike Aidan, Drake is as fearless as they come. And I think his gang-buster attitude about life has had a profound and positive influence on Aidan. So many things that were very scary to Aidan aren’t that big a deal any more. Drake has shown him that the world isn’t ending when a piece of paper falls on the ground, I roll back in my office chair, or, oh heavens, I drop a spoon.
Drake looks at everyday occurrences as no big deal and now Aidan is beginning to look at them this way, too.
There’s also a competition-for-my-attention factor that perhaps, makes Aidan braver, too. Plus, I have done everything in my power to take the pressure off Aidan. And Drake has unknowingly assisted me with this. There’s another dog in the household to shoulder things. Maybe Aidan no longer feels like everything is his responsibility?
Plus, he gets to play older brother; which at times I can tell, is a LOT. Drake is pretty relentless when it comes to wanting to play and I can see when Aidan has had enough so, I mitigate the situation.
It could be a combination of all these things. Or not. Or, it could just be as Aidan gets a little older – he’s 3 years old now – he’s mentally maturing as well. Male Tollers are historically slow to mentally mature. We like to say they don’t get a brain until they are 3 or older.
But I digress.
When you show an unusual breed like Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retrievers (and you did as consistently well as Buzz and I did) the judges tend to remember you. Which can work in your favor. Or not. When you walk into the ring with a new dog.
Judges are expected to score the dog and performance in front of them, but as humans, they have long memories, too.
But what made this show special was the judge telling me after the awards were given out that it was “different” seeing me walk into the ring with Aidan. And then she offered her condolences on Buzz’s death.
I teared up a bit, but truly believe Buzz continues to look down from the other side of the rainbow bridge rooting Aidan and I on as we embark on our Rally journey together.
And since Drake is related to Buzz, which is why I chose to buy him, hopefully Buzz will be rooting for us in the future as well.
