Through the eyes of Gromit
With the summer has come what seems like a whole new level of Agility class courses for Gromit and I. I don't know when it happened..I try to pay attention, but somewhere in our training the practice courses went from novice to elite. It kind of reminds me of when you are playing bingo and you are playing too many cards and just can't keep up with the person calling numbers.
One tactic that some people use in Bingo is to tape their cards to the table, and some people bring good luck charms - I like to bring my favorite dobber. I have to say though, that I never imagined that Bingo would someday be hard for me to follow, that I would find myself thinking that a bargain play with 5 cards wasn't worth the stress or dizziness caused by trying to keep up with that darn Bingo ball flinging machine. It happened one day and I now limit myself to three cards at a time regardless of the multi-card bargain. Here is the other thing about Bingo - for many people the goal of Bingo is to get a Bingo - but not me, nope, I am not lucky, and I accepted this long ago. My goal in Bingo is to have the most even dobber marks and to keep up with the caller. That is it - just relax and enjoy and have enough time to dob and grab a handful m&m's without missing the next number -
So, what is my point? What does this have to do with Gromit you might wonder -Well, this week we got a reoccurring lecture from our instructor Annelise. She gave the "you have to look at things through you dogs eyes - what will they see when they come out of this tunnel, or off the a-frame...."
Ahem - so I started to really think about this - I always try to do what Annelise says LOL! -
So first of all - I thought for the longest time that Gromit was doing a warm up the crowd run at the beginning of every run.... well I started thinking sure, Gromit is probably not going for a Bingo, but what is Gromit trying to do what is he looking for while he sprints around the field... Gromit has eyes and a nose, and brain that rarely stops and is always interested - in whatever - and he so enjoys a good joke - one of his favorite games is find the food on the counter - and no matter how clever I am or how far back I push things or how closely I keep an eye on him, his patience and perseverance always win out - he aways finds it.
Whenever I am on the agility field in class with him I have noticed that Gromit is a great multi-tasker and is always looking for whatever might be hidden in the course - sure he will go over that jump, or walk on the a frame, and through the weave poles, but as soon as we stop - he picks up that tiny stuffed toy that another dog left on the field, or checks out the clips that are on the a-frame that weren't there last week, or laughs and jumps up for the dog treats someone left on the dog walk. Then he takes a spin around dancing with joy at how hard the game was and how successful he was at finding it - I have decided that it isn't so much a warm up the crowd run, it is a run around and get a good sniff before Heidi gets out here, she might find it first and that lady who yells at Heidi has a few good tricks up her sleeve and I want to get a head start... I think he wonders why Annelise never gives him a round of applause at his cleverness..
Gone are the days when I complained that we only put together three obstacle at a time. I no longer complain about only doing contacts and weaves as our class exercise. Oh no - now I have to figure out how to differentiate between the dog walk and the tunnel when they are lined up next to each other....we are waaaay past the fun times when our instructor put peanut butter on a target and taped it on the teeter so that Gromit would stop and lick the peanut butter instead of leaping off the teeter as it sways down...oh, those were the days - now I have to decide when to use a rear cross over a front cross - or how work Gromit from a distance, or slow him down to gather for weave poles...I get lost on a course with 20 obstacles instead of 3 and I start to get that dizzy too many cards in Bingo feeling.
Hmmm, I wonder if that is how Gromit feels - I doubt it, but it did make me think - what does he see when he comes out of that tunnel - he is probably not seeing anything, he is really just trying to stretch his neck back out like a giraffe trying to get through a cave - and that tire is always at his eye height - can he see through it or is he just jumping on faith - imagine how tall he feels on that a-frame, I bet he can see to Wisconsin when he stands on the a-frame - and no wonder he misses the weave poles once in a while, his body is so long he extends past several weave poles and probably has trouble catching them in his sights - Somehow I don't this is exactly what Annelise had in mind, but I do think that dog of mine sees more than straight lines and what is right in front of him - I just think that is the way his sense of humor works - so I am not sure what our agility goal is - I know it isn't winning - I try to help him see the course, and send him along in the right direction - but I am not sure I will ever know exactly what the right direction is through the eyes of Gromit - I only know that it is probably a lot more fun than whatever plan I saw!
One tactic that some people use in Bingo is to tape their cards to the table, and some people bring good luck charms - I like to bring my favorite dobber. I have to say though, that I never imagined that Bingo would someday be hard for me to follow, that I would find myself thinking that a bargain play with 5 cards wasn't worth the stress or dizziness caused by trying to keep up with that darn Bingo ball flinging machine. It happened one day and I now limit myself to three cards at a time regardless of the multi-card bargain. Here is the other thing about Bingo - for many people the goal of Bingo is to get a Bingo - but not me, nope, I am not lucky, and I accepted this long ago. My goal in Bingo is to have the most even dobber marks and to keep up with the caller. That is it - just relax and enjoy and have enough time to dob and grab a handful m&m's without missing the next number -
So, what is my point? What does this have to do with Gromit you might wonder -Well, this week we got a reoccurring lecture from our instructor Annelise. She gave the "you have to look at things through you dogs eyes - what will they see when they come out of this tunnel, or off the a-frame...."
Ahem - so I started to really think about this - I always try to do what Annelise says LOL! -
So first of all - I thought for the longest time that Gromit was doing a warm up the crowd run at the beginning of every run.... well I started thinking sure, Gromit is probably not going for a Bingo, but what is Gromit trying to do what is he looking for while he sprints around the field... Gromit has eyes and a nose, and brain that rarely stops and is always interested - in whatever - and he so enjoys a good joke - one of his favorite games is find the food on the counter - and no matter how clever I am or how far back I push things or how closely I keep an eye on him, his patience and perseverance always win out - he aways finds it.
Whenever I am on the agility field in class with him I have noticed that Gromit is a great multi-tasker and is always looking for whatever might be hidden in the course - sure he will go over that jump, or walk on the a frame, and through the weave poles, but as soon as we stop - he picks up that tiny stuffed toy that another dog left on the field, or checks out the clips that are on the a-frame that weren't there last week, or laughs and jumps up for the dog treats someone left on the dog walk. Then he takes a spin around dancing with joy at how hard the game was and how successful he was at finding it - I have decided that it isn't so much a warm up the crowd run, it is a run around and get a good sniff before Heidi gets out here, she might find it first and that lady who yells at Heidi has a few good tricks up her sleeve and I want to get a head start... I think he wonders why Annelise never gives him a round of applause at his cleverness..
Gone are the days when I complained that we only put together three obstacle at a time. I no longer complain about only doing contacts and weaves as our class exercise. Oh no - now I have to figure out how to differentiate between the dog walk and the tunnel when they are lined up next to each other....we are waaaay past the fun times when our instructor put peanut butter on a target and taped it on the teeter so that Gromit would stop and lick the peanut butter instead of leaping off the teeter as it sways down...oh, those were the days - now I have to decide when to use a rear cross over a front cross - or how work Gromit from a distance, or slow him down to gather for weave poles...I get lost on a course with 20 obstacles instead of 3 and I start to get that dizzy too many cards in Bingo feeling.
Hmmm, I wonder if that is how Gromit feels - I doubt it, but it did make me think - what does he see when he comes out of that tunnel - he is probably not seeing anything, he is really just trying to stretch his neck back out like a giraffe trying to get through a cave - and that tire is always at his eye height - can he see through it or is he just jumping on faith - imagine how tall he feels on that a-frame, I bet he can see to Wisconsin when he stands on the a-frame - and no wonder he misses the weave poles once in a while, his body is so long he extends past several weave poles and probably has trouble catching them in his sights - Somehow I don't this is exactly what Annelise had in mind, but I do think that dog of mine sees more than straight lines and what is right in front of him - I just think that is the way his sense of humor works - so I am not sure what our agility goal is - I know it isn't winning - I try to help him see the course, and send him along in the right direction - but I am not sure I will ever know exactly what the right direction is through the eyes of Gromit - I only know that it is probably a lot more fun than whatever plan I saw!
Comments
Post a Comment