Category: Pets

in which Phoebe contemplates the loneliness of the long-distance hound

Phoebe has now reached the midpoint in her education, but was happy to note that there are no midterms in this curriculum.

Last night we learned stay and come. The teacher would hold each dog’s leash while the dog’s person would slowly walk away giving the stay command. At a distance of about twenty feet she would release the dog so we could give the come command.

Phoebe went first. I slowly backed away giving the stay signal. Whenever she looked away I threw a watch me at her and while I was within ten feet, all was fine. Once I got past ten feet she lost interest in the game and began sniffing around, checking out the other dogs and doing whatever she wanted. She stayed, but probably because she wanted to.

Finally, I gave the come signal and started calling her over. She looked at me as if to say “oh, there you are” and she walked towards me. While she walked she contemplated her life, her existence as a racer, her foster home, her new home, the dog that moved in next door, Daphne and Morrison and the more she thought, the more she remembered, she knew that she could never sell out. The feet drifted by as in a dream and Phoebe knew that she could do any trick, learn any command, but only for herself. Not for the teacher, not for me, not for anyone.

She stopped a few feet short and refused to cross the finish line come up to me until I feigned disinterest at which point she decided she really did want the treat.

Towards the end of class we started work on lie down. Phoebe stared at the teacher, refusing to lay down. Then the teacher turned her back and the moment she wasn’t looking, Phoebe did lay down.

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Visit Phoebe’s friends at the Carnival of the Dogs!

[saveagrey]

in which Phoebe learns nuthin’

Last night’s class was mainly dedicated to sit and loose-leash walking with introductions to heel. Phoebe is already great on a leash and came with heel pre-installed, so it was kind of like a free day for her.

We’re still working on sit, but Phoebe has mastered the other skills: watch me and leave it.

The teacher loves Phoebe, describing her as a gentle soul who is one of her all time favorite pupils. That’s probably why she gets more unearned treats than the other pups. All of this might be going to her head, though. When we got home Daphne followed her around wagging her tail and wanting to know what Phoebe had learned. After the butt-sniffing and play bows, I heard this exchange:

Daphne (wagging) – What did you learn?

Phoebe – Nuthin’

Daphne – What did they teach you?

Phoebe – Nuthin’

Ahh, teenagers. It reminds me of my school years. Perhaps she needs a project. I’m thinking we’ll try to turn a salad into a steak to see if it wakes Daphne up. Of course, greyhounds sometimes enjoy a good salad.

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Visit Phoebe’s friends at the Carnival of the Dogs!

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in which Phoebe learns ‘leave it’ and questions the canigogical value of ‘sit’

After a week of doing ‘watch me’ homework, Phoebe went back to class to demonstrate her newfound talent and fill her pointy little head with more knowledge. The lessons for this week were ‘leave it’ and ‘sit.’

The teacher taught ‘leave it’ by placing treats on the floor near the dogs and then shooing them away when they went for the treats. The reward for not eating the treats was a treat from her hand. She worked with each dog individually while all the pupils looked on. Each dog grasped the lesson more quickly than the previous one, but Phoebe – ever the observer – picked it up the quickest, earning accolades and extra treats. Next we went for a walk so as to apply our newfound knowledge. Phoebe was quite good at ignoring whatever she was asked to ignore.

After the walk came ‘sit,’ a command that greys sometimes have trouble with since their racetrack training often teaches them not to sit. The teacher knew Phoebe would resist it so she said she’d work with Phoebe last in the hopes that she would get it by watching the others. Most of the others grasped it very quickly. Phoebe watched, knowing that treats were being given out, but unsure of what to do. Finally while the teacher was working with another pup, Phoebe sat. It was the first time I’d ever seen that dog sit. The teacher was thrilled and gave Phoebe a bevy of treats. Despite the treats, though, Phoebe saw no relevance for ‘sit’ in her life and suggested that she would never need to know ‘sit’ in the real world, so just as her owner once saw no relevance or need to know algebra, she declined to sit a second time.

The last ten minutes were devoted to recess. The other dogs played while Phoebe went around and introduced herself to the humans who are all very intrigued by the inherently gregarious and gentle nature of greyhounds. I was asked by one woman if greyhounds like to play, and I told her that they love to play, but they often only know one game: catch me if you can.

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Visit Phoebe’s friends at the Carnival of the Dogs!

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in which Phoebe meets her teacher and learns to take food from people.

Phoebe started school today. She is the biggest dog in a class of very small dogs so if she sees farther than the other dogs, it is because she is surrounded by dwarfs. The other dogs are cute, nonagressive, and mostly well-behaved so it seems like a group that a shy dog like Phoebe will be able to handle.

The teacher spent most of the class just talking about her own dogs and her background as a trainer while the students got to know one another. Phoebe was a bit standoffish at first, but she warmed up to a toy poodle and the teacher’s pet – I mean that literally – a boxer. As the teacher spoke, she walked around the circle of dogs, handing treats to them until, by the time she was finished, she had their undivided attention.

In that time, she got a yipping dog to stop yipping, and a bouncy dog to sit. She also managed to get Phoebe to take the treats from her hand. I’ve been working on that since October and only last week did she do it and then only once. I had been concerned about this, but by the time we left, she was more than willing to take treats from my hand.

The first lesson was ‘watch-me.’ The object is to get the dog to look into your eyes without looking away for a minute and a half. I could get Phoebe to give me this undivided attention for about twenty seconds. She did it twice and then lost interest, but by then class was over. So that’s our homework: watch me.

Overall a good class. I got to preach the gospel of greyhounds to a group of curious people who’d never seen one before, and who were all quite taken with Phoebe’s appearance and calm, but friendly demeanor. Most importantly, we made a breakthrough in that she’ll take food from my hand now. Hopefully she’ll continue to shine.

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[saveagrey]

Do we look a bit worried here?

It’s only natural to feel apprehensive when one opens a new chapter in life, and that’s where Phoebe is. On Monday, Phoebe is going to school. She’s going to learn to sit and stay, advanced leash walking, and perhaps a bit of English.

When filling out the paperwork, I was asked for placement purposes if she’d ever had any training or if this will be her first class. I didn’t know how to respond to this. Someone had once taught her to run around a track, though they didn’t do too good a job of it. Either way, I wasn’t sure if this was a matter of job-retraining or if we could call this postgraduate work. Education or training? It didn’t matter, the registrar told me, it would still be the same price, and it was only a certificate course.

So she enrolled in Advanced Beginner, which is the first course for adult dogs. I don’t really care what they teach her. She’s a smart dog and I’m told the smart ones get bored without mental stimulation which leads to furniture chewing and other fun things. Hopefully this will keep her mind occupied.

Pass the beer-bong, Phoebe, vacation’s almost over!

The Education of Greyhound Phoebe >>

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