I Need A Beer!

These dogs are a lot of work!

I thought that training Abby was exhausting because I had to maintain a very high level of energy to keep her wanting to work. I had to give 150% in order to keep her attention and focus. I had to stay on top of our surroundings to keep a look out for anything that might cause Abby to stress out or anything that might cause her to want to bolt. I had to stay happy and squeaky and had to "be the cookie". No matter what, I couldn't let her know that I was stress out or nervous or frustrated, because all that travels down the leash and Abby senses it immediately and shuts down.

Training sniper is equally exhausting, but in a totally different way. I have to maintain a calm energy so that he doesn't get overly excited. But at the same time, I have to be exciting enough to keep his focus on me and not on everything else around. I have to know when to treat with cookies and when to rile him up and let him tug. But while tugging, I still have to maintain control and make sure he doesn't go over the top. He knows how to work, and he knows how to have fun while working, but my job/goal is to make sure that he works with some self-control - a job in and of itself.

Training both kids back to back is enough to drive any trainer crazy. Both have been known to test my patience but training both back to back, I'm bound to loose it eventually! Don't get me wrong, I love training both Abby and Sniper. And I love learning and growing as a trainer. Both are teaching me things that I would never have learned otherwise. Abby has opened so many doors for me in the training world, and Sniper is helping me refine my techniques and is allowing me to have a bit more fun too. But after training both back to back, I just want to have a beer and go to bed!