Last year, I took Juno to beach classes without Loki because she had to do a few special classes for her Therapy Dog certification. When I worked Juno by herself, I had absolutely no obedience problems with her. She did everything perfectly: stayed, came, heeled, sat on picnic tables. She even hurdled over BBQ stands on command. After she got her certification, I began working Loki a little more and Juno a lot less. I figured, heck, she passed all her tests with flying colors. For a husky, she had a decent recall, a great down-stay and was well behaved, she probably didn't need more than that. I kept working Loki, daily, and just let Juno play as distraction for Loki during our training time.
Then I took them both to beach classes early this year. And the other shoe dropped.
The trainers had us put our dogs on a down stay. No problem. I did it, walked away and before I could say "good dogs," Juno broke and ran toward something way more interesting than me. Now, I have no idea what could be more interesting than me holding a bag of hot dogs, but apparently, there was something. And since Loki never likes it when Juno misbehaves, he broke his down and I had two dogs yahoo-ing all over the place while everyone just stared at me in pity and disgust. I could feel them getting more anxious about their own dogs getting up since my two were being the poop-disturbers of the group. Because when one dog gets up, well, it's like dominos, but opposite. And I had two dogs up, running in every direction. Typical beach yahoos. That's an automatic invitation to a party that's hard to resist for any downed dog.
Thankfully, Loki's recall is fast so he came back quickly with his mouth flapping, loaded up and complaining "aarrgh grrr arrrghh grrrr," about the miscreant who started it.
Juno? She blew me off as if she never had a day of training her life. "Juno, come" fell on deaf ears. Imagine that. This dog had already earned an obedience certification and here she was acting like it was only a piece of paper. It felt like an eternity trying to get her back to me. At one point, I gave up and walked away. Just as I was fantasizing that some poor sucker would eventually find her, take pity on a sweet lost dog and adopt her while relieving me of all the Siberian torture she inflicts on me daily (not to mention my car, house, yard, shoes, hats , yoga mat, books, catalogues and husband's tools), she came running back to me.
Damn it. I was almost home-free from Siberian Husky torture.
I learned a hard lesson. Training never stops. Ever. Especially with a Sibe.
Juno recently decided that I'm always much more important than anything else, so like Loki, she keeps her gaze toward me.
I wonder if those skillet beatings are finally paying off?
PS: Mr. Wild Dingo: I think I found your blue masking tape and some of your yellow string this morning. Juno was kind enough to "give it back" to you in her morning potty.
Training never stops. Ever. Especially with a Sibe.
No truer words were ever written.