Cob Jockey

Hank is a dog that I'd eventually like to come to horse shows with me.  He's smart, listens well, rarely barks or howls unless it's on command or he's hungry, and doesn't have a shred of separation anxiety.  And he LOVES adventures.

#porchin

But good horse show dogs are made, not born, and Hank needs the chance to learn how to be a good one.  Luckily, I got a perfect opportunity to give him an education when, due to a marathon in my city that would clog the roads for the entire day of the show, I had to haul Connor in to the horse park 24 hours before my ride time on Saturday.

Definitely not allowed on my couch

We've had Hank for a year now, and his obedience training is MILES better than it was when we got him.  We've slowly worked up to doing obedience in increasingly more distracting/challenging public places, til we're at the point that he's a Good Boy in most situations.

Like learning that he has to down/stay while in the checkout line at Rural King

Now that he's at that point with obedience, I've started bringing him around the horses, which is VERY EXCITING!  At Rolex, he boinged up and down feet into the air on the end of his leash every time a horse ran by.  Thankfully we were hundreds of feet away so the horses didn't notice, but it was clear that we need to make horses running around boring for this dog.

So since I had nothing to do except unload my trailer and feed my horse on Friday evening, that's exactly what Hank and I did.  We watched horses run around for HOURS.  After he was already worn out physically.  When the riders were just practicing, so if something did go horribly wrong, it wouldn't happen during an actual test.

Tense, active, forced down stay

Eyes on swivels

I had a pocket full of training treats with me, and did a lot of boring obedience with him - sit, down, stay, high five, gimme paw, lay on your side, roll over, crawl.  Just to prove he has to listen to me rather than stay on high alert.  Then we went back to the barn for a brief mental break for him.

Tied to the wall

And finally we went back to watch my trainer teach a lesson in the warmup ring, sitting right up against the rail so the horse cantered right by us, and this is when he FINALLY started to get bored with it.

Relaxed, willing down stay a few hours later

It was nice having him there, people I didn't know came up to introduce themselves and ask about  him.  I joked that he was on "horse show probation", and even though he improved a lot over the course of the afternoon, I didn't bring him back for the actual show the next day.  He's not good enough to where he wouldn't be a distraction for me, and I didn't need that while showing.

Future horse show dog.  Future very weird horse show dog.

Someday though!  He'll get there.