Thursday, May 30, 2013

Two brains are better than one ....

How lucky are those of us who get to play with animal team mates?

SO LUCKY.

Not only do we get to learn lots about ourselves as we work on new skills and behaviours, we also learn about how our animal partners think, learn and react.

If you are lucky enough to play with multiple animals you also get regular reminders of how unique and different each is. If you play with varied species even BETTER!

Quirk the pony scents very differently to the dogs. She is more thoughtful yet more sure in some ways. Some dogs will check check check then confirm, Quirk goes to source and holds there. I keep ascribing it to prey versus predator but I am not really convinced that is the root.  If I ever come up with another theory I'll let you know!

Have started some agility games on the lawn with the dogs. As always I think oh I will work X then whoever wasn't on the list gets all sad and wishing they were playing and I end up working the set a little. Some observations from our first week:

Yen is fast
Sally has trouble staying in the poles when the grass is past her elbows
Yen had better forget the trick of running along tunnel tops very soon
Brody may not see or hear all that well but he loves jump work
Thea is loud and bossy when she knows her plan and it wasn't my plan
Yen is fast

I love agility