Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Getting Rack Ready For The Walk

Ok, I don't know which TV Show scarred me for life with these little sayings, but let me get them out of the way first!

"I caught you looking at my butt!"

"Quit looking at my butt!"

*WHEW*!  There we go, back to normal!

You see getting Rack ready for his walk is a ritual.  It could be as many as three or more rituals.

It all depends on the time of day and "which" walk we're taking.

I suppose we could throw weather into that too although it's either dry or rainy here.

You see Rack the McNab SuperDog (TM) is a herding dog.  A McNab Dog like him loves routines.  He can predict what will happen next and when we make a change to the house, we can see how he's a bit confused by it all and then adapts.

After all I can't say "ready" without him wanting to go somewhere.  I changed that to the Spanish "Listo" for when I am "ready" and want to go somewhere and don't want him to know.  He will learn that and I'll find another Key Word.

Suggestions anyone?

Herding dogs like the McNab, any collie, or any breed with Shepherd or Heeler in their names were bred for intelligence and flexibility.  You can teach them anything.

I didn't realize I was teaching him to crawl between my legs.

Yes, they are my legs, but we went through this already.

To get him ready for a walk all I really have to do is show him a leash.  The leash has the harness already clipped to the end for convenience sake.  I hold the harness open and he simply walks through it.

But in typical "One Plus One Equals Three Fashion" of a herding dog, Rack ... keeps walking.

Around 43 pounds of wriggling mostly black fur wants to keep going.  The easiest place to go was between my legs.  So as I am trying to reach under his chest to snap the harness together, he has his head stuck back there and is looking around excited.

Trust me, an excited McNab Dog is a very interesting thing.

He will stand there trying to walk forward while there.  I weigh about five times more than he does, roughly, so he's not going anywhere.  But he's trying to move forward. 

Put your hand under him and push him backwards?  That doesn't really work, he simply walks forward until he's stuck.

Step aside?  He's walking to the front door.

Sure, he'll come back if called since that is the hallmark of a well trained herding dog, but standing aside isn't really effective.

So there I am.  A dog sticking his head between my legs, wagging his tail, and waiting to go explore the world.

I'm shaking my head, amused at the entire thing.  Wriggling dog and all.

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