Col. Potter Training Tip: Do your best and your dog will love you

We all try to do what’s best for our dogs. But sometimes it is hard to know what is “best.” And best for who? Thankfully, our dogs forgive us as we mere humans try to understand and fulfill their needs.

I recently thought my little Peaches would love giving Li'l Punkin (a Col. Potter cairn terrier puppy) a temporary place to stay while he waited for his real foster home. I thought she would benefit from some socialization with another terrier. Well, that didn’t work out – for me. Peaches and foster Li’l Punkin had a wonderful time, but I was having angina!

As you recall, Peaches has subaortic stenosis. The severity of SAS is measured by gradients, from 16 (mild) to 80 (severe); Peaches’ gradient two months ago was 236. (The cardiac vet will re-examine her and re-measure the gradient again at the end of this month.) Anyway, Peaches has to avoid sudden excitement, so I thought playing with a terrier who was closer to her size and her play style, rather than with her 4-year-old 70-pound male collie companion, would be good for her.

Peaches plays with collie Nemo every morning, but I thought she'd enjoy playing with a terrier instead.

Dear me, I forgot about puppy play! I didn’t remember how quickly puppy play can escalate into a noisy and scary argument. One of the pups must have nipped the other, or took a toy, or heaven knows what, but their loud argument set me running. After I gave the pups a 60-second timeout, they went back to gentle play, but I reached for my nitroglycerin tablets.

Peaches and Li'l Punkin played gently – most of the time.

I let the Col. Potter intake coordinator know of my fears about Peaches getting too excited, and she immediately found a new “bed & breakfast” home for Li’l Punkin while he waited to join his foster family. Because that’s what CPCRN does: they do everything they can to find the best situation for their dogs, their foster families, and their adopters.

I love that about CPCRN, and I love when I see it with my friends, too.

One friend has a long and successful history of raising and training dogs for competition. She gives her dogs all they need to succeed, and they thrive under her care. It has become increasingly obvious, however, that one of her dogs simply does not enjoy her time in the ring. My friend's dog is much happier with a long trek on the walking trails. So, despite pouring all the training hours and all the money into competition, my friend decided to let her dog decide her own “career” and took her out of the ring. I think that’s one of the most loving gestures an owner can make.

I once wanted to see if Nemo (the aforementioned 4-year-old collie) liked agility. We took an Intro to Agility class, and he loved it!!! He learned so fast, and he was fearless on the equipment. He mastered the tunnel, he loved the see-saw, and he was progressing on jumps. He especially liked to scale the 6-foot-tall a-frame. In fact, he enjoyed it so much, and was so proud of his accomplishment, that when he got to the top he turned around to find me, to get my approval. When he turned, he lost his footing – and he came crashing down to the floor, falling on his shoulder. My heart stopped.

Nemo is a confident goofball (shown here carrying a roll of tape, for some unknown reason)

Nemo was fine. I never recovered. From then on, I couldn’t get over my fears about agility. So I am gradually buying equipment for a backyard obstacle course – minus the a-frame – and hopefully Nemo will forgive me for blocking what would have undoubtedly been a stellar career overflowing with blue ribbons.

But that’s the point. If we all had unlimited money, time, courage, and insights we would create utopias for our dogs. As it is, however, we have to be happy with giving our dog the best life we can, under the circumstances. Like my friend paying attention to her dog’s happiness (or lack thereof) in the competition ring, like trying to give Nemo the activities he enjoys without giving myself a nervous breakdown, or like CPCRN working with a myriad of unknowns while trying to give every dog the best chance for a good life… Just do your best, and your dog will see you as the awesome, quirky, flawed and beautiful person you are.

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