Chapter 22
Thursday Evening
After getting home late after helping Amanda prepare Webb’s Glass Shop for the last day of class, Savannah struggled to feed Rooney, take him for a quick calm-down run, and bustle him into her car for his agility training class.
Rooney knew it was class day and took every opportunity to play with his food, tangle himself in his leash, and balk at getting into the car.
“Come on, Rooney,” she muttered as she pushed his large hindquarters onto the passenger seat of the car and buckled the restraint clip onto his halter. “You love this class and you love the instructor. Why do you always make things difficult?”
Rooney was the essence of puppy innocence when he looked at her on their way to the training facility. It was a longish drive to the training grounds, but it was the best training facility in the state. This would be Rooney’s last chance to brush up before his first competitive trial on Saturday.
The training session began ordinarily enough with puppy and parent stretches before running a few laps around the practice yard.
“Hi, Linda,” Savannah said, waving a hand to a stocky woman with tanned wrinkles around smiling eyes and a perpetually positive attitude.
“Hey, Savannah,” said the instructor. “Are you ready to put Rooney through his paces?”
“If you think he’s ready.”
Linda knelt on one knee and took Rooney’s large head into her hands. “Oh yes, he’s ready.” She looked into his eyes. “He looks bright and fit. It should be fun for him.”
“As you suspected, he needed to do something very focused after my dad died. He’s been wonderful since we started these classes.”
“Good.” Linda stood up. “This is his second month of beginner classes, isn’t it? He’s already accomplished weave-pole training and contact obstacle performance. This class reviews on jumps, tunnels, and chutes and will finish his schooling in the basics.”
“That’s great to hear,” said Savannah.
Linda ran her hands down Rooney’s back and felt his shoulders and haunches. “After formal class is over, I’d like to run him through the course a few times for a little extra tuning.”
Savannah looked over at the structures built into a small enclosure. “He loves the course I made in the backyard, but it’s nowhere near the size of this one.”
Linda smiled. “That’s good that he has constant reinforcement at home. He has lots of potential.”
The routine training started with the class of eight dogs and eight owners running laps around the practice field. The first laps began with the dogs on leash; then Linda instructed them to begin running off leash. As usual, there was a bit of a rodeo with some dogs running to play with their classmates and owners shouting, pleading, and commanding obedience.
Savannah proudly stood by the attentive Rooney, who stood tall but relaxed beside her. He is such a good dog. I wonder if he still remembers Dad. It’s been several months, but I’m so grateful for his company. He has recovered beautifully.
Linda stood by the gate that led to the enclosed agility course. “Today we’re going to practice the final obstacle, the tunnel. For some dogs, this is where they wash out. Your dog has to trust that this tunnel is safe for him to dash through even when he can’t see the end. Your job is to send your dog into the entrance, then coax him from the exit.”
“What if he gets stuck?” piped up the very large owner of a papillon terrier.
“We’ll see some of that today,” said Linda. “I have several ways to coax a reluctant pet through the tunnel. Worst case, we crawl in there and lead them out.”
“Yuk, that’s not good.”
“So, line up from smallest dog to largest. We’ll start by leading your dog to the entrance of the tunnel. At the entrance, you command him to sit and stay; then you go to the other end of the tunnel and command him to come. Okay? Let’s try it.”
The smallest dog with the largest owner attempted the instructions. The little white papillon, however, just couldn’t stay behind while her owner went to the other end of the tunnel. She kept trotting along behind him like a little white tufted caboose.
“Okay, let me hold her while you get to the other end,” Linda offered and scooped up the little terrier. When the owner made it to the end of the tunnel, Linda let the terrier see her owner through the tunnel, but held fast. “Now call her.”
When the owner said, “Come,” the little dickens shot through the tunnel like lightning and leapt up onto her owner’s chest licking his face like it was covered with cherry pie. Everyone laughed.
The class progressed through the remaining dogs until the only pair left was Rooney and Savannah. She led him up to the entrance of the tunnel and commanded him to sit and stay. When she walked to the other end of the tunnel, Rooney trotted along behind her very much like the little terrier had earlier.
Patiently, Savannah led him by pulling on his collar back to the tunnel entrance and repeated her command to sit and stay. Once again, he sat until she was at the other end and then he followed her before she could call him.
“Savannah, does he have trust issues?” Linda put her hands on her hips and frowned at Rooney.
“Possibly.” Savannah led Rooney back to the tunnel entrance and Linda stood next to Rooney. “He was completely devoted to my dad, and when he died I think Rooney felt abandoned.”
“Okay, let me give you and Rooney a little after class instruction so as not to hold up everyone.” Savannah was relieved to be out of the spotlight and she and Rooney waited at the sidelines until the rest of the dogs and their owners had gone.
After everyone had left, Linda motioned for them to return to the tube. “Thanks for waiting. Let’s try the same trick.” Linda stooped in front of the entrance with her hand holding Rooney’s collar. As soon as Savannah was out of sight, Rooney tried to follow. “Stay, Rooney.” He tried again with calm persistence, dragging the sturdy Linda along.
“Rooney!” Savannah scurried back and sat on the ground in front of him. He practically covered her face with licks and sat in her lap. She looked at Linda. “Any other ideas? We’re entered in the puppy agility competition the day after tomorrow. Do you think I should withdraw?”
“Let me think a minute.” Linda struggled up and stood scratching the back of her neck.
She looked at Savannah’s tall, slim frame. “Do you think you can crawl through the tunnel?”
“Sure, it’s pretty big.” Savannah leaned over and peered through the tunnel. “Yeah, I can do this.”
“Good, I want you to crawl through backward so that Rooney can follow and assure him that there’s nothing bad in there.”
“That might work.” Savannah backed into the bright yellow hose and crept backward calling as she went, “Rooney, come on, Rooney boy.” He dropped down to his haunches and scooted Lassie style through the tunnel. “Good boy, good boy” was all that was heard from the tunnel.
The first thing that appeared from the tunnel was Savannah’s feet and then her butt as she scuffled out. As soon as she cleared it, Rooney ran through the tunnel, jumped into her lap, and tumbled her onto her back. “So, now you’re happy. You’re pretty smart.” Savannah scratched him behind the ears with both hands.
“Okay, let’s try again.” Linda walked around to the front of the tunnel. “Bring him around for a second trial.”
Savannah called for Rooney and led him to the front of the tunnel. He looked down at the opening and then up at Savannah in a sorrowful tilt. “He’s acting as if I’m going to send him to Siberia.”
“It could be that that is exactly what he’s thinking. Anyway, try it again.”
Savannah signaled for Rooney to sit. He folded his rump under himself in the slowest possible way. Savannah then pointed to the entrance of the tunnel and said, “Go, Rooney!” as she ran around to the exit. Rooney got up on all four legs, made a yipping circle, and followed her to the end of the tunnel then just stared at her. “This is frustrating.”
“Now don’t give up. We have lots of tricks up our sleeve. Let’s try an advanced technique.” Moving to the entrance of the tunnel, Linda said, “I want you to start at the beginning of the course and run the whole thing with Rooney just as we’ve trained. In the heat of the run, he might do this one as well. He is very eager to please.”
“That’s very true.” Savannah sounded doubtful. “I’ll try anything you say.”
“Now when you get to the tunnel, you’ll already be running, so point to the tunnel and run around to the end and see if he gets the idea. I’ll stand interference by the entrance. He’s a smart puppy and should be fine.”
Nodding agreement, Savannah jogged over to the start of the course and Rooney obediently trotted beside her. The start and finish were on top of a small wooden platform. She commanded Rooney to stay at the starting line and she crouched ready to run.
Linda pulled a red bandana out of her pocket and waved them a start signal.
Savannah yelled, “Go, Rooney!” and ran for the first obstacle, which was a simple hurdle over a plastic bar, and Rooney cleared it easily. A tire suspended at four points on a white pipe structure followed that and Rooney jumped through with ease. The next was a set of parallel poles in a straight line called a weave for him to run in and out. It looked like his body was making an “s,” he sped through it so quickly.
The next to last training obstacle was the tunnel. As Rooney left the weave, Linda and Savannah both pointed to the entrance and Rooney bolted through it without the least hesitation and at Savannah’s direction skittered across the seesaw, then hopped onto the platform for a stunning finish.
“Wow! That was an incredible run.” Linda ran over to the platform and gave Rooney a hearty slap on the rump. “If you do that on Saturday, you’re going to waltz out of there with a first-place prize.”
“I’m hoping for a safe and nonmortifying run,” said Savannah. “Right, Rooney?”
Rooney tilted his head to the side and looked adorable.