Jackson Goes to Boot Camp!

If you don’t know him, Jackson is an eight months old Yellow Labrador Retriever owned by Barbara, Lee, & Kyleigh Dingfelder –and, oh yeh, the “little brother” of Lucy, a Black Lab who is 3-years old. Unlike Lucy, Jackson is a rascal. Lucy is calm, sweet, and gentle. Jackson is a sweet, beautiful canine. Did I mention that he is a rascal? This photo was taken shortly after he had a pillow fight with his Big Sis in the family garage.

Having recently lost my wonderful, Canine-American Furperson, Maggie (Golden Retriever), I asked the Dings if I could get involved in Jackson’s training. After careful thought over an extended period of, oh..., about 3 milliseconds, they gave me a resounding “YES!”

I have some experience in this area. Jeanne and I trained Sam, Maggie’s predecessor, and I also trained Maggie. Now, you must understand that Sam and Maggie were calm as new puppies; Jackson is calm-NOT. Did I mention that Jackson is a rascal? I love this dog and I am happy to take on the challenge. The first thing we are doing to train Jackson is the "long-line" routine. The purpose of this part of his training is to teach him to never get more than 50 feet away from you and to keep an eye on your every move. This is done by tying one end of a 50-foot rope onto his training collar and the other end looped around the trainer's waist. Then the trainer and trainee go to an open area -ideally a grassy area with at least a 100-foot radius and no vertical obstructions. The trainer then just walks away from the dog. At no time should the trainer speak to the dog, touch the dog, or even make eye contact with him. At first it is expected that a rambunctious dog (like Jackson) will run and soon come to the end of his rope. He will then (usually) run toward you and (usually) right on by you. When he does this, the trainer does an immediate U-turn and walks in the opposite direction. The dog soon learns that if he goes in a different direction from his trainer he will get a sudden and somewhat uncomfortable (not painful) jerk on his collar. Because the trainer remains quiet at all times, the dog responds to just one stimulus. He soon learns not only to stay close to you but will keep an eye on you as long as you are moving! Each session should last 20-30 minutes.

We have completed Training Day 2 (TD2) . In a word: textbook! It is almost unbelievable. At the end of TD1 he was already shadowing me. Today, the rope tightened only twice -once when he stopped to poop and one other time when he chased a blowing leaf ('probably thought it was a squirrel)! We will probably keep up the long-line sessions for about a week. After that number of sessions, he will most likely stay near me at all times. Then we will go into the 2nd phase: heeling. Because he will already be staying near me*, it should be pretty easy to teach him to heel.

Be sure to check back daily for more episodes of "Jackson Goes to Boot Camp!"

* ”me” turns into anyone who is involved with this animal –not just the trainer.