Cherish your dog(s).
Please.
This weekend, Spirit and I were at an Obedience & Rally Trial. I will post about our continuing journey in next week's blog. What I want to talk about in this post is something I saw that made me so incredibly sad that I had to fight back tears.
I will not state what class it was, only that it was an "A" division handler, and I will not state the gender of the handler or the breed or gender of the dog. I will refer to the handler as "they" and to the dog as "it."
Someone finished their obedience run, which had not gone well. They left the ring, and the handler yanked on the dog's leash multiple times. Basically they were giving a correction, even though the dog was doing nothing wrong at the moment. They then pushed the dog hard into its crate and left it there while they gathered up their belongings. As they left the building, the dog tried to walk beside them, and they repeatedly pushed it away, not allowing the dog to get too close to them.
I was heartbroken for this poor dog, who only wanted to be close to its human and had no earthly idea why they were being so cruel.
Their run was not the worst I've ever seen -- not by a long shot! It appeared to me to be a run by a green dog and handler, who both just need some more practice and ring time. Unfortunately, this dog will probably grow to dislike obedience or even be fearful of it should this type of treatment continue.
Choking down my emotions, I headed to the ring for our judge's briefing. One of the points he made was that this should be FUN, and the dog should always enjoy what we're doing in the ring. I got choked up again wondering if that handler had ever received the same advice.
We were first up following the briefing, and I tried to push the sad images out of my mind as I raced to get my dog and headed back to the ring. Dogs are sensitive creatures, and Spirit needed me to be happy and focused on her when we walked in to compete.
After the awards were presented, I told the judge that I was almost in tears when he was giving his briefing and explained why. He was sad about it also. And he made a point that I had been thinking about as well, "Someday, that dog will be on the table in the vet's office, and..." Tears in his eyes, his voice cracked, and he could not finish.
Most of us know that no ribbon, title, or award is as important as the love in our dogs' eyes. I sincerely hope that this handler learns that, too. I pray it happens before they completely lose the trust of their beloved companion.
Cherish your dog(s).
That is all.
MDW
Ah geez, now you've got me all choked up.
ReplyDeleteCherish them indeed. <3
About 14 years ago, I was at only my second obedience trial, starting on our first novice title, so I was very green and so was my golden girl. We were there by ourselves, as my very experienced obedience friend could not attend, and I was taking in all the "splendors" of the event. We were set up near two ladies who appeared to have a wealth of experience between them. One of their dogs was a golden so I was quietly watching and hoping to gain some tidbits of knowledge. They had come up from the United States to our CKC event obviously expecting to go home with a title that weekend. Neither of the ladies were getting the scores they desired... but the "golden" lady was not qualifying in her class. Each time she came out of the ring, she would return to the set up and berate and rough up her dog, then shove it into its crate. My heart sank each time I saw this. Her companion tried to calm the situation but to no avail. After the fourth trial, and fourth unqualifying run, the poor dog returned to the set up almost crawling on the ground as if it knew what was coming. The lady looked around to see if anyone was watching and picked her dog up by its collar and tossed it into its crate. She noticed that I had seen this and then pretended to "love up" her dog. As a newbie, I did not know that I could have/should have reported this to the trial committee; once I learned this after the fact, I swore I would never allow abuse like this to go unreported if I ever saw something like this again. It broke my heart to think that someone would treat their partner with such cruelty. My girl and I also did not qualify that weekend, but the judge's comments about Molly's beautiful bright collar and her happy golden smile, made that weekend one to remember for me and still makes me teary when I feel Molly's presence nearby. Yes, give your pups a hug. Sandy.
ReplyDeleteOh, Sandy, I'm crying. I know that, unfortunately, these things happen, but thankfully it seems that the majority are not like that. At least I hope so.
DeleteYears ago, during an agility briefing, the judge added, "Run every ring like it's your last, because you never know when it will be." Such sage advice. I lost that dog a few years later, very unexpectedly, to a horrible mistake in a vet's operating room. I'm thankful I can look back at our time in various sport rings and feel like I treated him with the care and respect he so deserved.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't perfect... I'm only human, and I sometimes unfairly expected him to carry the weight of my training mistakes, but by and large, I'm at peace knowing I created a true partnership and not a dictatorship, and that he felt like it was the best run ever, no matter the outcome.