Practicing Bad Behavior

 This weekend, Gabe ran four FastCAT heats with the Iowa Coursing Association in Boone, Iowa.  FastCAT is the invention of the American Kennel Club.  While there are elite running events eligible only to purebred sighthounds, FastCAT is a 100 yard dash that is open to any AKC-registered dog, including mixed breeds.  Dogs are released at one end of a course to chase the "lure,"  plastic grocery bags attached to a motorized pulley system.  The bags are called "the bunny," in recognition of the rodent whose speed they resemble.  Once the dog has crossed the finish line, often equipped with sophisticated electronic timing equipment, the lure operator stops the bags to give you a chance to catch your dog, then zips the bags back around to the start line for the next dog.  

It looks kinda like this: 

Doug's brother and his wife came to watch Gabe run on Saturday morning.  They're not "dog people," so had lots of great questions like "how do you train for this?"  The answer undoubtedly should include physical conditioning, at the very least.  The truth, however, is that most of us just let the dog watch a run or two, then toss them in.  

Times are compared nationally, especially by breed, but at the local level, it's not competitive.  Your dog is awarded points for a successful run.  For "big" dogs, the points equal the miles per hour they run; for smaller dogs, there's a multiplier to help mitigate the disadvantage of the shorter legs (although many of those little dogs run as fast as the big dogs!)  At 150 points, you get a ribbon, at 500 points, a bigger ribbon, at 1000 points a really big ribbon and then it's just big ribbons ever 500 additional points.  

Gabe earned his 500-point DCAT ribbon this weekend

Some dogs just don't get the point of the whole thing, but most are absolutely crazy for it.  It took about 3 runs for Gabe to get the idea, but now he has joined, nay, summited the ranks of the crazies.  When confronted with a FastCAT setup, he begins to yell.   Really, really loudly.  His ability to project is impressive; his bark makes the back of your skull vibrate.  He's not particularly fast, usually running 24-25 miles per hour.  Using all his oxygen and energy on barking and porpoising about before his run can't help.  

On this occasion, we had Gabe on both buckle collar and a one-piece martingale lead, yet he managed to pull out of our hands and run free like the wind on no less than five occasions.   We have never had so much trouble keeping hold of our dog; it was mortifying.  I have to hand it to Iowa Coursing Association -- they've seen it all before and no one got excited, just a cry of "Loose Dog!" until we had him back in hand.  We've coursed lots of places and ICA's organization and administration is always at the top of our list.   It's harder than you'd think to keep the lure close enough that the dog remains motivated but far enough ahead that the dog stretches, and ICA operators are The Best.  Their volunteers are both smart and kind.  We love coursing with them.  

Realistically, though, why run FastCAT?  I mean, all we are doing is Practicing Bad Behavior, something any trainer would deplore.  We're not just allowing but encouraging Gabe to be his worst self -- barking (screaming?), lunging, so overwrought the he can't acknowledge a command or even a touch.  Isn't this exactly the kind of thing we should be trying NEVER to do? 

I LOVE this SO MUCH!

Ohmygosh, the Bunny!

When is it my turn?

And yet...

Gabe is an amazingly wonderful dog, especially when you consider that we ask him to live in a world that is not at all aligned with his own aspirations and strengths.  We ask him to take his core energy supply, roughly that required to power the sun, and curl up with it on the couch for a bunch of hours every day.  We ask him to pay attention to our "blah blah blah" rather than the incredible smells and activity happening around him every minute.   

Gabe: Outstanding In His Field.  I thought it might be fun to pose him on these big rounds, forgetting until we were next to them just how big they are, taller than my head.  As I started to walk away, he carelessly scaled the side of one and leaped to the next, to have a better look at the field. 

Maybe it's rationalization, but it seems only fair to do something every now and then in which we have no expectations... to just do it because he LOVES it so much he LOSES HIS MIND over it.  

Are we rehearsing bad behavior?  We are.  And we shouldn't do it All The Time, for sure.  

But is it worth it, to let him have this time to let go and be a dog? 

Yup.

Post-FastCAT Puppy