Monday, May 28, 2012

stubbornness apparently runs in the family.

Claire was ornery today. Maybe it was because I left her at home for a couple hours while I went canoeing, or maybe it's because she's three and feels like she can be a big girl and do things by herself. Who knows. But when we were at the river this afternoon, she out and out disobeyed me by swimming across the river and scaling a cliff. It was only about seven feet high, but still. I saw her gazing longingly toward it beforehand and told her to leave it, and though she looked right at me, she still went and did it anyway. I called and called for her to come back down, but she didn't even acknowledge me until I told her that I was going to go home.

It wasn't until she started barking and crying that I realized that she was stuck and couldn't figure out how to get down - which is when I got scared. So I just jumped right in (fully clothed with sneakers on), swam across the river, climbed halfway up the cliff, and somehow managed to persuade her to jump into my arms so that I could carry her down. And then I didn't trust her to follow me to the car, so I carried her there, sopping wet, sneakers squishing all the way.

Now she's happily laying on the couch gnawing on a marrow bone without a care in the world. She doesn't even remember that just an hour ago, I risked my life in snake-infested waters to carry her to safety! But you know what? It's fine - because she's back on river restriction until she remembers how to do an excellent recall. Which we will start working on tomorrow.
 

3 comments:

  1. Oh gosh. I can totally relate. So stressful when you know your dog knows her recall and she won't recall! Happened to me a few months back... Elli was on lock down for a few days until I could get rid of my anger about it. Then we went out with a long-line for the next two weeks and totally revamped my training style - more play, less food. Much better now than ever. :D

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  2. Oh man. That sounds frustrating and a little scary. Glad you got her back safe and sound!

    It's so funny to me to see that dogs have moods, just like people. Desmond does it too--will be a jerk for a day and then be fine for a week. Although, our recall is not great. We really need to work on that!

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  3. Hahaha awesome! Sage loves to blantenly disobey, especially when there is a squirrel involved...

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