Illusion is not reality

Larsen and I often walk a one-mile loop trail around Blackburn park.

At one point in the walk, we cut through a passageway that is flanked by a fenced soccer field on one side and a fenced softball field on the other. We practice some steady drills here. I whistle-sit him, walk about 20 yards from him and pip him toward me, and then, when he gets about half-way to me, I whistle sit him again. We do this exercise three times along the length of the two fences.

This alleyway between the fenced areas is nice because it gives the illusion of being in an enclosed place and makes it less likely that he will run off.

Unhappily, illusion is not reality. The alleyway is not fenced on two of its sides, and this morning Larsen had foremost in his mind a squirrel that had been gamboling about the tree trunks on the western, open, end of the alleyway. This is the end that borders Ashford Dunwoody Road, a very busy street.

Larsen took my measure and bolted. After much ineffectual pipping, I finally corralled that dog but with my heart in my mouth. I leashed him and then had the presence to correct him by pipping him to me multiple times while snapping his leash. However, I completely forgot to first grab him by his ear/wattle and duck-march him back to the point of infraction and then do the pipping.

This partial correction left Larsen a happy and unchastened dog who saw his frolic near Ashford Dunwoody as great fun, which is not at all the lesson that he should have received. The result is setting our training back by what feels to be a month.

As important, I should have been ready for the potential for a break. There was a point when I could tell that Larsen had not forgotten about that squirrel. In my mind, right next to my unconsciousness, I sensed that Larsen was liable to break. I foolishly forged forward and figured that I could keep his attention, get him to come, and he would be fine. That is the instant that near-disaster struck. The lesson for me is to not get slack. Not even for a moment. I can't put him in a position where he can fail like that.

The strip of land between the chain-link fences of a softball field and a soccer field make a nice run for practicing steadiness