An End to an Era

Since August, I have been debating allowing Toby to participate in Nose Work. At first, I balked. After six years of trying to stop him from sniffing, pulling, and being obsessed with searching for food – I figured teaching him to do so would be counterproductive to my training goals. But a few days after Leah’s successful Odor Recognition Test, I decided to enroll Toby in a Nose Work class starting in June, hoping to work together in a fun, stress free environment.

With that decision, came a quandary. Should I give him a break from Rally, while trying the new sport? After all, doing more than one sport per dog adds a financial strain to my wallet and cuts into my writing time, especially now at the start of my busy season at work. Besides, I thought a break might serve us well, as Toby and I have also had some training issues.

Actually, we have one training issue – Toby’s refusal to stay in the ring. 

If my memory serves me correctly, Toby has run from the Rally ring on FIVE separate occasions. And I’m pretty sure my memory is intact, because I can’t shake the feeling of dread that I experienced during each and every occurrence.

The first time it happened, at an AKC match, he took off running, jumped over the orange plastic ring fencing, and ignored my calls, only to be captured by my friend Janis, who happened to be passing by when Toby stopped to sniff an improperly discarded bag of doggie-doo.

Once during class at Doggie-U, Toby ran from the ring to introduce himself to a Border Collie named Quincy, who luckily turned out to be a friendly fellow.

Next, Nick drove us all the way to New Jersey for an AKC trial. We barely walked in the door, when the judge announced she was starting the ring early. A few minutes later, still worked up from the drive, Toby and I were called. We did the first sign, and then Toby sailed over the jump at the second sign and kept on going – pushing his way through the gates, making an opening for himself where there was none. Thankfully, in doing so, he trapped himself between the ring gate and the back wall, and I was able to capture him before he could wreck havoc in the nearby Obedience ring.

Last summer, at a Level-2 APDT trial at Doggie U, someone started practicing right next to us with their Poodle as Toby and I were about to enter the ring. I noticed Toby looking at the dog warily, and even moved him away, but it was too late – he was already frazzled. When the judge said “Forward,” Toby took two steps with me, and then ran back the way we came, out of the ring, and towards the front door. Luckily, another judge grabbed him on his way by, because the front door to the facility was open and the training center is adjacent to a busy road AND a set of railroad tracks.

Finally, during a recent class at Dog Works, Toby pushed his way out of the ring, for no apparent reason. I was able to grab him pretty fast, but when we returned to the ring, he got the zoomies. He sped around like a mad dog, even running right up to a dog who was growling at him on the other side of the gate, for what reason I can only imagine. Finally I screamed “Toby Down” and he dropped to the mat and stayed still until I could re-leash him.

We haven’t done anything off leash since.

So, after all these ‘incidents’ – you might be wondering why I bother trying?

Because, the Toby that runs from the ring is not the true Toby – the dog who genuinely appears to enjoy Rally. When Toby is on my page, he navigates the entire course with a prance in his step, a tail that wags like a rudder, and perfect eye contact – which of course makes me eager to work with him. Toby performs his commands with such precision that he has earned a placement ribbon for every leg towards all four titles he already holds. Only one of them was undeserved, as we performed poorly in a class of only four dogs. Additionally, Toby earned an award of excellence for both of his APDT titles, for earning high scores with each leg.

And while I know in my heart that competing should be about teamwork, rather than ribbons, scores, and titles, I can’t help but be proud of him and what we have accomplished together. Especially because we did it all without collar corrections, which was one of the things that drove me to succeed.

I wanted to prove to others that you can compete, and score well, without using force.

I had hoped to get to the bottom of Toby’s ring running this year, so that next year he might earn both his AKC Excellent title and his APDT Level 3 title in the same manner – with high scores and placement ribbons – finishing his Rally career in style.

Until today, when I learned that Toby’s Rally career is already finished.

Toby’s leg has been better for a while now, so I finally got the nerve to start gradually jumping him again while practicing at home – and his leg swelled up again before we even made it past twelve inches. On Monday, I brought him to his vet, who tapped the fluid from the joint and sent it off for analysis. Before I left the office, the doctor told me he did not expect to find cancer cells or signs of infection, and that Toby probably just had an inflammatory condition that kept flaring back up and needed more time to heal.

The vet was partially right. Toby does not have cancer (big sigh of relief), and he does not have an infection. But he does have a cyst, which the vet said he was ‘surprised’ to find. Why?

Dogs don’t normally get cysts on their joints.

Since Toby is not currently limping, we are going to watch, wait, and see. His vet does not feel comfortable removing the cyst unless he has to, because it sits right on top of the joint. However, if Toby begins limping again, or if it grows bigger, it is going to have to come out.

And, even though the vet said Toby can return to his regular activities while we ‘wait and see’, the cyst has consistently swelled every time I have re-started Toby with the jumps…so I think you can understand why I no longer want to risk it. I really don't want him to undergo surgery.

While I am thrilled that Toby doesn’t have anything life threatening, I am admittedly pretty disappointed. Even while considering giving Toby a break from Rally while we pursued Nose Work, I always felt we could go back and get those last two titles, eventually.

But eventually will never come.

At least we do have Nose Work to look forward to, and that I signed up when I did, because the class is already filled to capacity. Somehow, I think fate had a hand in that decision. It seems each time one door closes, another has opened during this tour through the world of dog training that Toby has been taking me on since the day he entered my life.

I wonder where our newest adventure will lead?