Well, I guess none of us have ever lived thru times like this before! “Shelter In Place”, “Social Distancing” and “Masks Required to Enter” are all terms I had never heard prior to March. Being in the high-risk category myself, I have had to take these mandates very seriously and it has really affected my life. At my club, we have just started to cautiously resume giving classes. For the foreseeable future, my classes are only held outside where social distancing is easy. All participants must wear masks at all times and glove and sanitizers are readily available for anyone who wants them. So, far, so good. The only challenge is adjusting for the weather. Our club is nice and air conditioned. Temperatures outside the past three weeks have been very hot and I, as an instructor, have felt obliged to bring water, cool coats and ice for students who may have forgotten these items. I wait till the last weather forecast possible on Saturday night to decide where and if we are having class the following day. Even then, it’s a 50/50 shot that it will be cool enough for all my shaggy canine students to be able to practice without tongues hanging out. My usual 1 ¼ hour class has been reduced to an hour and I have started class earlier than usual to take advantage of the cooler early morning temperatures.
Here are some of the things I have learned since March:
Dogs Don’t Forget Easily
I have many teams who have done absolutely no training since March and the dogs seem so eager to approach the start line and look for odor! Tails wag and butts wiggle as they bound into the search area and whip around it, trying to catch that elusive smell. And they are better than ever at it, despite not practicing. Maybe they are grateful for a little vacation from the usual routine! This first session after Quarantine I have kept all classes at very easy, quick hides with lots of rewards. Nothing challenging to the dogs.
I Have Become More Creative
Closing the more structured atmosphere of my bricks-and-mortar club immediately forced me to look for more available places to practice. I have always had my classes in multiple locations, but now I do not have the backup of the club in case the weather changes. The end of July had some exceptionally hot, muggy days and it has been tough trying to keep everyone comfortable. My classes are advertised as “outdoors only” so I have had to look for shady places to practice, sheltered places for when it rains, all the while keeping it interesting and remembering bathroom availability as essential. All my students are now actively looking for dog friendly places to gather for class. Some new sites are railroad train stations where there are sometimes restaurants and tunnels. These are particularly good locations now that people are still not flocking to work in the cities every day. There is also a partially occupied up- scale shopping mall nearby. We confine ourselves to the areas near the storefronts not yet leased out and the long staircases between the parking lots. We are so well liked there that the resident security service regularly checks on us to be sure we have enough water for the dogs!
You Can Do A Lot With Three
It’s hot and I often teach alone and I do not want to be dragging all kinds of equipment usually available from the club, with me to class. I have found what I call the “value of three”. I can teach a great class of 6 students using only three boxes, or three chairs, or three of those spongy pool noodles using on-site props like low tree bark, stone walls, wooden slatted fences or fields of tall grass as backdrop or side walls to illustrate how odor is pooled, trapped or forced thru artificially created chutes. I sometimes use only one odor, one hide all day. Instead of carting around many water filled containers for buried hides, I just bring three and find that there are enough combinations of those elements to make searches interesting to both novice and experienced student alike. So, we humans are all learning to adjust to this new way of living, however reluctantly. Our dogs are mostly just fine with it as long as we still take every opportunity to pay attention to them. Try to schedule in some play and practice time with your best canine pals so the days do not get away from you without your having to had the chance to marvel at their awesome natural abilities.
- Kathy Gregory; PCOTC AKC Delegate