Karen Fuller & Penny (Phantom Masquerade)

 

A year in the life of a strange little rescue dog......

Penny our funny little pointy black thing came to us as a foster dog in June 2008. She was a stray found in Wales and was  lucky enough to find Gill at the Border Collie Spot. Penny was not doing well in kennels, although happy enough she needed to learn about life, so we fostered her. She had a few issues to say the least, but our main problems were Penny and my other bitch Amy would fight quite badly in the house (walks were fine) and Amy really turned into a devil child trying to kill her, which resulted in Penny getting her back when we managed to drag Amy off! Breaking up bitch fights is no fun, so keeping her was NOT an option for us, and they really rubbed each other up the wrong way, so life was tough, but we thought it is only temporary, so we will persevere. To cut a long story short, we then we caved in. Penny had already one failed rehoming and then after another one and a few home visits which proved unsuitable, in November 2008 we decided to keep her.....mad or what!

I really did not want another ‘problem child’ at this stage as Amy had and still has a few issues, but by this time Penny was happy, settled and my husband & I knew her quirks (the polite way off saying shes bonkers) and we worried for her future (the polite way of saying we are suckers!). So I dragged my husband to a Barbara Sykes seminar, as I had been on one before and wanted him to understand what keeping her would involve, I thought it would also be good for us both to be consistent so we could start to work on Amy & Penny learning to live together. Barbara is very good at telling it as it is and we knew that this was not going to be easy,  but we both felt it was in Penny's best interests for her to stay! We do not have 100% harmony but we have about 98%. Now it will be a trigger that starts a fight, so if the doorbell rings, we seperate them. We had been 'fight free' for months, when Tony came out of a room nearly trod on Penny who lept backwards and landed on Amy's head! So if we keep a peaceful house, then the girls seem fine. Amy has learned to let me deal with the 'annoying one' and will give me a look that says 'if you dont do something, then I will'. Penny does seem on a constant death wish to wind Amy up and gets quite a bit of pleasure out of trying, so has to be put in her place at least once a day. But so much better than it was.

Penny also has noise issues which have quite an affect on her training, and to be honest I found myself with yet another rescue dog that would be an uphill struggle and I was finding it all a bit difficult, so any thoughts of competing were a very long way away. A car door closing, a bang in the distance and she would flee. This meant that most classes would see me putting Penny in the car and getting one of the other dogs out to train! But understanding friends and instructors kept us going.

(why do I get them?) I wanted a nice, even tempered balanced one this time!

Penny, was and is a funny dog to train, a latent learner, you will teach her something and at the time you think she does not get it, then revisit the behaviour a week later and she seems to understand, new challenges for me and different ways of training, but we got there. In between noises she trained in class quite well, but when she is scared she got snappy, so more problems..hey ho, just keep those problems coming! I did really, really, really think about giving up, as I did not want to bring out any more behaviour problems, so we had some time out and went back, then each week small things kept me going. I took a soft crate to class, so she felt safe and then she started getting quite excited when a couple of really whizzy dogs would run…after a few months I could hear bangs in the distance but when Penny’s focus was on the dogs working she didn’t hear them…progress. We also did a little sheepdog training too, which I hope to go back to in the winter as she was keen, responsive and I love it too.

Agility

I am not competing a dog at the moment and I had really wanted to train another dog to compete with as I really miss it.  But I did not think Penny would be the one and to say I had my doubts is an understatement, but her training had gone very well and in spite of her quirks, she was and is quite easy to train and enjoys learning…so in

April 2009 I went to a local UKA show, where I was allowed to park my car near the ring. This was so that she could have her safe place to run to if she was frightened. I took her ringside, and she showed no interest in the dogs competing, so not a good start. So I headed for a practice jump and with her ball and got her going over that., she perked up a little, so into the ring we went. I broke down 2 classes with her toy NFC (I love UKA) and rewarded her for being in the ring, she was fine and worked through her fears. So I took her back the next day and we did the same, 2 NFC rounds with a toy, great fun!

May

I did 3 days of the UKA week show, on the first day we did all NFC rounds throwing her toy and playing in the ring, she had  a few moments of watching the dogs and got quite excited, but mainly wanted to be back in the car. Again I was allowed to park close to the rings…just in case! We went back a few days later, and did the same, but this time I ran her steeplechase for competition and she went clear with a 4^th place. A few days later we were back, a few more NFC runs and a clear in jumping where she came 2^nd and was getting more confident.

June

We went to stay with some friends and apart from a small biting incident which involved my friends hand.... eek!.....another long story, can you see a theme here? (Penny also hates being touched, especially her back end...told you she had issues!) we did have a lovely week walking the North Lincolnshire coast and Penny lived in harmony with 5 new doggie friends, and my friend forgave her…phew! Because of this grooming her also proves quite a challenge, so if you see her looking abit raggy around her back end....you know why! You can just make out the pointy one in the left of the holiday snap.  Onto Peterborough and the finals and a stay in a hotel room, another new thing for her. When we got home we had a fun show where we train, and although no clear rounds, she worked really well. She was also booked into a pairs class, but had now shut down and would not even get out of the car. The class was run over mini height for all dogs, so Amy took her place and with her partner Brie won it.

July

I entered her in a KC show, I knew this was a quiet venue and I also knew some club members who kindly let me park ringside…just in case. Not a problem, she was fab, not clear, but a run-by in her 1^st class and she paddled the long jump in her 2^nd one.

Another local KC show saw her 1^st clear rounds at a proper show. This time I parked in day parking as I did not want to get a reputation for trying to get a good parking spot and as she had not freaked out at all when working I felt she would be fine. But for whatever reason she was not happy and at one point she did slip her collar when I was watching my friend run and headed back to where the day parking was, (typical). But I just managed to get her back to me before she fled. On the plus side she did not falter when in the ring as she was a little worried before both her classes, but just went in and worked....so more progress.

August

A lovely small Unaffiliated Show where she was to do contacts in the ring for the first time, as up until now I had only entered jumping classes with her.  Her agility was clear and great contacts and in her Jumping, well, she spotted her toy as we came around a loop and went and got it....good girl! She gave me the toy and finished the round.

September

Saw us back at UKA for 2 weekends of competition, and her first camping experience. Fireworks in the distance one evening caused us abit of a problem and a late night. But she did settle in the end and took to camping without any problems, more progress. We competed in 3 classes per day and used the 4^th one as NFC with her toy. When in the queue she can often hear the see-saw banging and if she can’t see it, she worries. But we had a great weekend and lots more clear round and places. Amy came out of retirement as she can jump the lower height and managed a few places, she was so happy, a great couple of shows.

October

We went to Sands farm unaffiliated and we were early in Agility, so no time for her to worry, just bark and scream at the other dogs!! Thats a new thing, as she would normally chomp her toy when happy & watching, but I did not want to tell her off, as she was happy, so I tried distracting her with treats but I had to some extent put up with it, so sorry to the people in the queue, and it was only about 5 mins. In her agility she lost her footing on the DW came down on 3 legs, and landed in a heap on the contact, so I stopped and reassured her. Several obstacles later, we were called off the course as the timing had failed, lucky for some. It was a tricky little course but on her re run she managed a clear and a 5^{th place}. In the Jumping some kind people held my place in the queue, so she did not have a chance to get worried and she had another clear and a 13^th place, she seems to be getting the hang of this agility lark.

Her noise issues are still there and I have to be mindful of that, last week at training she wanted to flee, which she has not done for a while, so I popped her back in the car and 15 mins later she was screaming to get back in class, so she has come a long way in a year.

As we are now in the shooting season and the firework month approaches the next few months will be difficult. Last year we tried everything on the market, with no results so we will see how this year is.

Penny’s unaffiliated year, as I call it, has seen her grow in confidence, this is the first opportunity I have had to bring out a dog with this luxury and I am very grateful to UKA and other unaffiliated shows which have allowed Penny to learn that competing in a different place is still just a big game. I hope to have a proper season with her next year and she has even been invited to do pairs with her Kelpie friend Brie, which may result in more chasing each other round the ring than agility..so fingers crossed! But whatever next year may bring in terms of clears, results etc.. I just hope to have a happy dog and have fun at some shows, something this time last year, I would not have imagined.

Karen x