What do you do when you own a wild-man dog?

During agility training a couple of months ago, my dog decided to remind me how crazy he can be.

The day’s agility course was set so that the first obstacle was a tire jump leading straight into the teeter-totter.

Straight in front of the teeter was the A-Frame. BUT…

At the end of the teeter, we were supposed to redirect our dogs 90 degrees left into a jump going to a tunnel.

However, all my darling little man saw was the straight line of the tire, teeter and A-Frame.

At the command “jump” he bound through the tire and ran up the teeter still gaining speed.

Rather than slowing down to let the far end of the teeter hit the floor…

Wildman continued to pick up speed and sprinted straight into a jump off the end of the teeter.

Dakota was moving so fast the teeter hadn’t started its decent yet (well maybe it was down 6 inches).

So… he sprint jumped off a moving board still 4ft off the floor and nearly landed on the A-Frame! My heart was in my throat!

A jump and move like that scares many dogs.

My dog gave me a look saying, “what did I do?” He did a doggy shrug and tried to do it all over again!

Moments like this tend to remind me of how I learn. I can be pretty hesitant when I’m trying something for the first time.

Once I’ve done it and realized I like it … sometimes I approach the second attempt wildly, maybe a little out of control.

Fortunately, as Dakota did, I usually land safely on my feet. And ready to go again.

After that, I’ll settle into a routine and practice that’s more moderate.

As for Dakota, we went back to the start to do it again … correctly this time.

Just to make sure Dakota waited, our trainer stood at the end of the teeter-totter.

Even my wild man isn’t crazy enough to jump over a person from a moving board.

We continue to have fun with the teeter-totter. Every once in a while, he still jumps off it too quickly. But never in such a scary, spectacular way as that day.