Sometimes They Don't Listen...

I am constantly amazed at the genius of my dogs. They know what you want before you know you want it...and yet, sometimes they don't listen.
Training failures happen. Last week we had an epic failure. Bill and I were both pretty tired after training 6 days in a row; the early mornings can take a toll after a little while. The dogs did not seem to be as affected. In fact, they may have been even more enthusiastic about the run. To begin, the ATV wouldn't start. It does this every now and then just to be mean. Bill decided to jump it, so while he was doing that, I began harnessing dogs. I got through 3 dogs before we realized the ATV really wouldn't start. After ten minutes of fiddling with wires and the deafening roar of dogs telling us to hurry up, we got it started. Then, we had to move around several females because they were all ornery and didn't want to deal with the males.
Finally, I thought we were ready to go. Right as I was about to unhook the leaders, I saw a reflective harness race past me. One of the dogs was loose. Shit. This had never happened to me before, so I panicked and ran after the loose dog. Bad idea. The rest of the team saw me running and followed. Unfortunately for the leaders, who were tied up and couldn't go anywhere, the middle of the team ran right into them. Meanwhile, Bill couldn't see any of this in the pitch black; all he knew was that I ran out of view and the dogs jerked the ATV, with him on it, into a tree and down the ditch.

Rincon, Hudson, Lynx, and Attla

I couldn't find the missing dog, so I ran back up the hill to help untangle the team. There were growls, yelps, and a few sighs, but we got them untangled. They were more than anxious to get going, so Bill took off on the run. As he ran by, I did a quick count of the dogs and saw that Spirit was the one missing. I instantly had horrific visions of Spirit running into the wilderness and meeting a mountain lion or Spirit running out into the road in the path of a car. I knew that Bill would see her on the road if that's were she went, so I settled for searching around the kennel. Two seconds later, I saw her. She was sitting on top of her house, wagging her tail, with her harness still on. Turns out, she chewed through her neck line and snapped her tug line. Jerk.

Jumper and Alameda

After that fiasco, I was exhausted, both physically and mentally. Training is not always smooth. It can be scary, maddening, and painful. I have been bumped, bruised, knocked over, tangled, worried, and frustrated. It doesn't matter though, because ten minutes later those dogs come rolling through with goofy grins on their faces and I know everything is alright. As long as I'm still standing and they're still running, everything is alright.