Rubbernecking Poodle

As I've mentioned before, Carbon and I take agility classes together. We started them while still living in North Carolina, and my primary interest then was to give her some structured time around other canines. I have since become kind of 'hooked' as it is a lot of fun. The Sunday morning classes conducted by Santa Barbara Flyers' Karen Van Hoy and David Caffo have definitely improved Carbon's behavior around other dogs, and also improved our relationship and our interaction with each other.

A couple of things have become apparent over time. First, my poodle is far more capable than I. Second, my poodle is far more motivated and energetic - AND unpredictable -- during the first half hour of class than she is once she's a bit more tired. Third, she always finds everyone else's toys much more interesting and alluring than her own.

During our agility classes, Carbon is verrrrrrrry interested in all the other dogs (and is especially interested in their toys) and Mike calls her a rubbernecker. She waits at the start line somewhat reliably but with her head swiveling in every direction. I cannot 'release' her till she is focused on me, because I have found that if I do (if I release her while she is looking at anything else, such as another dog) she shoots like a bullet towards that dog (or more typically, towards that dog's toy). This has taken a while, and many frustrating moments, to figure out.

She is especially in love with squeaky toys, and also enamored of virtually any toy when the dog it actually belongs to is barking, tugging, or growling excitedly. She figures they must have a REALLY good toy to get so excited. Sometimes she loses control and goes over and steals their toy to check it out. Most dogs are simply very surprised when the canine bullet that is Carbon swoops in to steal a toy. She has even been known to go directly to where the toy was last seen, i.e. entering the owner' pocket, or sometimes their tote bag. She seems to still remember a toy that Luna's mom Pam had last year. Carbon stole it from her pocket and had her way with it. She still looks longingly at Pam to see if the toy is still around.

During a practice session recently, Harold, the rat terrier, had quite an alluring toy. Carbon was already a bit tired and was avoiding some jumps and I was being careless, and took my eyes off her, which gave her a chance to notice the toy....she noticed it early in the run (you will see her fixating on it as she exits the blue tunnel for the first time) and did not forget it. Notice her discovering the toy and planning her strategy. She intermittently pretends to listen to me and works the course half-heartedly but is actually planning to bolt across the field and steal the toy - which she does eventually, when she exits the blue tunnel for the second time. You will see that she does not hesitate to exit the tunnel and go straight to the toy. I later make her complete the sequence properly (more or less) but she still does not forget the toy. I love Harold's expression as he looks up at Mike, his handler as if to say HEY - do something!!

She is a bad poodle.