The Happy Heeler – Tricky Chickie

Raising Chickie has been such an entirely unique experience from what I shared with Chief. As far as I remember, Chief was extremely biddable and seemingly immediately showed a fascination with our training sessions. Some people who have known him from the start say “he isn’t a real heeler” and they might be right. Reactivity aside, he was easy to raise.

Part of the reason I wanted to bring Chickie into my life was to see if I could make lightning strike twice. With Chief, I had built a high drive, fit, well rounded, multifaceted dog. I often wonder if I got lucky with him, and I am sure luck was part of it. When we met Chickie, she ran around the room at warp speed dodging all of the furniture with ease. I knew right away she was the kind of puppy I wanted to have in my life, and that she would be a great match energy wise for Chief.

She slept in the car crate the whole drive home, and settled into our house within hours. A few weeks went by, and I trained Chickie every morning using the same concepts that I have built off of with Chief. She seemed to truly enjoy our training sessions and showed a lot of potential. She had great recall no matter the situation. I remember thinking how easy she was to work with.

Fast forward a few weeks, and Chickie hurt her leg. Luckily she is fine! She made a quick recovery, but was not spared from a week of crate rest. She begged me to play with her and snubbed any attempts at mind games, puzzles, or enrichment I dared to offer her. When Chickie was cleared to return to normal activity, she made it very clear that she was unhappy with her week of rest. She was not interested in training, refused to recall, and seemed to forget all of her training.

I think we were hit by the perfect storm- Chickie entered her teenager era and was forced to slow down against her will in one miserable week. I felt a rift in our relationship. Because I had not had fun HER way for a week, it seemed that she felt that I had abandoned her emotionally. She is a little girl that likes what she likes, and made it abundantly clear that she did NOT like crate rest. It took about two weeks for me to regain her trust and light a fire of enthusiasm in her again. We keep training fun, and take it very slow so she can feel successful at the end of each session.

Chickie is tricky- she has meltdowns over nothing. If you pick her up when she is doing something she deems important, she growls and tries to bite you. She tests me everyday to see what she can get away with, and keeps me constantly pivoting as I try to stay one step ahead of her. To be perfectly honest, this is not easy. However, it is the exact challenge I need. As I pursue my future in canine conditioning training, I need to be equipped to work with any dog (and handler) that chooses to work with me. I am fortunate to have the resources behind me to refer dogs for behavior modification training, but when they come in for a conditioning session with me it is important that I am confident in giving them the best training I can provide.

Chickie’s challenges are teaching me to be more dynamic as a trainer. She is teaching me more creative approaches, and how to figure out what makes different dogs happy and willing to train with you. Chief is highly food motivated, where Chickie loves to play. I thank her for making me a more well rounded handler and welcome the future challenges she will throw my way. We will grow and improve together. I am so fortunate to have this special little girl in my life, my tricky Chickie.