November 14, 2009

Indy Pet Expo

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Today, Dazzle and I went to Indianapolis to help advertise Dog Scouts.  A big Pet Expo was being held at the state fairgrounds in a big indoor exhibition hall.  Lots of booths, LOTS of people and lots of dogs, since pet dogs were welcome.  I only heard a little barking and saw one dog snap at another who was being too sniffy, but other than that, the dogs all seemed to be getting along just fine and handling the tight spaces, crowds and booming loud speakers quite well! 

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Dazzle was very excited when we arrived and wasn't the best rep of DSA as he did a lot of pulling on the leash.  Then I saw the pen of "petting zoo" farm animals and I think he could smell them as soon as he walked in the door!  They had sheep, ducks, chickens, goats, piglets, a donkey and calf and some of the biggest rabbits I have ever seen!  I think he thought we were there for herding practice.  He was very intent on that pen and especially any animal moving faster than an amble.  By the time we left, he was doing MUCH better at not straining toward them when the pen came into view.  But I think it's a distraction we'll have to work on.  Maybe the intro to herding he's had wasn't such a good idea.

He did get to try out a "Jog-a-Dog" treadmill and loved it!  He got right on it and the person started him out slowly.  Dazzle didn't seem to mind that the ground was moving under him.  At first he thought he was supposed to get to the end of the belt, but the person sitting there just blocked his path and he settled into a nice walk as he relaxed and even looked around at the by-standers and me.  He got up to a pretty decent trot and was still relaxed.  The operator said he was one of the very few dogs she has seen be so comfortable with it the first time on.  Most of the other dogs I saw trying it out held their heads really low with their noses almost on the belt, were very tense or kept trying to get off the end.  If the dog seemed at all scared, the operator was quick to stop and let the dog off. Some dogs got to try again, others she wouldn't let try it again.  Later I saw there wasn't anyone waiting to use it, so I had Dazzle try it again.  He was eager to get on it and had a Malinois grin on his face.  In the photo, he had his ears back, but mostly he had his ears forward, head up and was looking around casually at all the folks going by. It looks like I'm holding him up, but the leash wasn't tight.
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We entered the "ultimate stay contest" and while it started with maybe 20 dogs who withstood a good deal of distractions before the first ones moved, there were only 4 other dogs remaining when Dazzle got up.  He stayed while kids came by bouncing tennis balls, tossing treats, one close enough for him to eat (though he just played with it) and 2 kids were running around and back and forth.  The crowd was encouraged to "make some noise" and so there were whistles, clapping and other crowd noises along with some very loud speakers pumping out the bass. 
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As difficulty increased, they had the owners increase distance from the dogs,  stop talking to the dogs and stopped all signals/cues from the owners, then they had us turn our backs (all while the toy and treat tossing continued). I was very proud of him!  He only had a little bit of stress at first when he wasn't sure what was going on, but then he relaxed and settled in and I thought we might have a shot.  When the helper adult tossed a piece of hotdog just barely out of his reach, he moved to check it out and was knocked out of the runnning. 
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For the remaining dogs, they were stepping over the dogs who were all lying down, then they had the kids crawling on hands and knees around the dogs making barking noises, then they had the owners go out of sight behind a curtain and the ball bouncing/throwing increased. The adult helper even stood straddling each dog and tossed a treat right beside the dog's face out in front of the dog and eventually all but one labrador had moved!  I was very surprized the lab could stay with all the treats and toys being tossed.  They had even started using some salmon treats along with the hotdogs and other highly scented treats. The lab that won just took all the craziness in stride and looked like he could have laid there all day :-) He won a year's worth of organic dog food (12 bags of food) and 12 free dog washes!

I had to take a photo of this guy because I thought he had quite the set-up!  Chair, internet, fan, food/drinks, etc.  I thought it was funny that they put shredded newspaper in the bottom of the crate :-) He was staying in the crate until a certain number of adoption and spay/neuter pledges were signed and he was only allowed out for a potty break after 10 new pledges had been signed. 
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I handed out several DSA brochures and talked to lots of people about DSA, so the Indy troop may be getting some new members!