Brin the teenager! 4/2025

This month has been quite hectic for Brin - I’m sure he has a busier social life than I do! As well as his weekly 2 hour competition obedience classes he has also attended a Rally Obedience class at Dereham Dog Academy. 

He definitely enjoys the obedience but I am struggling with sit and wait. I realise that his sit is very situational and it’s likely this means he hasn’t trained it in enough places to truly understand the word. He certainly knows how to sit at home in the house and on the front doorstep, but at class he struggles except during static heel position exercises. Sitting for a recall or before retrieve is a struggle for him. So recently I have gone back to basics with this word and am just teaching it everywhere, out on walks, in the forest, getting into the car, in the dog academy and just anywhere. We have also been working on speeding it up. I realised that he hasn’t been reluctant to sit when the ground is cold and/or wet, which is very normal for a whippet. Given the right reward (cheese or fridge raiders) he will sit anywhere and in anything. When I first started doing obedience with my lurcher Finn I went on a course with Kamal Fernandez and we did an exercise to teach sit even if you were bending over or the dog was behind you. Finn was very good at this and this is now my goal with Brin.  

I have also started working on some tricks, parkour skills and anything to improve his general confidence and it’s been great to hear people now starting to comment on how he seems more confident around people lately. One of his tricks is 'middle', going round my right side and through my legs to sit between my legs. This is a great trick if you need to keep your dog calm and relaxed in small space. I’ve used this travelling on a busy train or on very narrow paths to let a nervous dog walk past us. We are far from perfect at this as Brin has always struggled with going through my legs but this will help towards my ultimate goal of leg weaves.  

At the end of the month Brin came on pony camp with me and Mouse and I was very proud of him. He was great with the horses and slept all night in the caravan in his bed without having his crate. He is truly growing up and I’m so glad I said yes to him joining our little Whippet gang.