You CAN Teach an Old Dog NEW Tricks!

Jane & JT

Well it is a beautiful sunny day outside and time for me to brag about my Mom (Sherpa) Jane again. Recently with her goal to make the Canadian World Agility Team she decided to step up her game and began a core and walking/running routine with the help of Tammie Stanton .

My Mom has always been active however she has never ever followed any sort of exercise plan. When she was young(40) she played tennis, rode her bike around town and kept fit as a horse trainer switching from horses to dogs when she moved off the farm. So when she started her new training routine I was skeptical if she would in fact be willing and able to incorporate it into her daily/weekly life. Afterall learning new tricks at her age is a hard thing to do, isn't it? Well a few weeks into it the calls began. She was not calling to chat or to tell me about her wonderful dog JT but to report that she had completed her scheduled workout. It has now been 3 months and the calls have not stopped and continue on  twice weekly like clockwork. 



My Mom showing Striplight circa-1970ish???



I was watching footage of a recent Agility trial and where I would usually concentrate on JT and his speedy maneuvers I instead could not take my eyes off of my 72 year old Mom as she ran effortlessly around the ring leading her very fast Border Collie through the course. I could readily see where her hard work from the past 3 months has really paid off in endurance and speed. I am very happy that my skepticism was proven wrong as the video evidence is undeniable and certain proof that you can teach an "Old Dog" NEW Tricks (and thank goodness because I still have many to learn)!
Keep up the good work Mom, Love Eliza
Note to veiwer- not that my Mom is vain about her appearance however she did point out to me that she is wearing 3 layers of clothes because the barn was like a freezer; )



Jane & JT

Here is a video of my Mom(71) and JT at the Ontario Championships winning the Steeplechase event. For me this is one of the most exciting things I have ever seen. I am just so proud of  both of them.

You may notice that my Mom does not run beside JT through the course like many dog handlers do. Since JT is so fast she does not want to slow him down to her pace(which is slower then her younger competitors) so she has trained JT to take his commands from a distance using hand, body and voice signals...kinda like the way Derrick trains me in Sydenham all the way from Yarker using nothing but smoke signals; )
Btw,
My Mom is wearing LaSportiva Crosslites. Sara gave them to me because they were too big for her and my Mom tried them out and I have not seen them since.