Once Upon a Time - The Beginning

THE BEGINNING:
Once upon a time, there was a brilliant pug named Sebastian, B.G.R. (short for Booger). He was the 6th pug to live in the McLelland household (typically a canine family of 2-3 pugs at-a-time.) Sebastian joined the family as a young puppy in December of 2011.

It was obvious from the start that he was one smart dog. He learned things SO quickly and he got bored easily. Hence the "booger" look we grew to love so much ....

So, puppy classes seemed inevitable. He started puppy classes at Petco but left after a few classes because the teacher kept throwing him on his back and being overly rough. (She often commented on how she did not like pugs). So, he switched to Petsmart and LOVED his teacher, Blake Surrock, who often remarked that Sebastian was one of the smartest dogs she had ever worked with.

He loved learning. When we'd say "Ready to go to puppy class?" he would grab his leash and trot around the house with excitement.

After puppy class he continued with beginner obedience and Click-a-Trick class (that was FUN!). He loved (and still loves) doing tricks!

His favorite? Playing his piano!

Then came obedience classes, Canine Good Citizen at Birmingham Obedience Training Club (BOTC). His crate tag was upgraded to "Sebastian B.G.R., C.G.C."!

Then came Rally classes at BOTC which he loved. After a few months of classes he entered his 1st Rally Novice and, (given that his owners were totally new to all this dog training stuff), it was always amazing and a testament to the Boog when he qualified and received lots of blue ribbons.

His "Booger Board" was filling up fast and his crate tag was changed again to "Sebastian B.G.R., C.G.C., R.N."!

Even a television debut of his piano playing!

Incidentally, by now other canines joined Sebastian and the old great dane, Bay. Below is a photo of (l to r) Sebastian, Bay, and Charlie pug (re-homed at age 2).

Sebastian didn't really like piano duets with Charlie. (He preferred being a soloist).

Sebastian REALLY didn't like watching Charlie's obedience class either.

And then came pug Peachtree's Kirkcudbright Kayleigh (K.K.), (in the photo below, sitting on top of Sebastian), who joined the family as a young puppy in June of 2014:

And, lastly (yes, that's 5 dogs) Lexi, a rescue Golden Retriever mix found on the interstate, who is exceptional at herding the pugs..... 

Sebastian's piano solos became angrier and angrier!!!

Obviously, Boog is getting less attention and training at home as we move onto Rally Advanced and the fun of "off leash", but he still has some private lessons to learn "back" and "side step".

Even so, he still does pretty well in his 1st Advanced Rally trial ... even getting another blue ribbon.

BUT, THEN .....

on the 2nd day of the trial ....

HE SHUT DOWN.

He decided to do a "sit strike" around sign 5 and refused to get up or do anything (presumably until he got a treat.)

After several attempts to get him to budge the judge said, "why don't you skip this sign and move on to the next one?" Knowing that he knew how to do the sign but was just refusing to do it, his master doubted if skipping the sign would work. However, the next sign was a jump (which he LOVED) so it was worth a try.

Nope. Instead, he decided to just walk away and start sniffing signs. He had never done this before. He wouldn't come when called him so the owner decided to ignore him and just walk out of the ring. Sebastian was like, "What? You don't want to play? Why are you leaving?" And his 1st NQ.

Sigh.

So, some new strategies were tried in the next Rally classes like "jackpots" at random signs. (Incidentally, he had gotten to the point in Novice where he would make it through the entire course without any treats and he practiced this quite a bit in class. But something was changing and now he was demanding more treats before he'd do anything ... in class, and at home.)

When that didn't work, we tried the "towel discipline", (where a rolled-up towel is thrown near him when an attempt is not made .... then a reward is given at owner's side after he finally does it.)

Miracle of miracles ... it worked! Everyone was ecstatic and hopeful that there would be continued rally fun!

And, then .....

it didn't work.

At the next Rally class he decided that he would just run out of the ring and the towel meant nothing anymore. And he ran out again. And again.

                                                                 "Where's my treat?"

"Ring wise" was a new term for us. This was new territory. But if others had gone through this there had to be a solution! So, he got a fancy muscle shirt that said "Give me another treat. I'm ring wise!"

And his owner got a new t-shirt that said "With enough thrust, pigs fly just fine!" and they headed to Atlanta to try Rally Advanced again. (The thinking was that Sebastian had just grown too comfortable with the BOTC ring in class and that a new environment might make him take it more seriously.)

He was GREAT in the warm-up outside the ring. He was having fun! He was pumped! He entered the ring and then .....

....... he started to lag more and more .... sit slower and slower ....

and finally, seemingly bored, he walked over and sniffed the judge's shoes and tried to run out of the ring 3 times.

Here he is in Atlanta ... perhaps one of the funniest (and saddest) videos of all time.

It was decided he skip the Birmingham Rally trial the following weekend and, instead, go to Boog Camp! According to one very experienced trainer, who had a ring wise golden retriever years ago, it took 6 months to retrain. And that was a biddable golden retriever! But, "when pigs ... ahem, pugs fly!" and, have you ever seen a more determined face?

So .... on with the chronicles of Booger's Boot Camp in the hopes that others might be able to learn from his owner's mistakes and, of course, enjoy lots of laughs as we share the adventures of this brilliant, head strong, ring wise pug!