The day my dog chased the deer

Ok, deep breath.

I'm going to tell you about my walk with Rosie roo yesterday because I always say to you all, I will never pretend that I or my dogs are perfect, we aren't! I might be a trainer but I'm also human and my dogs are still dogs.

It started beautifully, she stayed close, she recalled perfectly, we played games, she had a little wade in the river, the sun was shining and all was well with the world.

Then she went. And I mean she would have given a sight hound a run for their money. At first, I didn't see what she was running to or after and then I saw them... 2 small deer .

I stood there for a split second wondering what on earth to do - I was so shocked it took a moment for my brain to engage (not an unusual occurrence for my brain I have to say!). I called, I brrrrpppppped, I pulled out ALLLLL my recall tricks and none of them worked - ok, that's not true, I didn't have my whistle on me so I didn't use that.

So... I ran! Now thank goodness I was in the ass-end of nowhere because no one needed to see an unfit 38-year-old trying to catch up with a Border Collie and 2 deer moving at full speed across a massive field

Rosie didn't catch the deer (Thank god!) and I didn't catch any of them.

Now I could have done 2 things when she came back - I could have scolded her and attempted a reprimand for her doing something that is totally natural to her. OR I could have praised her for coming back to me, popped the lead on and carried on back to the car. I chose option 2.

Was I disappointed that her recall failed? ABSOLUTELY. Do I think she's a bad dog for chasing the deer? NO! Sometimes a dog can have a brilliant recall, super disengagement and strong impulse control and yet, on some days, they are just a dog who wants to chase something.

I guess what I'm saying is that things happen, blips happen, today she was totally disinterested in horses, and a few weeks ago she recalled off chasing a squirrel. I'm going to choose to celebrate the wins we do have because it's too easy to get sucked into the negatives and focus on those.

Also, how can you be mad at a dog as happy as this one?