Cypher's ET Day

Saturday, September 08, 2007

Cypher's ET Day

Today Cypher did his Endurance Test with a bit of help from a friend at work who cycles regularly. The ET is basically a 20km test of the dog trotting along side a bike (or you can run it if you're that good) with a bit of basic on lead obedience at the beginning and at the end. It's done in three stages, today was around 6.8km each stage. After the first stage there's a 15 minute break, between the second and third stage there's a 20 minute break. There is a Vet there who checks the dog over fully before the start (takes temperature, resting heart rate, checks their general condition), and then he checks the dog after each stage and before the start of each stage to ensure heart rate has dropped and the dog is still good to continue. So basically it's a fitness test of the dog I'd guess you'd call it. I've done a couple already - Raven's got her ET and also her sire, Bear had his ET. It's not difficult to ride particularly at that set speed however it helps if one has a decent bike and since that's one on my Christmas list I asked a colleague to help out. I must admit I did rely on the Border Collie's natural propensity to go all day as I did hardly any preparation for the test. I took Cy out on the bike for the first time in a year and a half just over 9 days ago - he got three trips in total before the test - 4km, 6km and 8km. However he did the 20kms today with no problems, there were a couple of hiccups I must admit. Like him slipping his collar when he thought he'd much rather trot along side the female BC following him however Dean got him back on lead quickly. Then there was his altercation with the back tyre of the bike when he took a fright at the video guy however he decided he had a new found respect for the bike after that and learnt that running too near was not a good idea. His "resting heart rate" was 96 at the start. I place it in inverted commas as I don't think he was quite in resting mode - pulling at his lead and making eyes at the female BC. His heart rate got up to 156 after stage 1 was back down to 120 at the start of Stage 2, he finished stage 2 at 156 bpm again and then for the 3rd stage was only back down to 144. The Vet told Dean to take it easy so he did and he was still 144 when he checked in after the 6.8kms of the last stage. He did it fairly easily, without pushing, keeping up easily just beside the bike for the last stage (he'd given up on the pulling idea). When he checked in again for the Obedience he was back down to 126. I thought he'd be out like a light tonight but I see Spryte has enticed him into a full on play session! So much for exhausted - however I daresay he'll be feeling a bit stiff come the morning!
So there's another pair of letters to add to his growing name; Nahrof Quick Change ADM2 JDM2 ADO3 JDO4 SPDX GD SD ET. Hopefully, fingers crossed we'll add an Obedience title into that mix before the end of the year.