I want to brag about Whispy

Whispy is my "mom" here.  She tells me the rules and scolds me when I do wrong.  She plays with me and she washes my face.  I sometimes sleep next to Whispy when she is in Marty's bed.  Most times though Whispy likes to sleep out the the couch by herself.

Whispy is a neat dog.  She was the first dog that Marty trained from her electric wheelchair.

Her wheelchair was very fast.  It could go 8 . 5 MPH!

Whispy was a year old before she went to her first formal obedience class with Marty. Marty was so afraid she would squish Whispy that she hung a piece of plexiglass down the left (non joystick side) to prevent Whispy from going between the wheels.  Then she hooked Whispy's leash to a rod that she held under her left leg.  That rod kept Whispy out away from the wheelchair.

Some of Whispy's training was done while Marty sat on the couch next to Whispy.  It was too hard for Marty to teach Whispy to "sit" and "down" if Whispy was on the floor.

Whispy told me that one day Marty got down on the floor and looked at her wheelchair to see what Whispy was seeing.  After Rainy helped Marty back up from the floor, Marty took down the plexiglass panel and from then on if Whispy had to be on leash, Marty would hold the leash in her left hand.

Whispy went to a couple training schools.  First was Canine Coach, C&E Dog Training, Stone Mountain where they trained outside and at the UofM livestock area in the winter and then where we are training now at On the Run Canine Training Center.

Here are some photos taken of Whispy as she learned in the different training schools:

                                    C&E Dog Training

                                                  Whispy doing the A-Frame

Whispy jumping 4"

Whispy doing the tunnel

                                             
                                               Whispy doing the weaves

Whispy coming out the chute

Whispy wore a mesh vest because Marty could put her fingers under the upper back of the vest to lift Whispy up on the wheelchair.  There is also a "D" ring on the vest to which Marty clipped a leash that went behind Marty's neck and back down her chest - it was Whispy's seat belt so she didn't fall off as Marty zoomed along or had to open doors to go through safely.

                            These photos are of Whispy at Stone Mountain:

                                     Here is Whispy coming out the tunnel

                                                   Whispy jumping 8"

Whispy doing the dog walk

Uof M Livestock arena as a part of Stone Mountain

Whispy racing along side wheelchair after jumping 8" 

 Whispy coming out a tunnel

Whispy running with the wheelchair

Here is Whispy at On the Run Canine Training Center

Running through the tunnel

Whispy was in a UKI (United Kingdom International) agility match

These photos were taken during that match

I get inspired watching Whispy run agility courses.  Now that Marty doesn't use a wheelchair and has learned to walk again Whispy is learning to watch Marty's right hand that used to run the joystick on the wheelchair.  Marty used to have to use verbal commands to get Whispy to move to the joystick side of the wheelchair and do the equipment (jumps, tunnel, chute, dog walk, A-Frame, weave poles, tire, teeter) by voice command only when she worked on Marty's right hand side.

Whispy is a fast learner and she really likes that Marty can now do the courses on her own two feet.  Whispy is faster and happier than I have ever seen her.

Marty takes Masters Classes with Whispy and she was really good with her wheelchair.  Without her wheelchair Marty had to start at square 1, that is why she got me, Cricket, so we could learn agility together with Marty using her feet.  Marty is learning hand signals using both hands, body positioning and how it affects the dog, turning, pivoting, side stepping etc things that weren't for the most part possible with a wheelchair.  I am having a lot of fun learning with Marty.

I already know that I am way faster than Whispy and I am already able to work at distance.