Little Trump–I had in mind a little short stocky JRT white with black and tan, and patches on the body. Well I came close—Trump’s sister looked like that. But he was the stocky one stomping around and just looked like a “Trump”. So I got tan with no patches on the body with a fantastic temperament.
He arrived home with his terrier traits. He loved to play keep away under the bed and the car. The first time I was on the receiving end of this was at a trial where he was out running around—off-leash of course—I mean he was a nine-week old JRT. How far could he go? Well he went under my van and poked his head out from behind the front tires and as I went to get him he popped his head back again so I couldn’t reach him. That was the last time he was line-less for a while. He wore a light line as soon as I got him out of the car, in my garage, sometimes in the house and always when he was out at the park, etc. Anyway his recall improved and he too has a wonderful list of achievements from his agility career, but I’m most grateful to him for his exceptional demo dog skills.
In the early days, the majority of my seminars, lectures and lessons dealt with the motivation and control needed to participate successfully in agility. Trump was a phenomenal demo dog for this! He was always ready to get up and work, even if he was sound asleep. He would often take himself off with his toy to sit in a tunnel or on someone’s lap and wait until I needed him. I could do any number of “bad handler” demos and he got so excited when I did the “good handler” stuff in contrast. He has a huge personality and would never fail to bring a smile to my face—even at his naughtiest!!
He is now retired with some foot problems, but continues to learn the art of hunting critters on our property. If he is around when I am using somebody else to demo one of “his” demos he’ll scream and bark the place down. Yep I give in and use him instead!