Unhappy

Tallulah Belle Poodle is not impressed.  The bike has been dusted off.  The tires have been repaired, the Springer is attached.  

There isn't much in life that Tallulah isn't willing to try.  In fact, she tried the Springer at first, and loved it.  She barked at me as we rode, egging me on to go faster.  Most of the time, I could barely peddle fast enough to keep up with her.  And then, I had an accident of stupidity.  I got off the bike, and left her attached.  She pulled it, the bike fell on her.  She tried to scramble out of the way, and the bike followed.  It was all very traumatic and scary.

That was about 4 years ago.  I spent a few summers after that, working with her and trying to prove to her that the bike won't hurt her anymore.  We got her to the point that she wasn't traumatized when I hooked her up.  She'd eat bits garlic sausage when I passed them to her and I even caught her at moments with her pompom tail stuck straight up.  Then, we took a break for a few years because I wasn't feeling well.

We're starting at square one again.  Even though the bike is a scary instrument of poodle torture that must be avoided at all costs, I was a meanie last night and took her out for about a half hour.  Offers of cheese were refused, but after about 5-10 minutes she stopped looking like she was being abused.   That's not to say that she enjoyed herself - she just didn't hate it as much as she thought she would.

Tonight, we tried again.  She made it clear to me that she was unhappy, so we came home after 15 minutes.    I'm going to keep trying though.  She loved it once, and I hope to teach her to love it again.  I think I'm going to have to up the anti though.  I think I'm going to have to replace the cheddar cheese with some kobasa.