By Adam Vig

Junior, Adrian Dale, known for competing at national fencing and playing keyboard in the pit for the Marching Mustangs. However not many people know though that he is quite good at training man’s best friend.

Since seventh grade, Adrian Dale has been training dogs to participate in competitions. Over the years, he has had two dogs go to competition with him, Lucy, a small, black and white border collie mix, and Luna, a small, black and white terrier mix.

“I made a deal with my mom to train a dog and do something with it,” said Dale.  “I just wanted it to be a summer activity, you know, something to do.”

As Dale took his dogs to many competitions, he found out he had to compete in three different events: obedience, where the trainer gives basic commands like sit and stay; Showmanship, where the trainer has to walk the dog around while looking their best, then answer questions about themselves and their dog; and Agility, Dale’s favorite, where the trainer’s dog has to complete an obstacle course running and jumping through hoops, tunnels, and seesaws.

“I train my dogs at my house and at the 4H fair grounds once a week,”  Dale said. “There are alway helpers and dog trainer veterans at the clinics.”

So far Dale’s dogs have won four trophies and eight ribbons. Trophies are for first place and ribbons are anywhere from second to 10th place. The first award he won was the first place showmanship trophy and agility ribbon at one of his first competitions. “The first year I won showmanship I didn’t think I’d do as well as I did,” Dale said.

With the many competitions, Dale has embraced a few perks that dog training gives, a well trained dog, and with every win, the sweet feeling of money. Dale has earned as much as $50 from a competition

Dale’s favorite part of training dogs is training the dogs to go through the tunnels. The dogs were always be hesitant at first until they got used to the feeling of the dark tunnel.

“You have to be patient, your dog will not always listen and you have to grow a bond with it,” said Dale. “you will need lots of rewards and only give them short commands.”

Dale would never give up his moments of training dogs for anything. If he stopped doing competitions, he said he would never forget the journey that he and his dogs have made.