Freshman Rachel Eulau truly is a dog person. Since elementary school, Eulau has spent her spare time training dogs for various competitions. The Chronicle's Madhav Dutt sat down with Eulau to discuss her hobby and where she hopes it leads her down the road.
The Chronicle: For starters, could you tell us a little about yourself?
Rachel Eulau: I’m from Seattle. We have a farm with dairy goats, pigs, chickens and vegetables just outside of the city. I also enjoy playing Ultimate Frisbee.
TC: What is it about dog training that drew you in? How’d you get into dog training?
RE: I always really liked dogs and was actually not allowed to have a dog until the fourth grade. I joined what’s called a 4H club, which is like a youth interest club. They have them for cows, sewing, etc. So I started with that.
We met every week on Tuesdays, which is why Tuesdays became my favorite night because I would get to train my dog with other kids my age, which was obviously something hard to find. I started there and then did county fair and state fair competitions. Then I got more into the theory behind dog training which revolved around child psychology. I also tried to train my little brother—it worked sometimes.
I also got more interested in dog agility in particular, which is a category that requires the dog to race an obstacle course in the fastest possible time. Then I started competing outside of 4H with adult trainers. As a result of this I have all these friends who are 40 year-old divorcees. They always sit there and drink their beers and say, “When I was your age, Rachel...” and I would just smile and say, “Okay...”
TC: Were you a dog lover as a child, and do you have own any dogs at home?
RE: I have two dogs. One is completely retired because she’s 15. She was my first dog. And then Gordy, my second dog, is almost retired—he’s 10 years old. My stepdad has two dogs and my dad also has two dogs. I mostly train my dogs though. My stepdad also used to do dog agility, which was a random thing because we didn’t realize it until my mom started dating him. When I found out I was like, “You’re the coolest person ever!”
TC: How do you practice training for events?
RE: A lot of it is not specific training for events, but involved conditioning and developing a relationship with your dog. So we actually did a lot of stupid things that would help me with my dog training and help the dogs learn. We’d also go to classes with a Coach-type figure once a week for about an hour. I had some equipment in my backyard that we’d use. It’s a two-part system: a) the dog needs to know how to do the weaves and pulls, and b) they also need to know how to get from the jump to the weave pulls. Often times the courses require dogs to bypass things.
TC: Which breed do you most enjoy working with?
RE: I really like all dogs. I worked at an animal shelter so I got to train different types of dogs but my dogs are all herding dogs. There are a lot of border collies who are made for agility because they’re really smart, they really want to please you and they’re also really fast. One of my dogs is an Australian cattle dog... and the other dog is half border collie, half Australian shepherd.
TC: Do you plan on making this into a career or is training more of a hobby for you?
RE: It’s definitely a hobby. It’s funny though because my coach actually went to Duke, did five years of graduate school with a dissertation in biochemistry and then decided she didn’t want to be a biochemist and became a dog trainer. So you never know.
I’m interested in being a veterinary behaviorist, which combines dog training with veterinary science, but there aren’t that many of them so it isn’t the most viable option. If you think about all these anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medication for humans, they’re there for dogs too. Combining this with behavior modification is the subject.
TC: Are you still keeping up with it at school?
RE: Not really. I got one dog-training-, dog-sitting job over Fall break, but because my dogs are in Seattle it doesn’t exactly work out.
TC: Just to clarify, are you more of a cat person or a dog person?
RE: I’d go with a dog person. But I’ve actually worked in a cat-only vet clinic, and I even have the scars to prove it. Working there was a good experience because I got to know cats a lot better. They’re really different animals. I’ve never owned a cat before.
TC: Have you ever had to take a break from the semester for events? Does Duke support your hobby?
RE: No, I really haven’t had the need to. Though there is actually a professor here, Brian Hare, who runs the canine cognition lab, and I’d really like to get involved with that. Right now he’s on sabbatical, though.
TC: Is there anyone who you look up to and aspire to emulate?
RE: There’s definitely people who are really successful in the dog-training world, and people who I’ve taken training methodologies from. This woman named Susan Garrett. But there’s no one who I agree with 100 percent because everyone has their own style. Karen Pryor is another figure that did a lot to bring positive influence to the mainstream.
TC: Do you enjoy going to professional dog training events?
RE: Yeah, like I said, it’s a lot of fun because you get to make these friends who wouldn’t necessarily make otherwise, and there’s pretty ribbons too. But my dog would rather eat the ribbon than wear it. You don’t always do well but over a long stretch of time you tend to get better. There are different levels and over time you start recognizing people so that’s great. And I also really like training shelter dogs to help them get adopted because it’s both enjoyable and rewarding.
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