When Gustavo has it together, it’s like he’s Jay-Z and I’m Beyonce and we’re like Bonnie and Clyde and we’re running and he’s turning and it’s one big crazy love fest of dog agility.
But you know what Beyonce says. Uh oh, uh oh, uh oh, uh oh uh oh uh oh, uh oh. Uh oh.
When Gustavo has it not so together, it’s sort of like how he was at Power Paws last night. I’m Wilma Flinstone and he’s Gilligan and we’re not even in the same Pleistocene era. He has bellbottoms, I have wooly mammoths. I have lead outs, he is fiddling around and up and down on his startline. I am running next to weave poles, he’s in the tunnel.
Our class was still fun. Otterpop loves going to Power Paws and being in a class, and last night I was wishing I could just do every run with her. And I had a super fun time running my agility pal Ellen’s dogs. It wasn’t that fun for poor Ellen, she had a sore knee and had to sit in a chair, but I love running agility with anybody’s dogs that will run with me.
I don’t know if Gustavo had fun. He liked looking at some leaves in the grass. And scratching a new hole in the door to his crate. He liked going in the tunnel and running down the dogwalk. He had some good moments. But something just seemed off in his brain all night. He is talking with the aliens again, and everything’s in a language that I’m not getting. All I can do is keep trying to retune his frequency.
Has Gustavo ever had an extended agility vacation? Or would that make it worse? Just trying to think of ideas that may help reboot his brain…
Yes! All the dogs get winter agility vacation, it will start in a few weeks. I don't know how much this helps him, it's hard to tell. I know Otterpop needs the break, it makes me feel better about her leg since she's been doing way more agility in the last month than she is really supposed to be doing.
Gustavo is sort of uneven. Like last weekend, he had mostly awesome runs-a very high degree of listening and focus and some amazing runs with amazing times. Super focus and listening at the beach, yet on some walks in the forest can't even find eye contact.
His winter agility vacation we will work on his trick repetoire and his other project right now-fancy heeling like in a dog show except with super fancy bouncing! And his ever popular playing with the toy. There will probably be running dogwalk tuneups in there though, because I don't want to just leave that for a month.
I think his brain has gone on holiday so many times that when it happens now, I have the confidence we can reboot it back fairly quick. I sure wonder if this is something though that he'll do for his forever, or if it's something that would someday go away. I guess that would be my hope, that I could find what predicts it, and help erase that zombie.
Oi, I resemble this comment. Little Spur-minator speaks a different language often. I feel like a slow learner trying to learn his language. We've been together now for nearly 3 years. So, I just sit and put my dunce cap on, hoping instead it will work like a sorting cap and put me in the same universe. Sometimes it works and we do get sorted to the same time continuum. Sometimes I just sit in the corner like a dunce and he yells at me to hurry up and toss him his ball.
Thanks again for running my dogs. Made me happy!
Last night in class seemed a little wired for everyone. I don't know what was in the air, but everything seemed a little over the top–new dog in class, different handlers for my dogs, too much nitrous oxide in the air, I dunno, but it felt like a very distractable evening.
Gustavo has a soulmate over here:
http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/11/dogs-dont-understand-basic-concepts.html
In case no one else has sent you the link by now….
I saw that hyperbole website! She is so much funnier and better drawer than me! Damn her! I liked that story very much and very much could relate!
Amy, I do feel like I am wearing a dunce cap most of the time with Gustavo. But I frequently feel like I'm on the verge of not needing it anymore. And then I need it again.