I took the dogs out to practice yesterday, at beautiful Heart Dog Agility, up there in the forest. You all have been, right? Every day off I have, and there aren’t too many, me and the dogs head up to this beautiful forest agility to have our weekly scientific, well thought out, official training practice. A notebook. I use a NOTEBOOK, people. Notes. We have goals. We have aspirations. We have once per week to work on this.
2 out of 3 dogs of Team Small Dog were ready for a good hard practice. Otterpop, she of the crummy leg, who shouldn’t practice too much but loves to practice SO MUCH, helped me work on decelerating. What you should do if you are a Toyota Prius trying not to slam into a wall or plate glass window or car in front of you. Or tree. Or to make a nice tight turn. Otterpop gets this. Thank you, Otterpop. Also those dogwalk contacts, looking good!
Ruby got to run around a bit and just do some fun little sequences. I realized that she knows nothing of decelerating. Ruby’s agility skills haven’t really evolved much the last couple years. You go, Ruby. God knows what that this agility business looks like through your eyeballs. Whatever you want to do, works for me.
Gustavo, who I had the plan for, a little sequence built for, who has been steadily improving lately, um. Sciencetastic. No. I jest. He had the shakey screamies, can only stare out into the forest and has forgotten even his beloved dash to the space pod version of crate games. There is no agility when he has a day like this. There is the long leash, there is back in the car, then perhaps back out a few minutes later to see if his brain has returned from the Land of Xanadu, where him and Olivia Newton John frolic in the sparkle disco wearing headbands, sipping absinthe on rollerskates and swinging from the chandeliers. And it never did. Why he does this? Why today, why a couple months ago, why this just happens every so often and can’t be predicted?
Forget predicted. Comprehended. Upended. Stupended. Illdepended. Just sometimes, on the days I drive away from the agility field, still shaking my head a little and turning the under the breath cursing into a Positive Training and Learning Experience, I wish I could actually figure out what makes his tocker tick.
Well his brain must have rebooted cause he was doing mucho better last night!
You are doing such a great job with him. Many people would give up. Seriously you've got some dog training skills there.
Hang in there.
vici
He is a mystery. He is totally weirded out by the loud generator at Anne's yard, but the lack of potential forest animals lurking outside the fence seems to help him get over that. If there was loud generator and critters at the same time, boy oh boy would that be interesting.
I think Gustavo would excel at agility in a giant plastic germ free sonic bubble. Without tables. Or stopping on contacts. Or weave poles. Or turning.
I either have dog training skills or I have actually done it all wrong and screwed him up. Either could be true!
If nothing else, you have spectacular chart-creating skills. A good chart is worth 1000 words at least.
Remember Gustavo is a crazy imported dog with who knows what kind of crazy background and upbringing before he arrived on your planet. I think you can take credit for his successes and blame his–er–challenges on someone in his distant past.