We did not have a very good class tonight. Dhali ran off twice in class. Once he jumped the ring gate and the next time he jumped through the gate. You know those white plastic folding ring gates? Yeah, he can jump through one of the holes. Skillz.
So he had a bad night for whatever reason. Maybe I was acting weird, he didn't like the slip lead, he was thirsty, he's a 7 month old male with bity balls, he didn't feel like doing agility. Whatever the reason, it should be fine, one bad night, but....that little voice in my head starts saying, "Oh, *%#@#. Wow, now you've screwed up 2 dogs. Great job with that."
He wasn't doing zoomies or acting stressed. No yawning, panting, ect. He would play with me - hand wrestling stuff. But he REALLY wanted to go out of the ring and see the other dogs. No he did not want to do the tunnel. No he did not want to do the chute. Yes, ok he would do the teeter a few times and then run off to do it again just for fun. No he really did not want to run around and go through tunnels. No thank you. He ate treats and did tricks, but if we went close to the gate he was checked out.
I had a nice long drive home to think about it. Stupid little voice - SHUT UP!
So I was very sad, like why am I screwing this up yet again? Am I just wasting my time?
Then we stopped at Runnings and Dhali was happy, confident, cocky little bad a**. He rubbed himself, like a cat, over everything he thought was awesome. Leather gloves and treats and a random toy on the ground. You know how cats rub up against stuff? That's what Dhali does. It's very cute. We saw a guy on a motorized scooter and Dhali was like - "Wow! Amazing! I need to see that up close!"
He's not scared of anything, so at least I got that right.
It was just one bad night.
7 comments:
Puppies are puppies. I wouldnt worry about it. Make note of it, then file it away. Im sure next time will be better.
At 7 months, he's just becoming a a more independent boy, just wait until he's a teenager. :-)
We still have days where Esa doesn't listen and she's 5! Don't worry about it - I've realized that just like humans, dogs have bad days too.
Hi, do not worry and do mot give up. Also for Tibby. TTs just need more time togrow up. With Demi I haveproblems from hers 9 month till end of this summer, arroud 20 months of age. Do what Silvia is saying : work less & play more. All the best from Jasi & Demi
Tell that voice to go find my nasty little voice... they can keep each other company.
Wretched little voices.
And what they said. Puppy. You've got an awesome foundation on him, and now he's hitting the 'teen' years.
Deep breath. He's going to do you proud. Don't panic.
Don't beat yourself up girl! He's a puppy :) Like everyone else said. Just go back the next time with a plan and see how it goes :)
I know I'm late with my comment, but I haven't seen the blog post before - have very sparse internet access these days.
Ruby (male whippet) had TERRIBLE adolescence. He would go brainless for weeks at a time. It drove me nuts, so I kept a record of it to see if it's getting better. In the beginning there would be three solid weeks of no brains, then a couple of days when he was normal, then again weeks of no brains... With time these brainless periods got shorter and shorter. At 10 months old he was finally able to focus on playing with his favourite toy for a few minutes even if he had a brainless day. And then it got better and better.
See? You're not alone! You will get through this.
I made a blog for Ruby and Java a while ago. If you'd like to read Ruby's whole story it's right there in the last four posts (start here: http://rubythewhippet.wordpress.com/2013/01/09/how-i-fell-in-love-with-agility-part-1/)
- Andreja
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