We've had some tiny wins with our training and anti-anxiety. I hate to admit this, but Lady has been put on anti-anxiety medicine. This will be short-term, but our vet recommended that Lady be on this medicine because she was chewing her feet up out of nervousness. A few of the benefits has been that Lady has been wanting to play more and isn't shaking violently when we go to Agility.

I think there are many factors that have led up to anxiety on crack and a few are my daughter's dog Hudson. Lady does not like him and when he barks, she runs for the closet in our bedroom. Another factor has been our cat Kasper dying, Lady has taken that hard.

One benefit of the medication has been that Lady does not break for the tunnels at class. She's actually run through tunnels and on to the next obstacle. I am more of a behavior modification type of person, but if the dog is doing themselves harm, there may need to be an intervention.

Hudson went to daycare one day last week and there was a huge difference in our dogs and the lone cat, in just one day. I suspect when Hudson moves out August 1st, our household will start to go back to normal. Hopefully, I will be able to ween Lady from her "Happy Pills" and we will not have a life long pill popper.

Friday we had a really good class in Alphabet drills. I had Lady jumping 26" and could not tell any difference in her speed. she was quick and she just sails. Now if I could actually be a better handler and not confuse Lady, we would be golden.

Square One and Lots of Practice

Lady had a pretty good week this week. The nail gun at Club-Doggie almost did her in, but she rallied. Once I get her jumping, she forgets for a moment, her fears. On Tuesday, she actually (after one tunnel incident) ignored the tunnel and payed attention to my turn cue.

I am still going back and forth as to whether I will run Lady in "Tunnel Fun" this Saturday. Mike thinks she shouldn't go because she has gotten in the "I'm afraid" habit. I don't want to push the dog more than she can endure, but by the same token, letting the dog dictate our actions is kind of goofy. I will ask Kama and Jubie their thoughts on if we should sit this next game out.

Last night we did tunnel and jump exercises in the yard and Lady was fast and in high drive. Tonight we will do the same thing, but add weave poles. I am going back to square one, creating high value for the obstacles and make it fun. We are also working on a few tricks. Lady is an accomplished door/drawer closer whether we want the doors/drawers closed or not! Now to teach her to open doors/
drawers. I am sort of reluctant to teach that one! Had a bad experience with a cat who would open doors and opened the pantry door, and our dog Maggie drug dark chocolate hot chocolate mix through our living room/dining room cream carpet and proceeded to lick the mix into the carpet!

Our square one lesson is more fun, more praise, little expectations. Since this is hard for me to do, I am writing it down and making "square one" my mantra!

Tunnel Fun or In Our Case Tunnel Struggle

Our newest challenge is to keep Lady from hiding out in the Tunnels. I beg, and I plead, yet she stays in the Tunnel and whimpers. This dog - Oy Vey! The next game on July 14th, is labeled "Tunnel Fun", hmmm? I am considering pulling Lady from that competition and talked to Jubie about it. Jubie thought that if Lady continues to hide in the Tunnels it is creating bad habits. I completely agree. I am not sure she will make a 180 in two weeks. Generally, when there is a break to the Tunnels, I wait and she comes out. I praise her and give her a treat, but she will run for the tunnels again, the first chance she gets. We are creating quite a game, i.e bad habits.

How to fix a dog that is strong-willed and completely nuts? I got our training tunnel out and will place a target at the end. I want to get her to run through the tunnel, so the behavior is running and not hiding out in Tunnels. Unfortunately, our Tunnel is 6 feet long, but I am trying everything. Additionally, we haven't been doing any training these past few months unless it is at the gym. I am changing that and we are hitting the training hard at home, so that we can make Agility fun again AND training at the gym.

I know a large part of the behavior (99.9) is me and it is hard not to be frustrated by the passive/aggressive behavior of my dog, but if I am training just as much at home where I am not thinking dollar signs for every minute the dog wastes (just being honest), the fun will come back and perhaps Lady's behavior will change. I am sure it will not change over night, but perhaps I will be training the frustration out of me as well. Then I can bring that percentage down to 98.5!

I love that crazy dog and she is quite honestly the greatest dog I have ever had. I know she loves Agility or I wouldn't be subjecting her to it. Lady's Agility tutleage will be long-term and so will mine for that matter. We both need to take some chill pills.