That very short paragraph was written in September 2017. Over a year and a half ago! We have continued with agility since April 2017! Two years strong. This amazing man has proved to me time and time again how much he loves me (and agility), shown me how much he wants to work with and be with me, Hermes is a priceless gift that was given to me.
Granted there are some days where I want to send him away to a new family, kill him, or just want him out of my sight. Those days are tough. Really fucking hard actually. He is a dog. He has his own ideas. He is nervous and anxious and doesn’t like it if he has to be in his box while I do something with another dog. This year we have worked really hard on him understanding that he can be in his crate during daycare and it’s okay if I’m on the other side of the building playing with someone else. It has been hard. It has been painful. We have ruined a lot of blankets. Tried different medications. Spent a shitton of money on a special treat machine. Slowly with extra training we are getting there. It’s slow, really fucking slow. To the average person it doesn’t look like anything has worked but we (our training support team) see these teeny tiny baby steps. Soon (read April 2020) Hermes will be able to stay in his crate and not rip his cover off and tear it to shreds. Soon he will realise I am not leaving him I just need to be out of sight. Soon everyone will be able to see the training he will have worked and struggled so hard with.
But back to agility. Hermes was first brought into agility to build confidence away from Lily. If you didn’t know Lily and Hermes are litter mates. We actually brought Lily home first and went back weeks later and got Hermes. Lily came home like a little angel. Hermes came home a bundle of nerves and anxiety. We soon realised Lily was the alpha dog and Hermes wouldn’t function without her.
Bring in agility. Hermes went to class ALONE. Lily was not allowed to come to class at the beginning. It was just me and Hermes. During our first few classes, probably a good 2-3 months Hermes needed to be on a long line. He reacted to the other dogs in class while they were running. He reacted to them when he was running. I needed to have control over him 100% of the time. We worked away from the long line. Now he wears his tab but it is rarely used. We bounced from that class to this class to find a fit that was calm so he would work. For a while we were in a class that was above our skill level but the other dogs and handlers were calm and helpful. They offered advice, praised us when we accomplished something small that had taken FOREVER to do. Not just oh we did that 6 times really well but we tried 6 times and got 1 halfway decent jump/turn/whatever. Eventually due to many circumstances that class broke up and we had to move again. The class we have been in since September has been amazing. Our classmates are fantastic. We have grown individually and as a team. Hermes and I can now run an entire course! Usually depending on the course the mistakes that are made are due to my late timing or a general fuck up on my part. Have we gotten better? Yes! Absolutely! Is it still a struggle? Yes! Absolutely! Am I frustrated when I screw up? Yes! Always! But it’s usually towards myself not Hermes.
i have seen the progress! when gene came in the other night, hermers spent only 1 minute looking for him. 1 miunte! i directed him to lay down on the bed and he did. went to sleep too! you are making great strides with hermes. hes lucky to have you!
ReplyDelete