Mia has been renamed

My agility instructor has started calling Mia Brat-Monkey. lol

See? It's not just me. :lol-sign:

She is progressing along but we're still having impulse control issues. 3rd week of class and she broke a stay and did all the obstacles in front of her. (A frame, hoop, jump jump, table) The jumps were set to standard poodle height and she still did them. She's never seen anything linked together either and yet she still did them all.

Soooo.... second half the class the other two dogs continued on with actual agility training while me, Mia, and the trainer sat and worked on 'sit' and 'stay'. We can't really continue on until her sit and stay are better in distracting environments. Her attention span is literally about 3 seconds long...

My instructor said the smartest dogs are typically the hardest to train and that she can tell Mia is one of those dogs looking for loopholes in everything. I love my Brat but sometimes she's a bit much. When she's on though, oh my gosh is she ON. If I can get up to par in my handling skills, Mia is going to rock. But sometimes I feel very out of my league with her to be honest.

Thats OK. Your almost there. You only need 2 more seconds for the table. :rofl1:

LOL Two of Caleb's nicknames are Brat and Monkey.


Wait a minute, are you sure you aren't talking about Caleb? OMG, I've said the same thing about when he's on, and me holding him back. LOL

And, yes, the smart ones are the hardest to train- they're always thinking. Patricia McConnell used to say "Dumb is good."

When I tell people about evaluating service dogs, they ALWAYS think we're looking for smart dogs. Oh no... imagine trying to handle Mia from a wheelchair. So yeah, I agree, dumb is definately good.

OTOH, my friend always says that trainers don't get the dog they want, they get the dog they need. The dogs you "need" bring out your weaknesses, and in the end (after much hair-pulling), make you a better trainer. So there you go, all your future dogs can thank Mia.

Mia is definitely going to force me to be a better trainer if I want to get anywhere with her! I thought I was pretty good because Summer has been a breeze. No, Summer is just a super easy dog. Smart enough to figure out what you want, in tune enough to always be waiting for your command, but not smart enough to try to out manipulate you... She's a very straightforward dog.

Mia... yeah... I've already learned more about dogs from Mia than I ever have from a dog.

Kes is like that in class, though his impulse control is a bit better. He is soooo different from Z that I'm having to change my handling style for him and since he and Z have classes back to back it's a bit more challenging than I thought it would be lol. But, like Mia, when he's on, he's ON and he can be scary fast.

I've thought this many times with Blaze. Like, if *I* could get my act together with handling and learning we would be so much further ahead.

With Mia, I think I just need to stop her anticipating things. I mean literally she does an obstacle ONCE and the next time I try to set her up in front of it, she has already figured that's what I want her to do again. So if she's on a leash, she's at the end trying to pull her way to the obstacle. Or if she's not she's trying to break her stays and go on without me.

So I'm really working on sit, stay in front of a jump or something and then NOT taking the obstacle. Everyone else is still trying to get their dogs to even do the obstacles and I'm sitting there trying to get her to NOT do them. A-frame is the worst for her because it's very self rewarding for her.

I have Summer two nights and Mia one night. I won't lie at this point handling Summer is MUCH more fun. :lol-sign:

They're just very different to handle.

Yea I like handling both dogs but for different reasons. It does help that Kes and I are in a class with a Malinois, so we're not the only ones dealing with impulse control.

Lol that's what I need is a mali in my class. That will make my dog look sane.

The other dogs I'm in class with are actually making Summer look intense. A standard poodle and a giant schnauzer in one class and a really really really laid back aussie in the other. All of them are pretty slow and pretty ho hum about everything.

There's a sheltie in the class after Mia's that I've hung around for though and she's a firecracker too. She does seem more interested in pleasing than my dog though.

Well, there is your issue right there! We all know that Paps are "what's in it for me" dogs!

Summer's not. Summer is like 'What do you want me to do? What you want me to do!? Oh okay! Watch me! Aren't I good, aren't I good?" She hangs on every word you say and can't wait to get it done.

Beau is pretty biddable too.

Mia is more like 'Mother, you and I both know what we are about to do. Why must you insist on putting me through these drab staying exercises before it?' Or she's like "COOKIES! COOKIE COOKIE COOKIE!" And can't get past that point. lol Or she's like "Oh hey, sit, I can do that. Oh wait what's that over there!?' *wanders off*

:hail::hail::hail::hail::hail::hail::hail::hail:

Sounds like she's doing great if you ask me. Mia sounds like she's gonna kick ass and take numbers once she gets going!

Take solace in the fact that she IS still young... very, very young. You have plenty of time for her to mature and for you to figure out how to work with her, and a long career together even after you figure that out.
Apparently it happens when they are about five, LOL. Auggie's breeder has put I think nine MACHs on between his dad and grandma, so it's not like she's not an inexperienced handler. But his brother is just a whole lot of dog. And just this year (he is five) she has told me she thinks she's really starting to get him figured out, and he is really running incredible. I mean, he was amazing to watch before, but now he is just something else. And I feel like Auggie and I are starting to really get each other figured out now and that next year might be our year to really tear it up... and he'll be five next year. I think five might be the magic number. Or at least that's what I keep telling myself.


Then again, I just called Auggie a big bratty butt on Tuesday night, while we were working on his obsession with contact equipment with tunnels under contact equipment, and he was on the SIDE of the dog walk, heading right into the tunnel, hit the breaks, looked at the dog walk... and scrambled up on the side of the dog walk so he could take that instead of the tunnel. Sigh...


Oh yeah, and re: getting the dog you need...
YouTube - The Journey
(Warning, makes me cry every time I watch it.)

I'd offer to bring Riley if you weren't so far away! I guess I'd better keep working his stays if I ever want him to do agility.

Agreed you are going to have to proof you stays with obstacles (oh so much fun lol). Another excellent exercise for dogs that break or anticipate is to set them up between obstacles and then turn them back to do the obstacles behind them.

Good luck from the been there,done that with the self rewarding, sinking fast dog that had to learn to focus and self control that made me a better handler!!

I also agree that the most talented take the longest to train because the handler and the dog have to have much higher skills. But having said that, it is a blast, nothing like doing agility on the edge.

If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough.
Mario Andretti

Beanie... 5 years is a long time. :lol-sign:

Beau overstimulates easily too. We actually had to STOP rewarding him in the show ring because he'd get so incredibly excited in the presence of toys it was not very conducive to conformation.

The idea of bringing her to the object behind her is great! I will definitely try that.

This week we're going to be working stays at home, outside, and in the park. she does them okay but in class they seem to go out the window. My trainer said baby steps... we will have to work on her focus second by second.