GO LEMUR GO!!
For the record: Ryan asks me multiple times per week, sometimes every day, if we can have a Backup. The answer is absolutely no, but he keeps asking. Videos of him though, make me absolutely fall in love.
hahaha, with the work I've put into this dog no one really understands how troublesome he is. That said, I'll sell him for 6 cookies.
I think you are way too hard on Backup LOL. Or maybe on yourself. Maybe both.
I didn't see any slipping in that video, but have you tried using rosin? People just buy one of those rosin bags baseball players use and slap it against the paw pads a few times. There's also a spray some people use but I don't really like it much. Rosin bags are only a couple of bucks, I would give it a shot and see if it helps.
He slips after the yellow turning into the front cross, this was honestly though a very slow tired run for him which was what I was trying for. I made an effort to mellow him out in order to work him more easily. He, and a lot of borders at my work, have trouble on these floors unfortunately. I know some people use grippy spray which I may need to try for him.
Aww I really do love this dog. In pictures he seems so excited and happy about everything
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If you don't mind that I ask what is the difference between Sloan and the Backup that makes her so much easier to work with? I know you've written about how intense and high drive Sloan can be but she seems to be progressing much quicker. I'm pretty interested in this breed, in theory only they're too much dog for me, and curious about the different temperaments and such
Sloan is a thinker, completely. Backup is a "do-er", he gets frantic, panics, and does stupid things because he doesn't think. For example in bite work if you correct Sloan she gets pissed/frustrated and we have to walk a fine line as to not demotivate/confuse her too much. Backup however you can correct the crap out of with a prong and he'll still go-go-go, you can't say he's not driven but he's hard to ask to think. Shaping with him has been a travesty, Sloan you can barely lure or just stand with her and she'll start offering behaviors, Backup will start to panic by stress panting, dancing with his front feet, spinning, barking, and slamming into you.
Like I said in the agility thread, you guys are going to be a great team!! I've seen far, far more spazzy mals.
Thanks, that means our work is paying off and we're hiding our spaz well. hahahaha
I think he looks REALLY good! I'd maybe work on some easier level stuff and just straight lines to get him really driving forward. BUT looking at him, he looks like he's not really running full out yet and I bet he'll be whole heaps of fun when he does!
Honestly, you made the video seem like he was gonna be a mess, lol, but he looks really good! You should be proud!
Thanks, we're definitely not doing this stuff regularly but it was an impulsive trial run. I wanted to see how he would react to a class setting in general and how he and I would handle a short course that I did not set up for us. He hung in there pretty well which gave us the much needed confidence boost I needed.
He's not running full out because I am asking for more control now, I can't run him when he's running full out. I presume someone else could but I'm just not that talented yet.
Seriously, I am starting to feel much better about him now, this helps. Maybe I've been so used to failing and losing it with his spazziness I didn't notice when he started to improve.
Believe it or not I've had too many trainers tell me to basically sell him and get a better dog, he's confusing, fast, rough, and frustrating but I do think if we can someday figure things out we can have a lot of fun together in this sport.