Gone To The Dogs

This morning started out as a typical Saturday.

Up at 7 to take the dogs running. The weather has cooled considerably this week, making it much more pleasant. Off to the club around 8:30, giving me plenty of time to settle the dogs and watch some of the Foundation 1 class. At 9, Maxwell's class starts with a nice little jump sequence.

That didn't last long.

About half way through class, I was working on drive through weave poles. I was just sending him through a single 2x2 section, tossing his new squeaky tug toy for him. He would charge through with a perfect entrance, grab the toy, and trot happily back to me. (Though the toy didn't always make it all the way back) He'd get a bit of cheese... repeat. After maybe 6 or 7 passes he ran for the toy, but froze for a split second rather than grabbing it. Suddenly my little dog is flying around the room at top speed.

Not only that, he managed to get another dog in on the fun. This friendly little Sheltie, who always seemed like far too much of a gentleman to go zooming. They must have been circling the room for two minutes or more. Maxwell leaped over equipment, took jumps, and was generally a hoodlum. They two dogs got along famously, including lots of shoulder bumps and friendly nipping. Agility had gone to the dogs.

Mr. Trainer and I spent the time trying to tackle them.

He worked on leash a lot after that, and I did a ton of shadow handling. Of course he was completely back to normal.

Given the insanity that Maxwell caused, I was really looking forward to running my reliable dog. Good old Sadie. Runs clean, if not fast, and handles closely. Alas, it was not to be.

Although we had removed her stitches, apparently her wound is still uncomfortable. I tried her at 16" (nothing for her) but she took down half the bars. I was going to try again, thinking she was just rusty, but Mr. Trainer stopped me after one jump. And so, Maxwell got to run the rest of Sadie's class.

Of course now he's perfect, with no other dogs out to distract him.

Now it's time for me to admit something.

When Maxwell goes nuts like that, I laugh it off. I train harder. I try to see his indicators, telling me when he's about to lose it. I work on focus, both at home and in class.

But it doesn't seem to make a difference.

I am getting frustrated. And demotivated.

I have this fun little dog who oozes talent out of every pore... and yet I can't even get through a single class without him going dangerously wild. I think I've had just about everybody fooled into thinking it wasn't bothering me. I think maybe I had myself fooled.

Maxwell is such an amazing dog in so many ways, and I know he's young. I know he's likely to simply grow out of this, to some extent. But I feel like I'm banging my head against a wall, putting in all this effort to seemingly zero result.

If spring comes around, and with it the start of the 2012 trial season, and he's still in Foundation 2, still going berserk every class, I don't know what I'll do. People need reinforcement too, and I don't feel like I'm getting it from him.

What can I do to help us both?