Jaldi is 2.5 years old (born 7-15-05). She loves to play. Her favorite games are tug and chase a moving object (moving objects are also one of her biggest distractions). Her favorite toys are furry and/or squeaky. Her latest toy obsession is a squeaky tennis ball. Prior to this she had no interest in tennis balls at all. The squeak is the attraction. Her other toy obsession is the furry toy on the whip. I have finally been able to get away from using that as a reward in agility by finding high-pitched squeaky balls that interest her. The whip is just way too cumbersome although I still use it from time to time as long as I don't have to run with it. Jaldi needs training in ways that will build her self-confidence. She can be a bit tentative with new experiences and she stresses in new situations. However, once she gets past the initial stress she will give me great performances. Examples of stress situations: attending a new agility class with dogs and people she didn't know, attending a 4-ring agility trial that also had confirmation and obedience going on. Self-control has also been a long time coming with Jaldi. She is getting tons better, but there are still times when she becomes overstimulated and cannot seem to calm herself. The worst situation is earthdog. I have to keep her really far away from the tunnels and basically wear her out before she can compete. Otherwise she is a screaming, mass of hysteria. She also has a very hard time waiting for me in a crate. She seems perfectly calm as long as she can't see me. When I walk towards her she starts whining, etc. We have worked a lot on this and she has gotten a lot better, but I still have to wait a couple of minutes for her to settle before I open the crate door. I think these things are also related to stress. Jaldi learns new things a little differently than other dogs I have trained. It seems my other dogs have had fairly steady progressions in learning new behaviors. Jaldi, however, seems to learn in leaps rather than steps. It can seem like she just doesn't get it, doesn't get it, doesn't get it. Then suddenly she can do it. At least, it seems suddenly to me.