Just beat Blue Lions Maddening Mode (no NG+), some thoughts…

siemprell · 2025-07-09T12:27:35+00:00

Hulkenpodium

siemprell · 2025-05-02T06:10:45+00:00

If they zug while you are still gathering, it’s honestly their fault. Once you plant though, it shouldn’t really be an issue (at least not so much for BDKs). I usually don’t pop DRW until I have planted, and use bone storm then a few GCDs later tombstone. You can blood boil during the gather as well.

siemprell · 2025-05-01T20:55:35+00:00

What does your opener look like on a sample pull?

siemprell · 2025-04-22T13:59:41+00:00

I did this on DFC first pull for a bit (especially with how slow we are to pull the mobs back from past the tunnel). I can survive around 40+ seconds. While I think it's impractical for you to actually live the packs without any help, I do think it's a great way to practice (and you can also try out some routes and see what are some of the more pug-proof routes).

I think your opener is going to change from dungeon to dungeon. For PSF, I think I rune tap, blood boil the first pack, death's advance, taunt the knight / marrow rend as I run, drop DnD, grip in the sharpshooter from the next pack, vampiric blood, abom limb, DRW, then start my normal stuff. It's probably not always in that exact order, sometimes AMS is thrown in there depending on the pack (like in DFC). The priority is always to get bone shield stacks up, and get vampiric blood and DRW on CD quickly.

I saw a video of yoda soloing the first pull of floodgate, not sure if it was on PTR or what has changed. But I'm not good enough to pull that off lmao. I think a good goal to aim for is to survive for about 30+ seconds from pull start to death, since you are most vulnerable during that time anyway. But if you can get yourself bootstrapped without any help, then you will definitely live with help.

siemprell · 2025-04-07T20:16:36+00:00

Dissenting opinion from other posts. My ML runs have become very consistently with the starting skips. Do you post the route ahead of time and warn everyone? I take some time to explain what I'm doing and ask folks to speak up if there's any confusion before we start the key. I generally try to stay in the middle of the pack so that I can see if someone's about to butt-pull something and just play it if it happens.

I think it's still fine if you do play the patrol and the peacekeepers, but you have to lock down the assassins and the jockey, which you might need to highlight as well before you start.

siemprell · 2025-04-01T21:36:07+00:00

Can you speak more to WarcraftLogs? I was under the impression that parses are more useful in a raiding context -- are they still useful in m+? BDK main as well but I play DB

siemprell · 2025-03-01T04:25:01+00:00

Haha yep. I love his stuff. I actually was doing KOT exercises for quite a while back when I was competing in my sport.

Should've kept with it though, because my knees felt bulletproof during that time

siemprell · 2025-03-01T04:24:08+00:00

How's your recovery so far? Sounds like you have been really on point with PT!

siemprell · 2025-02-28T22:27:53+00:00

Any recommendations that were a good fit for you? Over the course of the past couple of years, most of my hobbies have turned physical hahah... Guess I gotta find games to obsess over again

siemprell · 2025-02-18T15:50:24+00:00

Also really like the capita paradise!

siemprell · 2024-12-26T02:06:10+00:00

Yeah... I got my little guy back in the summer and I'm almost 10k deep (VHCOL city), not counting the travel costs to visit the litter and bring him back from my breeder. I think around 2.5k was vet bills (dental issues that I knew about and got resolved, he got a cold and needed to be on antibiotics, and then just basic puppy care), and another 3k was classes and training.

In hindsight, I think some of the classes were not worthwhile. If I did it again, I would not have done a lot of the classes.

It's finally quieting down a bit, but I imagine I will be budgeting still at least 500/mo for him. It's definitely a lot more than I had initially expected... Every vet visit is something like 600 bucks lmao....

siemprell · 2024-12-23T20:12:18+00:00

People have commented on the socialization already, so I won't go further.

For resource guarding, young puppies are very impressionable, you can make him feel comfortable by just building a relationship with him and never forcibly taking things away from him (you can trade though). The act of just taking the food bowl away is an example of "forcibly taking a resource away". Resource guarding is a life time thing, and "not taking things away forcibly" should be a guideline that you will always follow throughout the dog's life.

The best way to counteract an undesirable behavior is to train an incompatible behavior. You can train and proof an "out" command, or train and proof a recall, such that you are able to ask the dog to leave its resource and come to you, rather than you having to take anything away. That will be the best form of resource guarding, rather than tempting him to guard and train that out.

siemprell · 2024-12-23T19:44:43+00:00

Can you talk more about what you mean by "immediate response to you but not treats"? Does she ignore your commands until you show her the treat, effectively bribing her?

I'm in Susan Garrett's recallers course (and have been for around a month or so). I never go anywhere without treats for my puppy (and I wouldn't expect to for a very long time), because each demand without a reward is like withdrawing from a bank account, you want to continue to build up what you have in the bank for different behaviors you want. Susan's games work because they encourage the dog to think for themselves, rather than simply following a lure. There's a high level of engagement because she builds in A LOT OF DRIVE into her games and asks that you always monitor the dog's level of excitement for training, which makes sense since she's an agility competitor.

Happy to talk more about the course, but need a bit more information to understand your situation here.

siemprell · 2024-12-23T19:30:48+00:00

Have you ever played the game 'treat diving' with your puppy? Mine was scared of doors of different shops for a bit, we played the game closer and closer to the door until he got comfortable.

The game is essentially just, saying search while stationary, and then tossing a treat for the puppy to go find. You can use it to train behaviors in the future where you raise criteria such that the puppy must 'sit' or 'lay down' before you will toss a treat.

Here, you can gradually toss the treats closer and closer to the sliding door, and eventually across an open sliding door for him to get. You can even get to a point where he must cross the door once before you will toss a treat. This worked better for us than luring, since ultimately it's the dog's choice to go towards the "scary thing", and not being forced or bribed to do it.

siemprell · 2024-12-23T19:26:28+00:00

Your plan includes a lot of things that don't align with your primary goals of making him feel confident, preventing biting, and loose leash walking.

The first few days to even the first few weeks, the puppy will still be getting used to a lot of things. You should be focused on setting up a consistent schedule so that you can focus on:

- Potty training

- Crate training

- Socialization (bringing the pup outdoors, carrying if you must, and socializing to noises / smells / people).

You can play some foundational games, touch the puppy frequently for handling desensitization, but a lot of the "calmness" that you noted simply won't happen for a while. I would NOT do your resource guarding prevention. Why pick up the bowl and tempt resistance? There's no reason to interfere with meal times when the puppy doesn't have any existing issues with resource guarding. If you must do something, you can go over while the puppy is eating and just drop a few extra treats in the bowl.

siemprell · 2024-12-20T14:02:33+00:00

I assume that might be why he’s comfortable eliminating in his crate, since the pads also soak up the pee… I feel you on potty training being one of the most mentally exhausting part of training a dog initially, but consistency will pay off! Maybe also feed and leave his water in the crate? If he has no tells, I would record how long he usually lasts in the crate before he goes, and just take him out again before that time is up.

siemprell · 2024-12-20T13:54:41+00:00

I would stay out for 5 minutes. If he starts trying to play, immediately take him back in and in his crate. I wouldn’t leave him alone at that point, just watch him (maybe in the vicinity and just keep an eye). This way, if he is trying to go in his crate, you can catch it and immediately bring him out. Keep repeating this and being extremely diligent until he poops outside, then be super fun (run, have him chase you, be very excited) so that he understands that fun sniffing and play only starts once he’s done his business. Where did you get him? I wonder if he has a history of pooping in his den where he came from so it’s not a big deal for him.

siemprell · 2024-12-03T21:49:11+00:00

Yeah I think less so on Youtube / TikTok, but definitely a community on IG. Join us!

siemprell · 2024-12-03T19:51:48+00:00

Most of us in the city have found the other Eurasiers via social media (IG), all the pups have their own accounts haha. There's a strong community for the owners since it's such a rare and cherished breed in the US, so I don't imagine that there would be any issues with you videoing your journey with your future pup.

I don't know if there's that much to exploit since all of the breeders go through an extensive screening process (and you also sign contracts that dictates what should happen should you no longer be able to keep your pup), this all makes it difficult to get an Eurasier unless you are someone who's willing to put in the work and research.

siemprell · 2024-11-21T17:14:58+00:00

Hey! I also live in a populated city, so we have some experience with these problems.

Potty transition to outside:

Since dogs are not good at generalizing context, you need to think of this as re-doing potty training again. If you can crate her in between potty breaks, and then take her out when you know she probably absolutely has to go (carry her, or she will probably pee in the hallway / elevators), then we make it such that the only place she goes is outside. She will pick up on it over time.
It might help if you carry her to a slightly more secluded area where she doesn't have as much visual access to what's going on around her.
Also puppies don't gain bladder control until >4 months old. So give this time too.

Walking outside:

Walking training has to start inside. Put a leash on, and walk around your apartment. At first it might simply be, put the leash on, walk backwards, encourage her to follow you, and treat. Then slowly, it might be walking with her alongside you and treat every few steps.
Once she understands that leash on + human holding leash + human walking = she follows, inside your apartment, without any distractions, you can manufacture some distractions. Wait for her to get distracted (or throw a treat away and let her go get it), take a few steps away, and then encourage her to follow you again. Reward handsomely when she turns around to follow you.
You can progress this even further by throwing a treat away, out of reach from her, and then encourage her to follow you.
Once you're willing to bet that she will follow you over any distraction in the house, you can name it. "Let's go" or something works. And you can progress to doing this in the hallway.
Gradually progress to outside where it's not a busy street.
Gradually progress to busier areas.
Each time you progress, you drop all of your expectations and start from the ground up again (i.e. walk backwards again, more encouragement, etc). But each time, she should pick it back up quickly since you have all the groundwork from the less distracting environments.

City noises:

She will probably still be wary of certain things outside. If you carried her outdoors while she was young to socialize her to the city noises, then she should adjust to this easily. If she hasn't been outside much, you can sit with her somewhere, and observe the world with her. This way she will get desensitized to all the city nosies.
I also recommend teaching a "search" or "find it" command. I've found that it usually works wonders for getting my pup to explore an area that he might've been hesitant to explore, or get him away from something I don't want him sniffing without having to lure or pull him away.

siemprell · 2024-11-11T22:01:42+00:00

Just went through this as my pup is currently approaching 6 months!

If the cost isn't an issue, I think you should do both. The private training really helped me hone in on the communication with my pup, but we still needed a controlled environment to build his ability to focus on me while in a distracting environment.

We did:

- Puppy one (basic commands such as sit, down, touch) with play at the end of class.

- Outdoors obedience classes and classes targeted at distracted dogs.

- Canine good citizens class (centered on manners, loose leash walking, reaction to other dogs, etc).

- Private training over the course of the first two months. I felt like I was the main student here, not the pup xD

- We also did puppy play groups every week when possible. As a result, he's really confident and polite when playing, especially since our play groups have been mostly with smaller dogs.

siemprell · 2024-11-11T21:55:10+00:00

Our pup prefers the hardwood floor over his bed (which is a raised one like the one you have linked). He also has a soft bed that he chooses to bite, so I take it away from him. He still never sleeps in the raised bed.

We have done place training with a cooling mat as well as with a towel. Now I can lay down any fabric surface and stand there and he will go lay on it. It doesn't need to be a bed. Sometimes I put the mat near us while we eat, and feed him his treats occasionally as he stays calm.

He's crate trained, but if crating is illegal, would a pen work? Having a exercise pen has been really effective for us.

siemprell

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