alligande Posted August 1, 2011 Report Share Posted August 1, 2011 Rievaulx and I had a horrible outing at a NADAC trial this Saturday. This was his fifth outing to a trial and it seems like he is going backwards the more relaxed he gets. The first couple of trials, he was obviously a little stressed, would not play tug in the waiting area etc. yet in the ring we Qd in jumpers and were close to Qing in nearly everything else, most of the mistakes were me . Before I get into the details, Rievaulx barks at me when he is confused or frustrated, I call it positive training, silence is golden when things go well he is silent driven and focused, when I make a mistake, he barks. Truly positive reinforcement. Fast forward to Saturday, happy to play tricks and tug etc in the waiting area, enter the ring and he forgot things like a start line stay, stopping on contacts etc. Of course this being NADAC I took the opportunity to train. The one decent run we had was jumpers. Basically he does not go of-course he just stands/jumps and barks at me and once that starts the run is really over. There are many issues we do not have, no leaving me, no zoomies, bars stay up unless I am in the wrong place: bottom line is he does want to stop once we get going, if I ask for a stop he barks. I also think the NADAC courses are part of the problem, fast and flowing so we start out at a full run, and then he does not want the fun to end. But at this point it is NADAC as it is close to home and good value for money, I am not ready to drive hours with a dog who is not ready to have the potential to Q. In class he is an amazing dog, blindingly fast, focused, is often the best dog in class, despite being the baby. This summer we have put a lot of time into training me, learning to run such a fast dog is a challenging ride, but fun. He is everything I wanted until we get to a trial. I train with two very different trainers, one who feels I should be slowing him down and getting control, the other who believes you keep the speed, just learn to handle, which is my chosen approach. I slowed Brody down and that has not worked well. He has just turned 2 and has always seemed an immature dog, and I am hoping that age will take care of the problem, or is that wishful thinking? and if so how would you approach the problem. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrSnappy Posted August 1, 2011 Report Share Posted August 1, 2011 I train with two very different trainers, one who feels I should be slowing him down and getting control, the other who believes you keep the speed, just learn to handle, which is my chosen approach. I slowed Brody down and that has not worked well. Well, I'm not sure what the answer to your problem is, but don't take the trainer's advice who wants to slow him down. It's much harder to get speed back when you demotivate your dog into running slow. I tend to think baby dogs just get the ridiculouses when they first start trialing. All that foundation stuff goes out the window and they become total goofs. I liken it to raising kids - you give them the proper tools to function correctly in society, and then they become teenagers and it all goes to sh*t. But if you gave them the right tools to start with, they eventually come back to them. Agility dogs often do this as well. Trial atmospheres are very different from class and the dogs feel the pressure and they do what baby dogs do - act like morons. The more trials he does, the less that will happen. I would just take advantage of training in the ring when he starts to act up. End with something positive and exit the course with a smile. It won't always be like this, so don't get too stressed out. I remember one trial many years ago where I went over the dogwalk with Tweed AKA "contact? what contact?" something like 7 times before he finally got his 2o2o, then I praised him lots, thanks the judge, and left the ring. Ie - we play the game on my terms, bucko ... but you can have fun too. His next run was lovely, with lots of lovely correct contacts RDM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcv-border Posted August 1, 2011 Report Share Posted August 1, 2011 I agree with RDM ^^^^ Do not slow him down. Be patient and work through it. (He just turned 2? - a baby dog.) I think maturity will help. I know it did with Torque - somewhere around 3 he really began to be more focused. We still have lots of issues and don't Q alot, but it sure is a blast to run him. (He has probably had about 7 or 8 Jumpers runs (ACK) where his only mistake was dropping one bar. We would be in ExcB if not for dropped bars. As it is, we are still in Open. ) I can not think of any specific advice without seeing you run as a team, but just keep a positive attitude and keep things fun. Speaking of contacts: I am trying to train Running contacts (after having 2O2O), and I have noticed that when I give Torque negative feedback when he jumps the yellow (which seems to be his default behavior right now), it makes him worse. He will repeatedly jump the yellow on subsequent tries. I think that he is somewhat soft so the negativity is stressing him out. What does seem to work best is to ignore his jumping and try to refocus him with some fun heeling or backing or push-ups - something that gets him to focus but without amping him up too much. I then try the running contact again and often he does much better. Jovi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Root Beer Posted August 1, 2011 Report Share Posted August 1, 2011 Are you familiar with the Off Switch Games from Control Unleashed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SecretBC Posted August 1, 2011 Report Share Posted August 1, 2011 My cousin experienced the same frustrations with her young, energetic BC -- He started out fairly under control (for a pair of green beans, at least), and with each trial he got a bit more nutty. In their case it was because she (having no idea how to do otherwise) did not correct him for ANYTHING in the ring and he learned he could get away with murder. It does not sound like this is the case for you, however -- So keep taking advantage of the training time in the ring. If you think it would help to make the point, take him out of the ring after you fix something so that you can reward him right away. I always feel it's a cop-out to say that NADAC's "fast & flowing" courses are to blame for any problem a team may experience. USDAA has plenty of "fast & flowing" sequences as well -- Knowing how to run/handle these is part of being a well rounded team. As I'm sure you've been told, one of the keys to handling a fast dog in NADAC is building your distance skills. From what I've seen in your past videos, you already have some very impressive skills for a young team. Keep building on this, and it will allow you to fix certain issues -- For instance, my little guy also has a major issue stopping on the dog walk. He's very much an, "I don't wanna stop, I'm having fun running!" kind of dog. At the moment the only way I'm getting a stop out of him is if I beat him to the end of the dog walk -- and THAT is only happening when I have a good lateral send to give me a head start. The only time we are in trouble is the start line, really. He won't say long enough for me to beat him. He didn't used to stay at all, though, so I'm happy with where he's at. Ultimately, you have to choose your battles. It's awesome that NADAC lets us train -- But you have to decide BEFORE you go in the ring what you are going to do. It's so hard to throw away a Q. Are you willing to do that before your run even starts in order to train a start line? I've never thrown a Q at the start line, it's one of those things that I let slide and thankfully my dogs do eventually work through it. But contacts are my big one. I've thrown a lot of runs for contact training -- less painful if they missed it, as there isn't much difference between an E and a NQ in my book. lol Bottom line, you've only been to five trials. You guys are still a very new team with so much promise. I have several friends who claim that border collies don't fully mature until they are four! Since your dog doesn't want to stop on contacts, have you discussed running contact training with either of your trainers? I've considered it for Kaiser... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alligande Posted August 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2011 Thanks for everyones input: seems like maturity will play a role. Are you familiar with the Off Switch Games from Control Unleashed? Yes I am, but is not applicable here, as he has always had amazing focus on me ( I think it is the advantage of hind sight and getting him young) and I joke he does not have an off switch but an on one. He is a truly chilled dog. BUT get in a trial ring and all bets are off and I do not think there is away to train for that enviroment. I always feel it's a cop-out to say that NADAC's "fast & flowing" courses are to blame for any problem a team may experience. USDAA has plenty of "fast & flowing" sequences as well -- Knowing how to run/handle these is part of being a well rounded team. As I'm sure you've been told, one of the keys to handling a fast dog in NADAC is building your distance skills. From what I've seen in your past videos, you already have some very impressive skills for a young team. Keep building on this, and it will allow you to fix certain issues -- For instance, my little guy also has a major issue stopping on the dog walk. He's very much an, "I don't wanna stop, I'm having fun running!" kind of dog. At the moment the only way I'm getting a stop out of him is if I beat him to the end of the dog walk -- and THAT is only happening when I have a good lateral send to give me a head start. The only time we are in trouble is the start line, really. He won't say long enough for me to beat him. He didn't used to stay at all, though, so I'm happy with where he's at. I do agree with you, and I am not using it as a cop out, but those long straights early in a sequence get his adrenline going and all bets are off. We do have some distance and he will work away from me, I want to balance the nadac distance thing with clear handling I am not a fan of extreme distance, I admire the skill in training but have no interest at the moment in going there. Ultimately, you have to choose your battles. It's awesome that NADAC lets us train -- But you have to decide BEFORE you go in the ring what you are going to do. It's so hard to throw away a Q. Are you willing to do that before your run even starts in order to train a start line? I've never thrown a Q at the start line, it's one of those things that I let slide and thankfully my dogs do eventually work through it. But contacts are my big one. I've thrown a lot of runs for contact training -- less painful if they missed it, as there isn't much difference between an E and a NQ in my book. lol Bottom line, you've only been to five trials. You guys are still a very new team with so much promise. I have several friends who claim that border collies don't fully mature until they are four! Since your dog doesn't want to stop on contacts, have you discussed running contact training with either of your trainers? I've considered it for Kaiser... We have already thrown a jumpers Q for the start line. The start line is very important to me, as I know if I get behind game over. On the other hand it takes a lot of discipline on my part to throw a run for a contact but I have done it on the second to last obstacle on a regular run. I watch elite dogs that have issues and I know we have a long career ahead of us and I want to get it right at the beginning. I am sure Brody would have enjoyed the sport more if I had a clue what I was doing. And those running contacts: a woman needs a fighting chance on those NADAC courses Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alligande Posted January 5, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2012 This is a follow up, after a season of trialling, with the yelling, screaming, air chomping only showing mild improvement. I had finally had enough 3/4 of the way through our last class jumpers, on news year eve he got frustrated on a serpentine lept at me, well we were both tired, after a long day, so I finally yelled back put him a down and asked the leash runner to bring me my leash so we could do the walk of shame. This was followed up yesterday in class by another walk of shame on his first run, when he lept at me because I was making him repeat the dog walk as his contact was not perfect. WELL what a change for the rest of the night, he would still bark if things were not perfect but watching him try and keep those feet on the ground had me doing my best not to laugh. I had wanted to do this months ago, but had been adviced by two really good trainers that this was not the right approach, well nothing else was working so this is my new policy, you leap the leash goes on and the game stops. On a positive note we finished our first year of trials with an amazing start line, and pretty good contacts, thanks to NADACs training policy and a dog that believes agility with me is the best fun you can have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mum24dog Posted January 5, 2012 Report Share Posted January 5, 2012 I had wanted to do this months ago, but had been adviced by two really good trainers that this was not the right approach, well nothing else was working so this is my new policy, you leap the leash goes on and the game stops. Why would they advise against it? Depending on the extent to which the dog loses it, it isn't always necessary. Was thAt their view in your case or as a general rule? If you have a motivated dog that tries to take control in the ring if things aren't going perfectly then negative punishment by removing them from the source of fun consistently can drive the message home pretty quickly as you've found. Pam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alligande Posted January 5, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2012 Why would they advise against it? Depending on the extent to which the dog loses it, it isn't always necessary. Was thAt their view in your case or as a general rule? Pam I think they felt that it would not work for him, we were training with them so they knew us. He is actually a very soft dog and that might have been a concern. Basically my sense of humor and patience have finally run their course. When a judge tells you that your dog is very talented but they are concerned for your safety, enough is enough. I have joked that part of this sizeism I was watching a video of an elite shelltie at the same trial he in reality this dog was doing nothing different than my monster but he only came up to his handlers knees, while my dog leaps to head height with a deep bark and large jaws Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beach BCs Posted January 5, 2012 Report Share Posted January 5, 2012 Good for you! I have an over the top dog. If he feels he's being 'managed' he gets very vocal and rude At our last trial when I directed him to go left and he thought going to the right made more sense, he body slammed me to get me out of his way. Turd. We were disqualified but we finished the course SLOWLY. He hated that.I have a trainer who worries about me overcorrecting Tex. Her dogs are a bit more sensitive than Tex though. My rule has become "Play nicely, or you won't play". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alligande Posted January 6, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2012 To be honest I do not think Rievaulx wants to take control, it is more frustration that I have not provided the information quickly/clearly enough to move onto the next obstacle. And if he is at all confused we get the drama. He never looses focus on me, just gets over the top. I can now almost predict where it will go wrong, on the touch n go course that we ran clean but got points off for biting.... He actually did not make contact..... I had gone in deep on a tunnel/Aframe descrimination to make sure he took the tunnel that was on the inside, so I was now well behind, he then had to go to another tunnel, although I gave a verbal command , and will move on ahead, he could not see me as he came out, so spun and yelled, once we re-engaged we were off to the races again. Obviously the solution is being able to handle the discrimination from further away, and not get so far behind but at this stage of his career it is not going to happen in a trial. At the present my goal is to stop the leaping and snapping, not the barking. I feal the barking at the moment is fair gives him a chance to let me know he did not understand, we do run sometimes in silence and it is an amazing reward as we are flying, I have always found agility fun, but when Rievaulx and I get it right it is an adrenaline rush and i remember why I have been putting up with his bs at trials. He has inspired me to get fit, so my speed has hugely improved, so running with him is now truly a blast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gooddogs74 Posted January 6, 2012 Report Share Posted January 6, 2012 Glad to hear your dog is doing better. My dog is a little younger than yours and has only been to one trial and I was very pleased overall. He sounds similar in personality though. He likes to yell at me a lot, even though I don't yell at him, go figure. And he has been known to launch at me, nip, etc when things aren't going just his way. His focus is excellent and he thinks agility is about the most fun thing ever. I do A LOT of impulse control work with him. Relaxation on a mat has been a big one, also lots of food zen/toy zen/etc. Teaching a default behavior (down) when he wants anything is also part of it. Look at that games while other dogs run. I think even though you can't replicate the trial environment that some of that self control work does carry over. I think NADAC is great for the training they allow. I will interested to see how things progress with your dog as he gets older. My dog is just 21 months. I have already decided that if start lines become broken, we will leave the course. It will be a hard pill to swallow, but I think for him it will be effective since the obstacles are so rewarding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alligande Posted January 6, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2012 With the start line, I have never had to leave the ring, I repeat and sacrifice the Q, fingers crossed he has never broken a second time. I am not militant about the position, he can wriggle move forward on his haunches etc Just no forward motion. On the second attempt I usually do not lead out as far. The last couple of months I have been able to do some crazy lead outs, he has not broken a start line in about 3 months, the downside is that by the time he gets to me he is moving very fast, and it can dramatically go wrong but this is one of those experience things, where he has to remember what a collection cue is when stimulated, and sending your handler flying should be a training moment. I treat contacts in the same way, if he does not drive into position, or self releases, then we repeat the entire obstacle, I do not recall him ever not giving me a perfect 2o2o the second time. Regarding the self control exercises I feel they only help so far as they do not replicate the high as a kite mind set. Rievaulx can lie off leash watching agility, he might whine a little but he has no problem staying put, in most everything he has great self control, it is when he gets high as a kite that it goes wrong, and he only gets high in this one situation. What I have been exploring is the shutzhund concept of capping drive, where your dog can work in a very high state of arousal. I have watched a couple of Michael Ellis DVDs and would like to understand more. What I have been doing is play tug which does generate a high state of arousal, then ask for a basic command, at this point just sit, maybe just out, then starting the game again. Basically getting him used to working while over stimulated. This concept seems to replicate what is happening better than most of the impulse games I am familiar with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mum24dog Posted January 6, 2012 Report Share Posted January 6, 2012 To be honest I do not think Rievaulx wants to take control, it is more frustration that I have not provided the information quickly/clearly enough to move onto the next obstacle. And if he is at all confused we get the drama. He never looses focus on me, just gets over the top. Two friends of mine have dogs that bite sometimes if something goes wrong but the dynamics between dog and handler are different in each case. In one case the dog is totally focussed on the handler and is demanding clear direction, which sounds like yours. In the other the dog couldn't care two hoots for the handler and does agility entirely for his own enjoyment. His biting is more a case of "Get out of my face, I want to get on". They've both got to one grade from the top though. In both cases consistently removing them from the ring would work, but the negative punishment in doing so in the second case would be of a higher degree to the dog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gooddogs74 Posted January 7, 2012 Report Share Posted January 7, 2012 Regarding the self control exercises I feel they only help so far as they do not replicate the high as a kite mind set. Rievaulx can lie off leash watching agility, he might whine a little but he has no problem staying put, in most everything he has great self control, it is when he gets high as a kite that it goes wrong, and he only gets high in this one situation. What I have been exploring is the shutzhund concept of capping drive, where your dog can work in a very high state of arousal. I have watched a couple of Michael Ellis DVDs and would like to understand more. What I have been doing is play tug which does generate a high state of arousal, then ask for a basic command, at this point just sit, maybe just out, then starting the game again. Basically getting him used to working while over stimulated. This concept seems to replicate what is happening better than most of the impulse games I am familiar with. Yes I think some of the Michael Ellis stuff is very interesting too. I want to watch some of his dvd's. Susan Garrett has recently addressed this as well, with something she calls TAR (too aroused to respond) moments because the dog gets stuck in that hyperaroused state. Similar to what you are working on, we are doing this as well. Playing crazy tug, then asking for a command in the middle of it. She says for some dogs it just needs to become part of their daily routine every time they play. I like that name, TAR, I can picture my dog doing an extra sllooowww sit through a bunch of sticky tar. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frogs & Dogs Posted January 7, 2012 Report Share Posted January 7, 2012 I occasionally get a nip here or there, when Kit feels that it's my fault that we've come to a dead stop, and she'd rather keep running. Sometimes it's because I make her do the weaves again, or sometimes she feels I'm not indicating her path clearly enough (as in NADAC chances). I have not done the walk of shame yet, but I will put her in a down for a few seconds, resulting in an E (of course). I think a confident dog can handle a down stay or a lose your turn, but I wouldn't attempt it with a soft dog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alligande Posted January 7, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2012 . Susan Garrett has recently addressed this as well, with something she calls TAR (too aroused to respond) moments because the dog gets stuck in that hyperaroused state. Similar to what you are working on, we are doing this as well. Playing crazy tug, then asking for a command in the middle of it. She says for some dogs it just needs to become part of their daily routine every time they play. I like that name, TAR, I can picture my dog doing an extra sllooowww sit through a bunch of sticky tar. :-) Do you know where I can find more info on Susan's Ideas? I occasionally get a nip here or there, when Kit feels that it's my fault that we've come to a dead stop, and she'd rather keep running. Sometimes it's because I make her do the weaves again, or sometimes she feels I'm not indicating her path clearly enough (as in NADAC chances). I have not done the walk of shame yet, but I will put her in a down for a few seconds, resulting in an E (of course). I think a confident dog can handle a down stay or a lose your turn, but I wouldn't attempt it with a soft dog. I have discovered there is a danger to using down: Rievaulx has a great down, automatic on the table, on command while running, and a regular static down, it is his default position as well. When I started using it on course, it worked to get his head back in the game but the automatic down on the table started to disappear , to the point he just did not want to go down. Once I stopped using it on course, had one session of highly rewarding down on the table, back it came. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alligande Posted January 7, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2012 Double post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gooddogs74 Posted January 8, 2012 Report Share Posted January 8, 2012 Do you know where I can find more info on Susan's Ideas? I am doing Puppy Peaks, which is her monthly program where I can access videos of her training her young dog. It is reasonably priced, unlike some of her other stuff, and I am getting some good info from it. Basically, she works some things similar to what was described above. Get the dog aroused with toys, decide how long you are going to wait for a response to a simple command like sit. If the dog does not respond in the time frame, she will stand up, grab the collar, move the dog a bit, to reset their brain. Reward with the toy. Gradually she decreases the time she allows for the behavior to occur and once simple commands are good, she adds the game to more complex ones. Wash, rinse, repeat...for life probably in my case! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Root Beer Posted January 8, 2012 Report Share Posted January 8, 2012 I have not done the walk of shame yet, but I will put her in a down for a few seconds, resulting in an E (of course). I think a confident dog can handle a down stay or a lose your turn, but I wouldn't attempt it with a soft dog. The concept of the "walk of shame" is an interesting one to me. My dogs simply find no shame in leaving the ring. We leave the ring all the time. At class, we go out on the floor and do a sequence, or even a single exercise, and then we leave the ring. I may very well go out on the floor, ask for a down, and then leave the ring. Leaving the ring simply means our turn is over, no matter what we have done, or not done, out there. We literally leave the ring every single time we are finished in the ring. Years ago, one of my instructors used to have me end Speedy's turn when he got overstimulated. The idea was supposed to be for him to learn that becoming overstimulated ended his turn. Never did a thing about the overstimulation. We always left the ring when our turn was over. That's all leaving the ring means. We will be back out there eventually, whether it be on that day or another. What I have been doing is play tug which does generate a high state of arousal, then ask for a basic command, at this point just sit, maybe just out, then starting the game again. Basically getting him used to working while over stimulated. This concept seems to replicate what is happening better than most of the impulse games I am familiar with. That is similar to the off switch games from Control Unleashed, which was actually the thing that helped Speedy learn to deal with overstimulation. We started off just running together, a few steps, since he was stimulated by his own movement, then we would stop and he would sit, get into a "thinking" frame of mind, and then we would run again. This progressed to a structure where he learned to toggle between running, or tugging, and doing Freestyle moves. We did this for quite some time, and the results were excellent. He got to a point where I could see him starting to become stimulated during a performance and he would actually bring himself back "down" to where he needed to be. We work this in class with dogs that get overstimulated running Agility by practicing the structure with very short sequences. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcv-border Posted January 8, 2012 Report Share Posted January 8, 2012 To be honest I do not think Rievaulx wants to take control, it is more frustration that I have not provided the information quickly/clearly enough to move onto the next obstacle. And if he is at all confused we get the drama. He never looses focus on me, just gets over the top. This sounds so familiar - i.e. the fact that when I run with Torque, I also am late with my timing. Luckily, he doesn't let out his frustrations by leaping at me. Instead, his little brain explodes, and he will run and take another obstacle or whirl in circles. And it is my fault because I have not given him direction. This past August at an agility trial, I got a confused and Torque started darting this way and that. Which way, Mom? Which way? I wanted him to chill for a couple of seconds so asked for a 'Lie Down' - which he did instantaneously. Beautiful. At that point, the judge asked me with a smile on his face "Is your dog having fun?" Anyway, this year one of my goals is to improve my timing - which means that I have to learn Torque's commitment point. It is a LOT earlier that I think it is. As an example, a couple of weeks ago, I had to layer a rear cross in order to get a turn to the correct jump instead of him going to the straight-on jump. I had been taught that one always crosses behind the jump at which you want the dog to turn. I was able (barely) to get where I needed to be for a 'normal' rear cross, but Torque had already mentally committed to the straight ahead path and could not be called off despite multiple tries. The trainer, who has been a great help, suggested some creative handling - hence a layered rear cross. Torque is my first agility dog, and I am probably making every mistake in the book, but I think my challenges are helping me understand handling and strategy better than if I had a push-button type of dog. Jovi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alligande Posted January 9, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2012 The concept of the "walk of shame" is an interesting one to me. My dogs simply find no shame in leaving the ring. We leave the ring all the time. At class, we go out on the floor and do a sequence, or even a single exercise, and then we leave the ring. I may very well go out on the floor, ask for a down, and then leave the ring. Leaving the ring simply means our turn is over, no matter what we have done, or not done, out there. We literally leave the ring every single time We only do agility so when we leave the course, there is always a celebration. With this version of his walk of shame, we stopped playing as soon as the first leap towards me happened, I had his leash in my pocket in readiness, threw it over his neck and walked to the edge of the barn, I was going to put him in his crate but my trainer had another dog run 4 obstacles with him in a down, I also never spoke to him, which is out of character. We then started over and he was perfect, not even a woof. I could honestly tell it had made an impression as we did 2 more full course runs, and on a few occasions he would bark and his front paws would lift, then he looked at me and slammed them back down. The important thing is that he really does think that playing agility with me is the best thing, this is a dog that has never been distracted by anything. When we first started going to class, (we did the foundation work on our own at home with no distractions) I would work on my own while another class was happening, and he would do what ever I asked, and was not interested in the other dogs. At trials his focus never leaves me. With a dog that is not as driven, just running agility is a reward for him I do not think it would be effective. Edited to add that in this particular location we never do exercises, just full courses so he is expecting for the run to end with his tug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scullywags Posted January 9, 2012 Report Share Posted January 9, 2012 We only do agility so when we leave the course, there is always a celebration. With this version of his walk of shame, we stopped playing as soon as the first leap towards me happened, I had his leash in my pocket in readiness, threw it over his neck and walked to the edge of the barn, I was going to put him in his crate but my trainer had another dog run 4 obstacles with him in a down, I also never spoke to him, which is out of character. We then started over and he was perfect, not even a woof. I could honestly tell it had made an impression as we did 2 more full course runs, and on a few occasions he would bark and his front paws would lift, then he looked at me and slammed them back down. The important thing is that he really does think that playing agility with me is the best thing, this is a dog that has never been distracted by anything. When we first started going to class, (we did the foundation work on our own at home with no distractions) I would work on my own while another class was happening, and he would do what ever I asked, and was not interested in the other dogs. At trials his focus never leaves me. With a dog that is not as driven, just running agility is a reward for him I do not think it would be effective. Edited to add that in this particular location we never do exercises, just full courses so he is expecting for the run to end with his tug At our lesson yesterday my boy was distracted but able to be brought back into me by the tug games we have been playing the last couple days so i think this is a good thing making him tug much shorter times then reward by giving it back and the sheep came to the fence while he was set up to jump and he looked at them looked at me looked at them again and then took the jump so he decided to play with me HUGE moment however if he had not made the choicei would have been ok with it sheep are way more fun!! and the looks on his silly face were priceless I am trying to stay on my track and build a little each day i know baby brains can do it and my agility coach says males take longer to "get a brain" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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