P.M. Posted March 12, 2004 Report Share Posted March 12, 2004 I know this sounds funny but how do I speed up my BC in agility. He works cows has his CGC but I would prefer agility over obed. He is 2yrs old seems to love agility but gets ready to work when we practice. It is like he concentrates hard to not make any mistakes because he wants to please me so very much but we are slow. He never misses a contact, hardly ever knocks a bar, and never takes a wrong course because he works to slowly and close to me for any mistakes to happen. He is not food or toy motivated only wants my praise and love. Thats how he works cows and how he does obed. How do I get him to take agility as fun and less like a job he is doing. If this makes any sense to you guys he takes agility as seriously as he takes moving the cows around on the farm. On the agility course he is always at my side and even if he gets ahead because I am slow he will turn and come back to me or just stop and wait. I welcome any advice you have. I do think we will do well at trials but worry about making time. :eek: Patty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tassie Posted March 12, 2004 Report Share Posted March 12, 2004 Oh, Patty - I wish. Is he not interested in any kind of toy/food etc? If you could find something, then maybe you could try some go-outs to a target plate. That's after you'd got him hyped up near you. Thinking back, I used to have to help a friend rev up one of her goldens before an agility run. We actually had to teach this dog to jump up on us, and get him to lead-chewing puppy madness stage before he ran. I'm not really much help to you, as I have the opposite problem - 2 year old dogs with very little in the way of slow-down switches when they're doing agility - and my girl thinks that sheep need to be dealt with at warp speed - we're working on that. (Actually, that's not all her fault - she has a lot of eye and presence, and the sheep seem to have a big flight distance with her, so things can get out of hand pretty quickly.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rave Posted March 16, 2004 Report Share Posted March 16, 2004 Patty, One thing to do is make sure your dog is always right, never correct him (don't even stop) even if he takes an off-course obstacle. Most people I've seen with slow dogs have inadvertently taught their dogs to be slow. Find a good trainer, go to some seminars, have some experienced people watch you run your dog and offer you advice. -Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P.M. Posted March 16, 2004 Author Report Share Posted March 16, 2004 Thanks for the advice. I don't verbally correcet him but he is so into my actions that he seems to just know when he has done something wrong. I have caught myself sighing and he will react to that, so I have been trying to make sure I don't sigh. He is one of those BCs that wants to please me so bad. I have tried making a big deal over everything and getting him all excited but the minute we start to run he takes it so seriously. I will keep trying and see if I can get to some seminars. Patty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rave Posted March 17, 2004 Report Share Posted March 17, 2004 That's the problem, you need to change your mindset...your dog didn't do anything wrong!!! 99.9% of the time an off-course is the fault of the handler, not the dog. If you send your dog to an off-course obstacle, or give him no/late directions and he tries to guess what you want, then you need to keep running as if that's exactly what you wanted all along, no physical or verbal indicator that YOU screwed up, and praise him for following your lousy directions. then after you finish the sequence, THEN go back and try again, this time giving better directions. -Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P.M. Posted March 17, 2004 Author Report Share Posted March 17, 2004 Yeah I know that its me that screws up. I am working on not letting that be known but it not easy. Thanks I will keep working on it and someone else I talked to suggested using water as his reward because he loves to play in the water. She said she would help show me how to do that. We'll keep trying. Patty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keegan's Mom Posted March 17, 2004 Report Share Posted March 17, 2004 I wish I had half that problem...my BC is way too fast, I can't possibly keep up. I'm working on my handling skills and learning to send him as he learns as well. I wish I had more time right now to work with him but I work 65 hours a week through tax season and don't have much time to do anything!!!! Good luck...wish we could swap of our dog's speed...a little of your slow for a little of my way too fast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
border_collie_crazy Posted May 21, 2004 Report Share Posted May 21, 2004 lol me too, happy is generally VERY serious, but when playing agility and flyball you would never know, at her first agility trial she flew the coarse so fast that she jumped OVER the pause table etc.. lol I was no expecting that burst of energy so I like screaming from a distance attempting to keep up pointing out where to go lol. she has a fun match on sunday, I am doing jumpers with her, she is very good at going over the right jumps and tunnels even when I point from a good distance away, and consdiering she is a flyball dog she does not quite understand the point to the saftey zones, as far as she is concerned its a race and therefore must go as fast as she can. :eek: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urge to herd Posted May 21, 2004 Report Share Posted May 21, 2004 The rescue group I worked with had to take back a bc who had been maltreated by his new owner. She had a very, very harsh way, never praised him, only corrected harshly. I went to visit when the foster mom got him back, (he's my Shoshone's brother) and was almost in tears watching him. We took him into yard, I asked him to go over a jump, he jumped and then looked at us, tucked his tail and hung his head. This was a dog who used to paw at his foster mom's back door to go do agility! Needless to say, the person he was removed from will never get another rescue dog from any org. in this area. The really awful thing is she makes her living training dogs. Anyway, I'm not implying at all that you've mistreated your dog, just wanting to give an example of a dog who wasn't having any fun at agility. What we had to do w/Zip was have him do one obstacle, go nuts w/the toys and the praise and petting, and then take him away from the course. An hour or so later, another obstacle, same big party time approach, take him away. After a few days, his foster mom was able to take him thru a bit more before stopping, and she gradually built from there. It took some time, but he's a happy guy again. So, maybe the pressure you're placing on yourself and your dog is creating sort of a viscious cycle of 'seriousness.' If you break it up into little bits, you might enjoy it more, and that means he'll probably enjoy it more. And try just fooling around with him on the agility course, getting silly instead of working. Good luck - these dogs are so in tune with us, it's scary. let us know how you get on. Ruth n the Amazing Border Trio Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaggieDog Posted May 22, 2004 Report Share Posted May 22, 2004 I had the same problem with Maggie...she was clean but way too slow when running a course. Now she's one of the fastest dogs in class!!!!!! It is possible to add speed. Here's what worked for us: get really happy before, during, and after your run, work on increasing distance by using targets and teaching a 'go out' word, find something besides praise that the dog will work for - Maggie and I worked on building toy drive w/ a 'jackpot toy' and now she'll run for it since it holds yummy treats - the post on the General board titled 'treats' should give you some ideas for food rewards, and above all else HAVE FUN!!!! It sounds like you're trying to keep from using corrections, that's very good. Our instructor actually outlawed the use of the word 'no' or any correction on the course and I noticed a big improvement in Maggie's work. Hope this helps...good luck w/ your pup - you can do it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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