Out With The Old
Our Summer session starts in June and the roster is out....TOUBLE! We have been placed in a class where two dogs are running at once. Simon is very movement re-active. I can keep him focused on me when there is just one dog running but if he is supposed to run when there is another dog running...well it won't be pretty. I have been told that this will be good practice for him..and me. I want to start him in novice trials this summer and this will help...if I can keep him under control. I sent an e-mail to let them know the situation, just in case. |
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| Pam - I'm told the other instructor for that class is Sue K and she already knows you and Simon as well and will help you. Think of it as a wonderful opportunity. You'll never be able to compete until you've addressed the issue because most trials are more than one ring, and even if they aren't there are dogs on the warm up jumps, dogs tugging with owner, lots and lots of things to get a reactive dog going, so you really but really want to resolve this sooner rather than later. One of Sybil's classmates apparently spent months and months getting her rescue sheltie to stop reacting to other dogs in motion because when she first started trialing him he left the ring to run up on another dog and she was asked to leave and not return for that trial. Had she been competing in AKC the dog/incident would have been written up, and depending on the severity, she risked the dog not being not being able to compete again, period. She started working on the issue and if she hadn't written about it on the club list when he finished his MACH I never would have known even though we'd been in class together for many months now. He's learned to ignore other dogs completely. It's not all that unusual. If you were watching Jan and Sadie carefully when they set up for their standard run Sadie was getting all worked up over the dog who was on course running. Fortunately once the dog finished his run she lost interest. She used to charge dogs from time to time, while in a crate as well, when Jan first started taking her to classes. But she's much, much better now. It's just something to work through. Kristine |
| I agree - it's time to bite the bullet and tackle this issue. Even beyond the need to conquer this behavior, I know it causes you stress...and that affects your whole team performance. Imagine how great you will feel when you can go onto a course and not need to even worry about it!!  |
| Wasn't here we talked about the caps for the dogs who are motion hyper? Maybe start with the cap to get focused and then remove it and continue???? |
SheepieBoss wrote: Wasn't here we talked about the caps for the dogs who are motion hyper? Maybe start with the cap to get focused and then remove it and continue???? Eh...kind of hard to do agility running blind....<vbg> A good thought, though. Otherwise he's on a leash or in a crate and she can certainly control him then. In fact, we were in class together last summer and I never noticed that he had an issue. Her bigger fear, apparently, is that in a big class like this one the class is split in two, as is the building, with 1/2 the class running a course on one side and 1/2 running a course on the other, and no barrier in between. There are times when you actually have dogs working within 5-10 feet of each other and they have to be able to ignore each other and keep working. Kristine |
 I realize there is sight loss of course....which creates painful but funny mental images. Maybe we need to develop horse blinders for skiddish dogs. Silk of course so the handler could be in matching colors. |
| What worries me is that "we" won't be able to overcome this. The stress its going to cause "us"(me). I'm not afraid to work on this, what bothers me is the time taken away from other members to teach MY dog. I get embarrassed  that my dog needs so much work.Kristine is right, with me holding his leash and me with lots of food in my hand I can keep him focused and under control. Otherwise he lunges at other dogs. This IS one of the things that I taught him, I guess thats progress. Sue wrote me back to make sure I have lots of goodies for him. |
| Why do you need to do this just in class? How about on walks? Visits to places were there are other dogs or kids? For example in a park where the kids are off playing........a ways away of course. The idea is to get her to keep her total concentration on you not only in agility but whenever you are on leash with her. Would you do better with rally? |
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