agilitymad Posted October 29, 2006 Report Share Posted October 29, 2006 (edited) Hi I wonder whether any one has some experiance on keeping your dog concentrating while doing an agility round. Lucky really loves his Agility but after about 4 jumps will take off and do his own thing be it sniffing or running of. At class we have gone back to only doing two are three obsticles but he can't seem to consentrate when doing more his contacts areknow 99% and his weaves are getting better Lucky is a fast dog which i can'nt keep up with and if he puts his mind to it can work well infront of me when he does go off and do his own thing I find it hard to get him back and working close with me, he is very inderpendent but at flyball is a different dog. has anyone got any suggestions as i am loosing hope of ever getting a clear round with my boy or just keeping him with me on a round of jumps would be nice. Lucky is 3yrs old and has been doing agility for about 2yrs is feed on burns and is walked everyday for an hr and loves his ball and some treats. Any help would be great. thank you Edited October 29, 2006 by agilitymad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucyandmeg Posted October 29, 2006 Report Share Posted October 29, 2006 Hmm, been mulling this over for a while, whilst soaking in the bath. I thought lucky had been doing well recently? I think hes very similar to ellie (must be the goldie in him) in that any pressure and he uses faffing around as a stress releaser, and simply because its fun! In flyball theres no real need for thinking as its pretty autonomous after a while, and once he knew what he was doing the faffing around stopped. Do you run round with the ball or some treats inyour hand? I find that is very helpful in focusing the dog and then they can eventually be weaned off once they are completing courses successfully. I think you are right to cut down to 3 obstacles before a reward as the more he practices the running off the more ingrained it will become. I would definatly forget about running complete courses for a while. When i have a lesson with russ its very rare that i just run courses, we usually will run one or two and then break them down into sections. What i would probably do would be to set up a very simple round course or some jumping grids. With meg we use a round corse that only consists of 3 or 4 obstacles - usually when practicing contacts or weaves. This enables us to go round several times in neccessary. It also means that little thinking is involved on either side and you nearly almost complete a course as it is only a case of going round. This allows you to build things up, whilst building up his confidence and creating lots of successes to reward. With jumping grids the idea is that he learns to watch you for instructions as it won't be clear which way he has to go. IT also helps you to learn the best way to signal. You could start off simple and then build it up so that his concentration increases. But you need to keep sessions short and sweet so that he doesn't get bored and switch off. (The benefit with grids and simple courses is that there is little need for the human to run - thats why i like them!!) I really don't think its because you can't keep up, with the best will in the world theres no way i could ever keep up with meg (which is why its so nice running my spaniel!) and even a top sprinter couldn't keep up with lucky when he gets going. I would wonder whether it would be worthwhile teaching lucky that if he runs off the game is over. I.e. if he dissappears over the other side of the field, just simply ignore him and walk out the field and his go is over. He wouldn't like being left so he would return and you could praise him. It might make him think twice as its not quite as fun that way. I wouldn't worry too much - i know its frustrating, ellie has been doing agility for over 2 years but we can't even do more than 2 or 3 obstacles yet and the seesaw - forget it!! Don't forget that meg, willow and dee always finish the course but we rarely get clear rounds, so your not alone! I'm sure one day everything will just click into place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agilitymad Posted October 30, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 30, 2006 Thank you Lucy I think the game over idea is great and i will have to give it ago at the next class Bee has been very good at class with helping but it still gets me fustrated when he goes of sniffing as i know that when he puts his mind to it he is really quite good. I also forget that dee meg and the others don't alway go clear thanks again l Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leonak Posted November 1, 2006 Report Share Posted November 1, 2006 have you got any squeaky toys? that might help get his attention. my lurcher pup has just started agility and will bugger off and do lap of honour like most lurchers. i put on my best squeaky voice to call her back which seems to work. where abouts are you? if you are in surrey, there are simulated shows on monthly which might help for show practice? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agilitymad Posted November 1, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2006 hi Leonak i have tried squeaky toys but that seems to make him worse we are in the new forest but have just put our names down for the shows that your on about we are going to the one in Dec/Jan and March which look great will you be at any of them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanishPastry Posted November 1, 2006 Report Share Posted November 1, 2006 Some people at my agility club has a trick for when their dogs have problems concentrating. They take an emptied little plastic container (head ache tablets/what ever) and fill it with treats. when shaken it makes a rattling sound, and they teach the dog that rattle sounds equals a treat from the container... so dog goes off sniffing, you rattle can, dog comes back and gets his reward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agilitymad Posted November 2, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2006 doggie mum what a fab idea i will give it ago what treats work best do you think. cheese/sausage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanishPastry Posted November 3, 2006 Report Share Posted November 3, 2006 what ever he likes best! But you might need to put some hard treats in as well, to make it rattle better. Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leonak Posted November 3, 2006 Report Share Posted November 3, 2006 hi Leonak i have tried squeaky toys but that seems to make him worse we are in the new forest but have just put our names down for the shows that your on about we are going to the one in Dec/Jan and March which look great will you be at any of them? theres new ones now with lesley olden so i dont mean those .i mean the ones at pachesham and yes, il be at all of those with 2 of my dogs except the feb one.bit hairy thing and tiny jrt thing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agilitymad Posted November 11, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 11, 2006 Well I take back everything I said about my boy We had a fantastic agility training class today and Lucky didn't put a foot wrong I know its early days but I feel today that we are on the right track His waits before we started to jump a course where really good his contacts where just and his weaves are getting better (they would be even better if the handler new her left from her right) anyway you did very very well Lucky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirisox Posted November 12, 2006 Report Share Posted November 12, 2006 That's great, well done Lucky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NED Posted November 30, 2006 Report Share Posted November 30, 2006 (edited) Just a word about shaky rattly things - they can be an aversion rather like training disks. A better way I find is to clicker train your dog for agility. It can give you perfect contacts, reliable weaves and tighter turns. Edited November 30, 2006 by NED Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanishPastry Posted November 30, 2006 Report Share Posted November 30, 2006 The whole point of the shaky rattly thing as I described it, is that it is not an aversion, but a promise of something good to come. I would never advise anyone to use aversives, and certainly not for agility realted problems! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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