lucyandmeg Posted November 3, 2006 Report Share Posted November 3, 2006 On the 1st of november i posted about my goldie suddenly refusing to do agility. It was really bad, she suddenly decided it was far too scary and would just run away from me and refuse to come back everytime we asked her to do some agility. She had already been doing agility for a while but suddenly decided it was too scary. After a very long summer my trainer and i almost gave up, particularly when we found out that she had cataracts and her sight was not brilliant. However, because i'm stubborn and knew she could be good we continued to try. Then a couple of months ago my trainer decided to use a food bowl to give her something to focus on so i held her collar in front of a jump and he went the other side and showed her the treats and put them in the bowl. She happily jumped the jump to get the food in the bowl. For some reason she is convinced the food in the bowl is better than the food in my hand! We began to build up the lines of jumps and added in differnt patterns. Up until the last couple of weeks she tended to go round if she could but today she was actively seeking out jumps to jump without me asking her to! We no longer have to use the bowl either. Shes extremely keen (which is strange because shes incredibly lazy!) and is raring to go! Her contacts were always her biggest problem - she was terrified. So my trainer just got us running to the contact hare and she had to put her feet up on the contacts. THen one morning when we arrived at training he had put the two planks from the dog walk on a table so that they made a mini dog walk. Whilst we were chatting she just wandered off up and over the mini dog walk! So we went with that and rewarded, and before you know it she was continuously going over the dog walk and a frame, prefering them to the jumps!! Today we managed to do a whole course (with lots of rewards) including a seesaw! I'm so proud of my little girl, both the trainer and i never ever thought we would do contacts again, and i have stuck to jumping courses all summer, but now theres hope for us yet. What i love the most is that she actually enjoys it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wombat Posted November 3, 2006 Report Share Posted November 3, 2006 That's fantastic! You must be well chuffed that all your patience and perseverance has paid off. And you're right, the best bit is definitely thatthewy enjoy it so much Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanishPastry Posted November 4, 2006 Report Share Posted November 4, 2006 awww that is so great to hear! I'm really pleased for both of you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agilitymad Posted November 6, 2006 Report Share Posted November 6, 2006 Well done Elle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyspaniels Posted November 9, 2006 Report Share Posted November 9, 2006 thats great news, just shows that hard work and patience are the most valuable things Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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