Could Never Get Dizzy Near The Box

[Dizzycharm]

If Dizzy would have done flyball, then I expect we would still be doing it now.

 

She hated the bang noise when the ball was released and tried several things to help her.

Had the box in the house, so she would just get used to being around it.

Made a fake wooden box with sponge and rubber matting on the front, so that she could practise technique.

She is ball mad and speed freak so that was never a problem.

Whilst other dogs were doing runs we would let her watch and listen. She would be going mad but would never get too close.

 

As we could see no other way to conquer her fear, we stopped doing flyball.

 

What else would you have done, if it was your dog?

 

She is also scared of thunder and fireworks.

[K9Fran]

Could you make a recording of the box noise and play it on 'repeat' over and over and over again, very quietly to start with, whenever she's doing something she really enjoys, such as eating or playing? Fireworks and thunder could be takled the same way with commercially available recordings....

[gooster]

Charliegoo was terrified of the box and ran away doing wooooooof noises at first whilst running away. I like you gave up. About 6 months later, we decided to try again, and I didn't have high hopes for him at all, but thought we'd give it a go. Don't know what changed, but he wasn't frightened at all of it the second time we tried it (he too is frightened of fireworks and thunder).

 

How was she introduced to the box? The way we do it is just rolling the ball down the front of the box with new dogs and keep them doing that for a couple of sessions, just whilst their confidence builds. We then progress to holding the ball over the hole in the box so they actually have to come up and press the box (still with it not loaded, so it doesn't make a noise). We wait a good couple of weeks (unless they are a really confident bolshy dog) before loading the box so it triggers. Even then, we still hold the ball and only trigger it (with no ball in) when they are running away with the ball. If they spook at that, go right back to the beginning and build them up again.

 

Taking the box home is a really good idea. Is Dizzy food motivated? If she is, put some of her favourite food in the hole in the box and get her going up to the box for food. Feed her near the box, and make sure that she only has positive associations with it, so when she sees it, she thinks ooh, I like this because I get food/ball/whatever. Whilst she is eating it, trigger it. If she doesn't react, heaps of praise and rewards.

 

I would start off by taking her back to the beginning of training, by rolling it down the front of the box. Let her stand and watch the other dogs from a distance - if she doesn't react, again heaps of praise and reward for her and then gradually move closer. I reckon if you do this as well as taking the box home and feeding her near it, she'll get over her fear

[lucyandmeg]

I have exactly the same problem with ellie at the moment. We have currently got to the point of her running down and picking the ball off the top or having it rolled down but i'm reluctant to do much more as she is bound to just freak completly. I had the box at hime for a couple of weeks to use for my other dogs, and she was fine with that until she was right next to it when it accidently got triggered. SHe shot into the house and i couldn't get her near it again even with treats. At flyball she stands near to the boxes when they are triggered and she is fine, but she doesn't like things that move and make a noise so it will be a job to get her to touch it. Strangely enough she couldn't care a less about fireworks, thunder or gunshots.

[Dizzycharm]

Noises on the TV or radio don't bother her, so I don't think a CD would help much (I think thunder is also a lot to do with pressure change aswell). Also doesn't like shooting . They shoot in the field behind us from November to February and she still hates it.

 

I do think that maybe the box was triggered once when she was standing by it and that caused the problem.

I tried food in the real box but she wouldn't touch it (and she is a pig). Would step on the fake box ok, after a while, but seemed to know the real box.

 

The real box was placed in the back room, where they are fed and sleep. Also placed it in the hallway so that she had to walk past it several times a day.

 

The idea of flyball excited her, but actually doing it was another matter. I just don't think she forgets things, so probably will never do it.

 

Its a shame, cause we originally started in 1995 til about 1999 with previous dogs (Sherbitz & Wacky Racers) and loved what we did, but now we all do agility (which we also did before), so we all still get together.

Dizzy is 6 now, so I don't think we'll bother trying her on the box again. Still have our flyball box though - in the shed with the agility equipment - so you never know what might happen in the future.