Talk About Ending
On a bang!
Quick flat out refused any and all collar grabbing that wasn’t me. Complete with paw-flailing, caterwauling, and tucking himself out of his collar. I put him in his crate after the second collar tuck. It’s not really worth it to me for him to learn he can get out of his collar whenever he wants! He needs work on his collar holding by people not-me. I’m just not sure how I’m going to manage that! Any suggestions? I’m open to just about anything.
He did very well with the tunnel, except he wanted to release himself to go play in it! It was cute… but I wouldn’t let him. Phoebe loved the tunnels and went back and forth and back and forth and was generally obsessive. It was adorable!
We worked more with a jump. Quick did tolerably, but he was very very lazy. He hopped instead of jumped, and would not go faster than a slow trot towards the jump without avoiding it. This obviously needs more work! He also needs his drive ahead to get better. I forgot he was supposed to be driving ahead so I had his food in my hand. Yeah. There wasn’t much by way of straight lines in his jumping!
Wobble board is the love of his little fuzzy life. I’m going to get one as soon as we start carrying them! I know they’re really a beginner dog thing, but the way I view it is a second grader who still likes first grade math blaster. It’s something he knows how to do and enjoys immensely.
Ladders. Ugh. Three paws in, one out. Every. Single. Time. ‘nuff said. He was blissfully unaware he was doing anything wrong. I couldn’t scold him, so we tried again. And again. And again. No treats, because he didn’t quite get it perfect. So, what does the boy do? He starts walking on top of it!
I’m going to miss agility class. It was easily the most fun I’ve ever had in a dog class. I’m looking for another one to attend in the area, but believe me, I feel everyone’s pain when they say ‘but there’s just nowhere to go in my area!’. There really aren’t that many trainers in the area that I can find, and while I’d be willing to drive an hour to find one that fit my schedule, it’s not a certain thing I’ll be able to. The foundations class has been a huge help to us in learning to handle, and if I have to, I’ll just train Quick on his lonesome in the yard with our equipment. I’d rather he went to class too, though, for the distraction and so I learn how to handle him better. I don’t want to run the risk of teaching something incorrectly through ignorance (see jumps above!)! My dog is great. He does as I say. And if I say the wrong thing, he’ll do the wrong thing! That’s a big responsibility it feels like!
So this is the end of our agility foundations class, but the beginning of Quick’s and my agility journey! I’m looking forward to more!
If my dog gets the “zoomies” on the agility field– or anywhere else for that matter– and if she does come when I say “here”, she will usually dart away when I reach for her collar. So last night at recall training, I was instructed to hold a treat, lure/call her to me, and have my free hand in position so that when she goes to lick at the treat in my other hand, she “puts ” her collar in my free hand– which is held close in front of my body-instead of me reaching for her collar. Then as she nibbles on the treat still in my hand, I use the free hand to tug on her collar and tell her what a great girl she is, then let her have the treat, then let go of the collar and tell her to “go play”. So she gets good things for letting me tug her collar–a treat, praise and affection, then a release to go play. Eventually we will work on randomly attaching a lead, guiding her to a specific place.
During the times we have been outside, I have inadvertently taught her that coming to me means all the fun ends, b/c for the first year of her life, I only called her to come to me outside when it was time to go in, or go home, etc. Now in the house she is great with obedience/rally, comes every time when we are training in the house. Since the OB/RA judges do not make housecalls, we are working on obedience/rally outside with all the distractions. She is a hunting breed , so it is hard for me to compete with squirrels, scents , and such! But we are working on it. 🙂
Knock on wood- Quick does not zoom. I am the best. Thing. Ever! to him.
That’s a good way to train collars, though! I think part of his trouble is how long his fur is. It’s about six inches deep. It has to hurt to grab him! I’ve noticed that everybody else with rough coated collies or shelties does ruff grabs too, so maybe it doesn’t hurt THAT much…
What about having the person feed him treats while holding his collar, and you work on increasing your distance from him each time? Of course, it can be phased out once he learns it is ok when Mom lets someone else hold his collar. Teach his brain it is good, yummy thing when Mom lets someone else hold my collar for her for a moment. What do you think? Patti
That’s a good idea- he’s currently suspicious of people bearing food. They’re going to grab his collar!
I’m so hoping it’s a phase…. otherwise I have this really bad feeling that in a few years he’s going to be a menace to vets and other handlers! I don’t want that for my dog.