Couple of questions

Caro

Caro

Moderator
Two agility questions

- Tully wont go 'out' to a tunnel and I can't figure out why. She is fine with jumps and will go forward to a tunnel but wont go in the tunnel if I am at a distant and not directly behind. Any ideas for encouraging her?

- How do you keep a dogs motivation up when you have to sit around for several hours to wait your turn? We are always on pretty close to last and as most trials are at night that means 9-10pm. Last night we were on about 6.30pm for open and Tully did pretty well (no-one Q'd but we were only 1 of 10 that didnt DQ). Then we werent on until to 10pm, it was an easy course and Tully just couldnt be bothered jumping. Actually only 2 people Qd and both those were really experienced handlers. So how do you energise your dog to jump so late at night?
 
For the first thing, the only thing I can say is that Bentley has the hardest time going out to a tunnel. I've yet to be able to fix it. The few times that he has actually done it I thought the key was to keep moving. We added horizontal movement to the out command (we keep moving) so he doesn't stop, turn around and refuse the tunnel. That being said, we've been working this for awhile and have tried a lot of things, to no avail.

Secondly, I can tell you what we do when we have late trials. I take Bentley out before our run and walk him all around the area. He sees the other dogs, hears all the people and the excitement. I think that starts to get him in the zone. Also, if I feel that he's still a bit lethargic, I take him to the practice jump and practice a few things going over, in, out etc...This sets him into the "agility" mode.

If your dogs are fond of tugging, that's a great way to pep them up. Doesn't work for Bentley, but many people with other dogs do that.
 
I'm still working on distance work myself and the best advice I can give you is practice practice practice. Sorry I can't be more helpful there.

I've never had a night trial, most of ours start at 8 or 9 AM. I do have to deal with the long waits between runs though. Right before a run, I take Edan and get him revved up with some tricks - he loves high-5s and it gets him all excited. Edan also likes to run too so when he gets out on course, he does turn on and performs.
 
As for the tunnel, I'm wondering if you taught the dog to stop, when you stop? That's what we teach and well, the handler (that'd be me) doesn't know how to "slow down", intsead I tend to "stop" and therefore, I pull Koji off the object, usually the tunnel, and he stops. AUGH!

As I'm learning to slow down, but not stop as I'm yelling the Go command, I'm noticing he's well, going forth w/o me more. I also need to watch carefully to see if he commits before running off the line. With work, on both watching and slowing down correctly, I'm able to get more distance.

Recall though, we need massive distance work, so sending him even 3-5ft is a happy moment. Unsure of how far you're sending Tully.

Sorry, no advice for long waits. Although, my gawd, 10pm? When do the trials start? Ours typically goes from 8-5pm. And for me, the more time between, the better. Koji gets used to the place and tired (aka not so hyper and unfocused).

I know some people work on obedience then let the dog rest, then work, then rest, etc.
 
I could be slowing down, I am usually changing direction when we hit a tunnel. I kicked her in the head once coming out of a tunnel so I like to get to the end well before her.

Our trials dont start until 6/6.30pm so its darn late. Dont know what the attraction is for night trials. Its hard to see the jumps sometimes, the equipment gets shadows over it and the dogs are half asleep. In winter the ground gets icy too.
 
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