Dogs not wanting to do agility

[k9kreationz]

At some point we have to stop and ask ourselves 'what is the best thing for our dog' instead of 'how can I get my dog to do what I want'. Obviously that's going to be a lot harder if you are really committed to one sport, but if you got the dog to 'do a job' rather than be a companion, then maybe you have the wrong dog.

I keep wondering if anyone spoke to this woman and asked her about her dog and maybe his disinterest in the sport.

I know I had to do exactly what you said. At one point, I had to ask myself if Koji was enjoying himself, or if I was pushing him to get to a goal that *I* wanted. Needless to say, it's why I take breaks now. Even if I'm training little things in between, the breaks help us both refocus on what is "fun" about agility and it makes us a better team. I get too caught up in the competition, I know I do. So, for Koji, I force us to break. He gets to relax and be a "house dog" and I get to ease away from my competitiveness.

 

[Justicemom]

I have thought about this all day. I thought about Ember. She has the potential to be very slow. For years, she trotted all the time and I don't know if I thought she was having fun or not. I know she hated contacts ever since the day the teeter hit her when she was 2yrs old.

I thought about retiring her many times but I kept seeing improvements. I started looking into what I was doing and why she seemed so uncomfortable. I think some of it was because she did tons of obedience as a young dog and she was conditiioned to be beside me. She really do not want to get away from me. I also really did not encourage it, I was slow and I could keep up. So lot of it was my fault.

I also had no way to get her excited. Ember hates toys and hates people reaching for her or petting her when she is aroused. She has been this way her whole life. I couldn't get her to tug. She loves food and that worked for us in obedience but I was having a hard time making it work for us in agility.

About 3 yrs ago, I changed alot of things I was doing. I encouraged Ember to work ahead of me. Turns out the added distance took the pressure of her and she realized she could move faster than me also it just made her more confortable in general. Even now if I get too close she slows down. I also taught her to tug. It isn't the kind of tug Birch does it is weak but she feels sassy doing it. I stopped making her stop on the bottoms and I in general lightened up. I also went to a different instructor. For Ember being slow, its part temperment , physcial(she has ever been fast even chasing that squirrel),fear and training(poor foundation and ignorance about what it takes to do agility well). I am sure she has never hated it but only parts of it. I say this because she is the dog that barks excitedly when we get to the training building and barks from the car when one of the other dogs is working.

I don't know if people remember seeing Ember's Novice agility runs. They were painful. Now she is sometimes making time in Excellent. Something I thought she would never do. She will get that 1 more AX leg and then she is retired and maybe will just play in CPE or something. Diva loves it with her whole being so I'll go on with her(I still don't have Diva as fast as I know she can go).

I guess it comes down to knowing your dog and being realistic about your training and motivation.

 

[HopeShelties]

I can't seem to get the exact location on my iPad, but if you click on http://silvia.trkman.net/training.htm and then Training weave poles see saw speed and more and go to page 2 you will get an idea of how/why she trains the way she does. I tend to agree.

 

[ortegah]

I have a hard time watching people at competitions that have dogs that are stopping before each jump, or are consistently and extremely over time because they are crawling through a course. Also dogs that are constantly stutter stepping before jumps and you can see they are uncomfortable doing agility.

That being said, my Smokey HATED the weave poles, but he was happy during the rest of the course and loved agility...just not the weaves. We would normally be over time by a second or two, but that was it. There are some that almost every single time the buzzer goes off and they just keep forcing their dog to run.

You can tell sometimes that some of these dogs REALLY do not want to do agility. If that's the case and you really want to do agility, then find another dog and give the poor thing a rest

 

[SheltieChe]

You can tell sometimes that some of these dogs REALLY do not want to do agility. If that's the case and you really want to do agility, then find another dog and give the poor thing a rest

ahh, but here is the problem... more often than not it is a handler's problem, not the dog... some people go through the dogs so often looking for the next perfect one...
"Dogs we have are reflection of our training abilities" this comes from legend animal trainer Bob Bailey. And Bob should know, there probably no species of animals that he did not train- snails, spiders, ants, birds etc
Can you train a cat to walk half a mile to nearest farmers market and sit on the certain corner for 30 minutes and return back home? I can't but yes, it can and is done on routine basis...
I wish SG published her training journal from years back about JRT she got at 10 months old, who was a kennel dog, never seen anything but another JRT, was as they say sweet but totally dull, boring puppy who had absolutely no interest in food or toys, who peed on the floor the moment anyone came near him...
The journal is excellent read although it is real journal with daily entries about training sessions and what happened during. I had tears in my eyes when after about a month Susan made an entry that JRT finally took a !@#$ ball in his mouth and she never in her life worked so hard on such simple behavior... later that dog went to flyball home and become most achieving influental flyball dog in history... that is not where he started...
it is not dogs, people... it is us and our limitations of what we know and do

 

[Sharon]

Agility

ahh, but here is the problem... more often than not it is a handler's problem, not the dog... some people go through the dogs so often looking for the next perfect one...
Now, I don't agree with this .I have a friend who runs Goldens and she has a mother, daughter, and son that simply refuses to do agility.She is an excellent handler and trainer and has MACHS.The mother has some MX, MXJ legs.The daughter and son have had excellent foundations training but daughter ended up being sold as a pet dog and she has the male.The dog litterally shut down at trials and simply refuses to do agility at home or in class now.There is a girl who runs Basenji's whose dogs simply run out of the ring or refuses anything.

 

[k9kreationz]

ahh, but here is the problem... more often than not it is a handler's problem, not the dog... some people go through the dogs so often looking for the next perfect one...
"Dogs we have are reflection of our training abilities" this comes from legend animal trainer Bob Bailey.

I was pondering what you wrote. I think it's somewhat true, but not always true. Here's a great example. I have been told by almost every teacher/professor that I should be a writer. I even took classes on it. But there's just one problem....no matter how good I am at it, no matter how much I write and hone my natural skill.....I still hate writing. The thought of writing a book or even long tech memo's is downright depressing to me.

Granted, I'm not a dog, so maybe a dog won't think like that, but it still comes down to the fact that natural skill, training, knowledge, etc won't make someone (somedog?) like something they just don't want to do.

 

[corbinam]

it is not dogs, people... it is us and our limitations of what we know and do

I think we are now having the nature versus nurture argument.

I tend to believe that both have their roles.

Can any dog be a good agility dog? Sure, I think so (with the right training).

But I don't think any dog can be an amazing agility dog. I think some dogs are predisposed to enjoying it, possibly more coordinated, athletic, etc...

It's the same for humans. If my husband had seriously trained at being a pro basketball player, likely he would be pretty darned good. But he would never be as good as LeBron James, for example, who I believe is predisposed to being an amazing athlete.

 

[Sharon]

Can any dog be a good agility dog? Sure, I think so (with the right training).



How can this be when there are dogs who simply refuse the obstacles, walk, trot,don't make time?All the right training in the world is not going to speed them up or like it any more.

 

[corbinam]

How can this be when there are dogs who simply refuse the obstacles, walk, trot,don't make time?All the right training in the world is not going to speed them up or like it any more.

I guess I should clarify that any dog could be a decent agility dog--doesn't mean that they will Q all the time (or even frequently) but I think every dog has the potential (minus physical limitations) to be able to do the obstacles with a certain degree of enthusiasm.

But, the dog would have to be in the right hands. I couldn't do it, and I consider myself a somewhat decent trainer. I'm talking the best of the best out there that understand how dogs work, learn and think.