HELP! I broke my dog!

[Silaria]

Excellent points, Caro!

It may even be worth stepping back into the previous level of class for another session or two. Sure, it may feel like throwing money away on things (you think) he knows but he may not be 100% ready for the more advanced class.

I learned the hard way with Edan not to rush through the classes. It really is better to retake some classes just to ensure everything is solid. I know people who have taking each beginner level class at least twice and their dogs are very good once they reach the higher levels because they dogs are really comfortable with what's being asked.

Something for you to definitely think about.

 

[labgirl]

Brew sounds so much like Merlin. If Merlin makes a mistake, he shuts down. So basically he doesn't make mistakes anymore Any negative words are not allowed 'ah-ah', 'no', etc, are all banned. The most he gets is a playful 'oops' and we retry something.

I have trouble releasing him from a wait at a startline. I now always do a running start, even though it can make life harder. I also 'jazz him up' on the line - "are you ready? are you steady?"

Equally, I don't stress about it - yep, that is the hard bit to learn! Don't keep going over stuff at home, maybe have one practice session at home, but keep it low key and chilled. He will pick up you are putting pressure to correct things. I can have beautiful go rounds, rear crosses, weaves at home, and at training class or competition you might as well forget it. But that is a confidence thing, and these guys can lose confidence so easily.

I taught myself to laugh and smile on a course, even when it is going hopelessly wrong. Merlin goes over the wrong jump at a competition and I am the only competitor who tells their dog "what a clever boy, now let's do this one."

You haven't broken your dog, but you need to understand not all dogs can perform startline waits, or can endure repeated mistakes.

Now Sparrow, I can repeat an exercise a dozen times to get it right and she tries for me every time, even without reward. With Merlin two repeats is too much.

However, he has improved with age and experience (in both of us) and also a new class and a very calm and patient trainer. You will get there, but take the pressure off yourself and Brew NOW. This is just a game, make it fun again. Who cares he went wrong? Ah, never mind, smile, laugh, cheer and give a reward. As long as he didn't deliberately go wrong, giving a reward for a mistake won't hurt, and will help him to trust in you

 

[seashel]

I would definitely be wanting to go back to the vet and check for medical issues first, get a blood panel and check for any possible injury that might mean he is sore. If there is nothing physically wrong, my advice would be to back off training for a month/six weeks and do something completely different, like nosework or tricks, trebbiball. Don't go near Agility equipment and break the negative association he could be building in his mind. Even if you just go for hikes and do pet dog stuff to hang out together with no training.

Then bring him back gently with fun, basic things such as just running through a tunnel, run down a straight avenue of jumps etc. None of the tricky stuff so no weaving, contacts, turns. Keep the reinforcements high value and rapid and make sessions very short so he is still keen when you stop. Jackpot anything which is positive - a fast run, enthusiasm in any aspect. No waits whatsoever.

You will see my latest thread that I had some start line issues with Epic so like Sophie, I am running off the start at the moment. Epic is high drive but we have been doing lots of training recently so I am not doing anything except our weekly class for a couple of weeks to give him a break. Even there I'm just running very short sequences of a maximum of 4 obstacles before rewarding and I am reinforcing every weave/contact to keep his motivation as high as I can. I often reward incorrect performances too. Usually the mistake is all mine anyway and I would rather have drive than accuracy. Epic will repeat things endlessly if the reward is there but if I withold it more than 2 or 3 times he does slow up so I will just throw in something ridiculously easy (jump, beg, go back etc) if necessary to get the reward and confidence back before resuming with the training and then go back a couple of steps to make it easy for the first go to ensure success.

I'm sure it seems like overkill but even with a very keen dog it pays to be really generous to maintain the enthusiasm.

I really enjoyed reading the other replies on here. Some great suggestions.

 

[MorningBrew]

And 18 month old who was fine before he got sick shouldn't be having issues even when walking on leash or be lethargic...

As for the agility problems, soft dogs are a challenge to work with because they shut down so easily. Don't be so quick to assume your dog isn't picking up on your stress even if he can be "emotionally oblivious"

The lethargy seemed like a one time thing and hasn't happened in a few days, and it was only for an hour or so which is why I'm less concerned now. Apparently the leash walking seems ok for now but I'll write down anything unusual if it happens again.

Also, I was really stressed when originally starting this thread, so I didn't mean to sound so insensitive to his feelings. I'll only work with him if both he and I are in a good mood.

Today I was working on a few jump grids with Brew and twice, I used my lead out arm and he responded just fine today. I didn't want to test it more than that incase it would stress him out, but I'll slowly introduce it again and work on it separately when he's in a driven mood with chicken hot dogs. Hopefully my release word isn't poisoned for the lead out.

To me this statement is quite revealing. Remember shelties shut down when they are stressed or overwhelmed. I agree with Silaria - don't assume he isn't picking up on your stress. But also, he may just be finding this class too demanding himself

Sorry I wasn't clear. We haven't attended the new class yet. I was supposed to go yesterday but I decided to give him a break and instead start next week. I audited the class last week however and it is right in his zone. In my previous agility class, no one practiced or remembered what the instructor taught each week so Brew was being taught ahead. I switched into something only a little ahead, but the class is moving at a better pace. I even practiced the exercises I learned when auditing and he did great. Hopefully he won't get stressed but I'll keep a close watch.

 

[MorningBrew]

It may even be worth stepping back into the previous level of class for another session or two.

Yup. I'm already deregistered from the previous class but I'm doing old exercises and he as had a break the week he was sick, no class last week, and I skipped class this week. I'm practicing less often than before he got sick so I don't overwhelm him.

Any negative words are not allowed 'ah-ah', 'no', etc, are all banned. The most he gets is a playful 'oops' and we retry something.

I have trouble releasing him from a wait at a startline. I now always do a running start, even though it can make life harder. I also 'jazz him up' on the line - "are you ready? are you steady?"

Haha 'oops' is the devil word for him now. That was my no-reward marker during his 2x2 training and now he hates it. Now I just run away from the equipment and then do some high fives, paws, and rollovers.
The running starts I'll do more and I always try to keep connection with the "are you ready?" thing before releasing. He releases if I'm standing still on "free" and I don't have my arm up (weird) so I can use that, but I'll still try to build confidence with the arm again because of tricky lead outs. He responded ok with the lead out today (above post) but it was a couple times and very straight forward.

If there is nothing physically wrong, my advice would be to back off training for a month/six weeks and do something completely different, like nosework or tricks, trebbiball. Don't go near Agility equipment and break the negative association he could be building in his mind. Even if you just go for hikes and do pet dog stuff to hang out together with no training.

Then bring him back gently with fun, basic things such as just running through a tunnel, run down a straight avenue of jumps etc. None of the tricky stuff so no weaving, contacts, turns

Thank you for the suggestions. I'll respectfully decline the first suggestion just because I'm going away to Germany for a month anyway starting the end of July, so he's going to get a long break regardless. This last week I'd like to do some light training before I go, maybe more exercises to build confidence. When I come back though, I won't start rehabilitating his weaves until I do more basic, fun things first.

The way you train your dog sounds excellent. I should probably reward more often like that I'm an overachieving mommy but Brew just wants his food

Thank you everyone!

 

[MorningBrew]

I'd also check food recall lists (http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-recalls/) to see if the old food you were feeding is on it. If it is, that could be contributing to the issue.

I just looked carefully through this and although his food isn't on it, I noticed that Tuffy's Pet Foods was on the list from this February for Nutrisca dog food. Brew has been very sensitive to different foods and it took almost a year to find a tolerable food for him (PureVita by Tuffy's), even after going through all the expensive "good" brands. Its a smaller manufacturer I think, so I don't know if that means that more food lines can be infected (even if not reported). The bison kibble perpetuated the diarrhea but the turkey kibble made it better. I'm reluctant to switch foods though.

Also Nylabone puppy chews were on the list recently. I feed him nylabone green dental chews occasionally, because I'm not great at brushing his teeth but they make his teeth so clean.