Obedience School

[sscrugg]

Pippa is in obedience school at a local pet store. Every command I give her, she has to do a complete revolution with her body before she does the command. When I ask her to sit, she looks at me, spins around, and then sits. Is this a Sheltie thing or is she just nervous in the pet store where there is a lot of activity? Sometimes she does it at home also. It is not bad when she does the commands like sit, but when I ask her to "stay," she does it also, which is considered breaking the command. Any ideas on how to fix this behavior?

 

[Chris]

It's a Sheltie thing -- but you do want to break her of it. Try a gentle leash tug (mild attention-getter) with "Eech! No spin" in a low, firm voice. Then repeat the command.

 

[Justicemom]

It's a Sheltie thing -- but you do want to break her of it. Try a gentle leash tug (mild attention-getter) with "Eech! No spin" in a low, firm voice. Then repeat the command.

I disagree. It is a anxiety thing. She is unsure. Yes some shelties do spin but it is not a "sheltie thing"

3 ways to approach it- do not reward the behavior if proceed by the spin. or put her on leash or along a wall to prevent her from spinning or correct her for spinning. Depends on you training philosophy.

 

[Toffee's Mom]

Stress spinning or sniffing... it's common in all dogs. Without having observed it, I always err on the side of caution, I try to train from the dog's perspective. I would work on teaching your dog to relax in that environment first before 'making her do commands'
I am not a fan of trying to work a dog in stress environment until I have their attention, so if that was me I'd sit it out for a bit at the beginning of the class, til I have the dogs connection, reward for passive attention to me first THEN I'd treat it as if I was to teach the behaviour anew... as to not poison the cue to them making it unpleasant and to also not increase the anxiety! I am not saying to not do the behaviours, but allowing your dog to be comfortable first build that trust that your dog will redirect to you for positive things and focus even if there are stressors around, you're truly setting the foundation on how you want to work with your dog for the rest of his life!

 

[sscrugg]

I think you are right about the anxiety. I took her for a walk tonight, where we practice some of our commands, like sit and stay. I like to practice in an environment where there are distractions--like the neighborhood. She was doing great--not a single spin, until a motorcycle went by. She got so freaked out she peed--after that it was spin, spin, spin. I settled her down and she went back to being pretty much perfect in her obedience. I will try to arrive to class a little early and settle her down next time. At least she doesn't run anymore when I take her leash out, which is a big step for her.