Agility Questions

[bugs]

I know there are a couple of agility people here hopefully some one can help me. Jill just started level 2 last week and it went horrible. While she is great on all the equipment, she is just a freak. She gets so excited and strung out when its not her turn, she loves it but when she has to wait in line for the other dogs to go she just screams and some times tries to attack the other dogs around here. She also did this in level one but as the weeks went on she got better not good but better. Everyone knows not to be too close to Jill because she will attack there dog. Doesn't matter what size dog it is. She never does this at the park or at pug meet-ups, just at class. I have to hold her the whole time there and she is will freaking out there. Might I add that my mom and her dog are in the same class with us and she is fine with my moms dog around us. So I guess its just dogs she doesnt know.

Another questions I need to ask is: Jill gets so excited to do what ever obstacle we are doing that she will not pay attention to me at all. She just does what she wants. When we are ready to start we are to put our dog in a stay and walk out a bit and then give them a cue word to start. But she will not stay at all. She knows stay very well at home and other places but she is so excited to do it she just will not pay attention. So how do I break this? We are working on stay all this week so I am hoping she will do better with staying at this weeks class but.

Might I add to that Jill started jumps last week and did perfect at them. We were only doing 8 inches but she did them perfect, level 1 we didnt do jumps at all. She has no fear of any of the agility equipment at all.

[jwestoverpug]

Hi Colleen,

I would really work on attention exercises with her. Have her watch you, for varying lengths of time. Teach her to do a nose touch off your hand, you can even eventually ask her to jump to touch your hand. Does she like to tug? That's a great way to use some of that extra energy while waiting in line. I would not hold her, keep her on the ground. She really needs to be 100% focused on you, or in a crate in a class environment. Just my opinion...

What do you do when she breaks her stay? I don't always do lead outs, but I like to work on them. Does she stay for even a fraction of a second? If yes, tell her good stay and walk back to her, (even if you're only one step away from her) and give her a treat. Work up to moving farther away. Also, if you're asking for a lead out, and she does not hold up her end of the bargain, she doesn't get to run. Just tell her oops, or too bad and calmly walk back to where you want her to stay.

I definitely think you should work on a lead out, but in total honesty I usually just drop and run with my dogs. They like it better, and the most important thing is to have fun!

Jesse