|
|
|
| |
auctions - advertising rates -
site news -
help -
contact
| |
|
Sunday 10 PM ET The Bull Pen
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
auctions - advertising rates -
site news -
help -
contact
| |
|
Sunday 10 PM ET The Bull Pen
|
Posted by agilebasenji on March 04, 2003 at 18:25:12:
In Reply to: Re: scared sheltie posted by PHRiot on March 03, 2003 at 09:38:49:
:::my sheltie used to be fine with contact obstacles, but recently he's been afraid of them. if I coax him and push him a bit he'll be fine for awhile, but I wanna get rid of this problem b4 we start to compete. any ideas?
All the contacts? How old is he? Did he fall off or do a fly off on the teeter recently? How long was he "fine" with the contacts? Were the contacts low and raised quickly? Some answers to these questions might be helpful. Also notice if the other dogs are threatening to your Sheltie. Where I used to train, there was a high-drive border collie that really wanted to go after my dog. If there is another dog in your class staring very hard at your dog, this may be enough to really intimadate him.
Just earlier today I emailed a note to someone whose dog was having dogwalk problems. Here is what I wrote to her; hopefully you will find it helpful:
I've seen quite a few dogs have sudden dogwalk phobia. Sometimes this occurs when the dog experiences a scare on the teeter or falls off the dogwalk. But your idea of the tunnel may be the reason too. When a tunnel is put under the walk or Aframe, it looks totally different to the dog. Jet had a real hard time doing the Aframe when a tunnel was suddenly under it. If this is the root of the problem, make sure the tunnel does not appear under the walk for a while. I certainly don't think this is a reason for your pup to retire from agility before his career has even begun!
There are two schools of thought about the walk vs teeter. One is to not do the teeter until you have a very solid dog walk. The other is to do them both at the same time so that the dog knows there are two different obstacles. I think there are merits in both. And, to be honest, I'm not 100% sure which I did with my basenjis as I had a teeter and a low dogwalk in my backyard when I started training them. But given my dogwalk was low (it rested on wooden saw horses), the teeter and walk looked different to the dogs.
Now, what I would have done with a dog refusing to do the dogwalk, is to backchain the obstacle. Pick him up (aren't you glad you have a basenji not a great dane!) and put him on the last few inches of the walk facing the end. Praise while he is on the dogwalk and in the 2 on 2 off position, not when he gets off. Use treats on the walk to keep him happy. Repeat this a few times and when he's happy doing this, put him farther back on the dog walk. So now he's about a foot away from the end. Continue in this manner until he's doing the entire dogwalk. I think the dog walk is alot for some dogs to do at once so this exercise will break it down to something more manageable for the dog. Does this make sense?
Now, when you get ready to re-introduce the tunnel make sure he's doing the dogwalk happily. Put the tunnel parallel several feet away. Do the walk, do the tunnel. Slowly move the tunnel closer and do the walk and tunnel. Repeat in this manner until the tunnel is right next to the walk. Both this exercise and the dogwalk exercise may take several days/lessons to accomplish a nice confident pup, but there's really no hurry. If he starts to shut down or get really nervous, it is probably time to stop. The next time you do the lesson, go back to the point where he was very comfortable and start from there. If you have any questions, just give me a holler.