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Grace's Dismal Disaster

Posted : 4/28/2008 9:14:51 AM

We went to Grace's very first obedience trial. Up until this week, I had complete confidence in her attention and heeling. I was worried about her sit stays and down stays. She usually is the type of dog that gets so focused into you that you want to tell her "OK, you can stop staring at me now lol".

I knew that I was in trouble when we walked into the building and she was so overwhelmed that all she did was tremble and frantically sniff every thing and everyone. She had no interest in food or me - at all. She calmed down somewhat, but when we went into the ring, all she wanted to do was sniff the space between the pole barn wall and the floor. There were tiny little ants there that she focused into. She literally forgot how to heel. I could not for the life of me subtlety get her attention away from that wall and the ants.

Surprising, her "Honor Down" (this was UKC), "Stand for Exam" and "Sit Stay" went well. These were the things that I was actually worried about. She stayed for the recall, but when I called her, she came and then ran to the wall to sniff.

Her second trial went a bit better. I got some heeling from her (when we turned away from the wall) but we NQd both times.

Tongue Tied

We're going to a "Show and Go" this Friday and I'm going to try to get her to as many correction matches and show and gos as I can.

Any advice would be very much appreciated. Right now I feel like I'm paddling a boat across Lake Michigan!

kpwlee

Posted : 4/28/2008 6:49:34 PM

Sorry I have no advice only commiserations - of course my experience is just in class not in a show - although he has gotten less distracted at the class may be repetition will help and just doing it more

Come on Gracie you can do it!

diane303

Posted : 4/29/2008 8:29:12 AM

Thanks for the reply! We are going to a "show and go" this weekend. I have been reading about "The Third Way" - using a motivator but not luring with food. Allowing the dog to make the choices. In the morning she is really excited to go out and "hunt" in the yard...all shivery and anxious, staring at the crack between the door and the jam. I told her to "watch" and stand there and wait for her to glance up at me. I immediately say "good!" and open the door. She knows what "watch" means. I think that she is "getting it". This morning I told her to "sit" and "watch". She sat and looked at me with her eyes intense and her ears perked! I said "Good! (big smile) and opened the door. I think this might work. It's like getting sparks from rubbing two sticks together Stick out tongue

She can do this.

RescueSheltie997

Posted : 5/2/2008 6:15:50 AM

Hey, we all start somewhere!

Did you think to give an 2nd command to heel? (you can give a 2nd command - ONCE - it might cost you up to 5 pts. but it could save the exercise)

Was your dog better on lead or off?

Good for you for getting out to show and go's. My gold standard is, don't show until you qualify at 3 show and go (or matches) in 3 different locations.

Good luck, keep heeling fun with unexpected releases and rewards while she's in good position, not always at the sit.

I hope you'll be back to report the results of the show and go. :)

diane303

Posted : 5/3/2008 12:57:02 PM

I took both the girls to the show and go. I figured that it would be a good idea to NOT totally focus on Grace so she wouldn't feel so much pressure from me. I set up my crate so that she could "chill". I tried to be laid back and positive. I even went back to a flat collar. I brought toys and really good food.

She did better, as a whole, than she did at the trial but still felt like an autistic child to me. Like all of a sudden you don't have a dog at the end of the leash. She started out all disconnected and wanted to sniff the wall again. Her figure 8 was about 1/3rd of the way there (better than at the trial). She actually woke up during the heel off least (go figure) and did pretty well there. She completely forgot how to stand and sit. Her eyes get all glazed over. They gave me some time in the ring to heel against the wall and not let her sniff.

Trudy was AMAZING! I think that my little brat is very competitive with her sister. But then she already has her CD. I might think twice about continueing toward her CDX after last nights performance.

I think that your suggestion is a good one. I will do as many show and gos in different places as I can during this season and see if she improves before taking her to an actual trial again. If she is still really "gone" at the Premier (I'm already signed up) I will scratch.

Sera_J

Posted : 5/3/2008 1:07:18 PM

I'm glad she did better!

I think it sounds like she was overwhelmed by the environment. I would practice taking her to busy (like out front of costco, petco on a weekend, etc) and when you feel she's capable of listening use lots of treats and ask for easy stuff, then build up from there.

You can also buy a tape/cd of "sounds at a dog show", play it at dinner time. A lot of breeders do this with young puppies to prepare them for shows.

I think what you did, by making it less of a big deal, crate/treats/toys, etc was a great idea. You may want to take her to a show and not work her, too. take her, treat the heck out of her, she thinks it's so fun. Practice a bit, using lots of treats then leave. BOY MOM SHOWS ARE FUN! :o)

Good luck!

corgipower

Posted : 5/3/2008 1:24:12 PM

I've had some pretty interesting times in the ring. Sometimes it's just an off day. My dogs don't do well at some indoor trials. The accoustics at one caused them some problems. I agree with Sera - get her to as many busy places as you can, keep going to show-n-gos and matches. Sometimes I forget how small those rings can be, and my dogs work fast. I end up changing my footwork a little bit int he ring which used to throw my dogs off as well.

RescueSheltie997

Posted : 5/3/2008 2:18:29 PM

I'm lucky to live in an area that has show and go's every other month. Now if the other club would do it once a month, there would be one every month!

I've taken to asking strangers to help me with the moving stand for examination and to provide distractions (like petting him) while I give signals.

Glad you got out to the show and go! And yes, you should go on to Open with your CD dog! Jump, run, fetch ~ so fun!

spiritdogs

Posted : 5/3/2008 2:31:20 PM

One thing you can try is to go to dog shows,agility matches, seminars, crowded pet stores, dog-friendly hotels with elevators, and TAKE FOOD. You can use it to condition her to the fact that those scary venues are where good stuff happens. Also, if you are just there, but not to compete, you will be less nervous, too, so any jitters won't transmit down the leash. Practice some of your obedience behaviors on the sidelines, and give her a jackpot of many treats whenever she does it perfectly under those distracting circumstances. Gradually, as she becomes more comfy, start to fade out the treats so she only gets the jackpot after a sequence of behaviors. THEN, start going to the show 'n' go's until she's completely relaxed doing that to, then on to the real thing as a competitor.

corgipower

Posted : 5/3/2008 6:37:21 PM

Another thing ~ when Ares first started competing, he needed to get to the show super early...8AM for a 2PM ring time...so he could adjust to the surroundings. As he got more experienced, he didn't need that much time to adjust.

diane303

Posted : 5/3/2008 9:51:16 PM

think that I have to make showing as stress free as possible. I have to make sure that I'm not the one applying that stress, too. I think that one reason that Trudy did so well is because the pressure, in my mind, is off because she already has her CD. Part of that comes with building conficence in my dog's performance. It all comes full circle.

I'm curious how she will do in the agility venue!