Territorial at agility class?

I have a dog where attention is our biggest problem.  Some things I'm going to try that I will pass along to you so maybe they will help are these.

1)I'm going to increase the value of my treats.  This means I'm going to have cheese or turkey or something awesome for him while in high distraction environments.

2)After watching "Leslie Nelson's Really Reliable Recall", I have experience "fine dining".  This is the difference between eating at a fast food restaurant and eating at a high class 4 course meal kind of place.  Leslie Nelson describes this in her video.  Two treats, same size.  One way is to give the dog the treat and, well now you're done.  The other way is tear off small bits of the treat and praise, pet and carry on while shoving smaller pieces in the dogs mouth.

I used to think jackpot was just a fist full of treats.  I have discovered that I don't have to jackpot with a ton of treats but a higher frequency of treats.  So in order to not overfeed a small dog, smaller high frequency treats will be better.  I have not completed our attempts at this, as it's going to be a process as opposed to a quick fix, but the idea is to keep the dog looking to you. 

Hope this helps!

Thank you for the advice! I will investigate that video. That is a really good point about the jackpot - I always thought of it as a handful of treats as well. Never thought of it as a frequency thing, rather than amount. She already gets cheese, I will try turkey dogs or something as a special treat when she could potentially be distracted.
 
Another thing the trainer suggested that I am trying - I keep low fat peanut butter on hand, and I smear some on the roof of her mouth to keep her occupied with licking and watching me, rather than the other dogs or anything else going on. It worked real well for a few weeks, but now its effect is fading. Yesterday I tried cheese and peanut butter and the "leave it" command but she still kept barking. Sigh. I will keep trying and doing my best. She must be bored with me. []

Maybe not bored but comfortable?    I have considered keeping a baggy of peanut butter in my pocket for training.  Just dip a finger in there and they have to lick it off...  I'm seriously tempted to try it for the attention dog because he has sharp little teeth and when he does get excited, he uses those instead of his tongue!  Ouch!!  If he has to lick, well that solves the problem right? 

Yet another good point - I can almost see it in her eyes "Oh, it's just mom telling me to be quiet, I can still bark and get away with it." There is a fine line between leader and follower and I think it's during those moments where she doesn't listen to me about being quiet that she thinks she is in charge. [:@] If the trainer takes her leash, she is a well-behaved, attentive, quiet pup. I have to be doing something wrong. Good dog, not-so-great handler!
 
Um, I'm with you on the "excited = teeth instead of tongue" problem. When she is really excited, she will grab the treat so fast that she inadvertently may get part of my fingers, and her teeth are like little razors! Try the peanut butter thing, although I've also wondered if it helps her to pay attention more to me, or more to the peanut butter. [&:]