I have just about HAD IT

This is my very, very novice point of veiw, but....

My dog never would have been allowed to drag me towards the equipment. I would have turned his butt around, right then, and taken him home. At this point, if he barked ONCE, I'd turn my back to him and walk away, pick up the leash, and exit the building (with the dog, of course). I wouldn't let it escelate to biting, b/c, like everyone else has said, he's being reinforced by being allowed to continue to run. This behavior, especially from a dog that size, is completely unacceptable. I'd just... stop. Dead in my tracks. You use your mouth, you lose your playmate. Just like a brand new puppy. After all, he's not mature, yet. He is still pretty puppyish (if he's like the other GSDs I know, they're pups til they're at least 3), and still needs a lot of guidance.

This behavior, especially from a dog that size, is completely unacceptable. I'd just... stop. Dead in my tracks. You use your mouth, you lose your playmate.

I know it's unacceptable, but I've tried to put him up in my car and use somebody else's dog..he's only worse the next time we go out.
 
He isn't allowed to pull towards equipment anymore, he heels into the building very nicely and downs.  But aside from quitting, I don't know what else to do...I really don't enjoy the other dog sports as much as agility, and I don't have a dog to show in conformation right now, so that means I'd pretty much be stuck on the sidelines doing nothing until my dog decides to behave himself :-/

I know it's unacceptable, but I've tried to put him up in my car and use somebody else's dog..he's only worse the next time we go out.

I'd take him home. If he doesn't play nice, he doesn't get to play. I wouldn't go play with somebody else's dog, I'd just end play time, altogether.

Of course, I'm not the one paying for agility classes.

My dog never would have been allowed to drag me towards the equipment. I would have turned his butt around, right then, and taken him home.

 
I can't take him home.  I get obsessive about agility...I HAVE to run the class.  I absolutely cannot stand it if I don't run.  I paid for the class, I HAVE to participate in it, even if it's not my dog.
 
It also bothers me to pay for something and then not go, because that's money I can't afford to waste

Okay, let me think on some of this.  (It's about bed time and I missed a LOT of sleep last night, so I hate to do too much thinking tonight.)
 

He's put immediately in a down and once I collect him, we do not finish the sequence, we go to the end of the line and he has to wait his turn. We have also tried ending the game with him entirely and putting him up in my car, and I work with one of the instructor's dogs. That really just seems to make Strauss worse :-/

 
Was he better after going to the end of the line?  Could the "worse" be an extinction burst?  Was the "worse" later that same lesson or the next lesson?
 
And, what does he do if you try to do obedience exercises during class?  How far away from the agility field do you have to be for him to pay attention to you  (without your tug toy)?  I'm thinking maybe you need to desensitize him to the goings-on of agility before you can go forward in your training with him especially around other dogs.  The book Click to Calm does a great job of going through the desensitization process (the book deals with dog aggressive dog).
 
I also think that if he is in a "manic" state (which is what I'm envisioning in my mind's eye with this dog), he's not doing much learning.

Was he better after going to the end of the line?

No...he was worse, because he only wanted to do it MORE after being denied the first time
 

Could the "worse" be an extinction burst?

I have no idea what an extinction burst is admittedly.
 

Was the "worse" later that same lesson or the next lesson?

Same lesson
 

And, what does he do if you try to do obedience exercises during class?

He blows me off.
 

How far away from the agility field do you have to be for him to pay attention to you  (without your tug toy)?

We can heel OUT of the agility building no problem, but we cannot heel into it.  He pulls.  I can stop and wait for him to return to heel, and while eventually we CAN heel into the building within the same lesson (Sometimes we have to go out to potty and we have to come back inside), it takes a good part of the lesson for him to enter "Calmly"  In order for me to get full attention, I must completely leave the building and heel with him outdoors.  Because we are in a barn type building, the barn door is open, thus he can see into the class, but at that point we are so far away from the others, it is no longer worth lunging for.
 

I also think that if he is in a "manic" state (which is what I'm envisioning in my mind's eye with this dog), he's not doing much learning

.
When I was speaking of manic states, I was speaking of mine, not his...though he very well could be in one and I just am not aware of it.
 
Strauss isn't dog aggressive...but he is very much prey driven.  I'll look into the books that have been mentioned here and see if perhaps those can help

I get obsessive about agility...I HAVE to run the class.

Perhaps that is what's feeding him? Your obsession becomes his obsession and he's just getting too much?

quote:

And, what does he do if you try to do obedience exercises during class?


He blows me off.

And then gets to run the course?

He doesn't get to run until he's behaving and in a down (that's his starting position), but I really don't stress obedienced aside from his recall when we work agility.  Not formally anyway.

...I really don't enjoy the other dog sports as much as agility, and I don't have a dog to show in conformation right now, so that means I'd pretty much be stuck on the sidelines doing nothing until my dog decides to behave himself :-/

 
There's your problem.....agility is about YOU, not the dog.

Coming in a little late here, but here's what I think:
 
If the main problem is with jumps and him barking and biting in between them when he's looking at you I would say that you probably aren't getting your commands out soon enough.  He's got time in between obstacles to look to you for direction and that direction probably isn't there when he needs it, hence the barking and biting.  I'm not sure how long you've been doing agility but perfecting your timing is something that comes with experience.  If he's your first high drive dog I'd expect it'd take you much longer than 3 months to have correct timing.  I would not be doing jump grids or multiple jumps in a row with this dog right now.  I'd do jump, different obstacle, jump, different obstacle.  Sometimes throw in 2 jumps in a row.  Be very cognizant of when you are giving him a command for the next obstacle and make sure he's got lots of information ahead of time. 
 
If he's doing 3-4 obstacles without barking and biting then that's where you should stay for awhile.  Do 3-4 obstacles and reward reward reward.  Then slowly add on 1 obstacle, and then another, but don't rush it.  When he starts barking and biting again go back to the number of obstacles he can handle without frustration.
 
I would respond to his biting in the same manner each and every time.  What I did when I had a dog that did something similar I would down him, turn my back on him for about 5 seconds and then release him and let him do 1 or 2 obstacles successfully and reward him.  Then, exercise finished.
 
What do you do with him in between your runs?  It sounds like you're tugging with him to keep his attention?  For a high drive dog, being wound up like that all the time is tough.  Have you tried crating him inbetween your runs?  If he were my dog I'd crate him and cover him up and give him a few minutes to relax before it's his turn again.
 
I understand that you're in a group class and you can't do your own thing.  However, there's no reason you need to do long sequences even if everyone else it.  Do a few obstacles instead of what everyone else is doing.  If your instructor is on board with what you are trying to accomplish I don't know why they'd have a problem with it.  Take a step back and instead of doing everything that everyone else is doing do what's right for your dog.  Don't worry about getting your money's worth. 
 
You are obsessive about agility and you've got a high drive dog with a lot of prey drive and obviously it's not a good combo.  If I were you'd I'd look into some books on mental management - I think Clean Run has a couple of books and cd's for sale.  Why won't you treat your ADD?  I have a friend (she's 45) who was recently diagnosed with it and started medication and it made a big difference for her.
 
 
 

" can't take him home.  I get obsessive about agility...I HAVE to run the class.  I absolutely cannot stand it if I don't run.  I paid for the class, I HAVE to participate in it, even if it's not my dog.

It also bothers me to pay for something and then not go, because that's money I can't afford to waste "
 
 
But you're getting all of the wrong things out of class-- you are more than wasting your money, you are messing up your dog. Maybe the class is fine for some dogs, but clearly not for your dog. There is nothing wrong with going to class and then doing something different than the other folks. Or finding a private instructor or different instructor. My dog had problems with the teeter for awhile after getting her tail squished by one. We'd go to class, and the rest of the folks would run short sequences, and when it was my turn, I'd work the teeter. Another person had a lot of trouble with her dog just running around taking whatever obstacle he wanted, so she wouldn't even work any obstacles, she'd just practice basic obedience and shadow handling near the obstacles. Obedience is even more important in agility than in actual obedience trials. Your dog is wired, you're wired, you're both moving fast, you need INSTANT and CONSTANT control over the dog.
I've even seen people come to class and not take their dog into the field-- just work on keeping the dog under control near it.

If the main problem is with jumps and him barking and biting in between them when he's looking at you I would say that you probably aren't getting your commands out soon enough. 

You're right, I usually don't.  This is my second agility dog, but my first dog was not one I was trying to title, he was my older dog (8 at the time), and he was incredibly slow, so I didn't need to shout out commands early....I was lucky if he'd trot through a course, let alone run.
 
I'm learning to run two completely different kinds of dog, which is good in its own way, but obviously, has been a bit frustrating as well.
 

Have you tried crating him inbetween your runs?

Yes....he screams like a demon being boiled in oil.  It doesn't matter if he's covered.  He screams anyway, because he's not getting to run.  It just feeds his frustration.  He knows what's going on.
 

Why won't you treat your ADD?

Every time I have been on medication for depression/ADD, the side effects were horrible.  I would either seize, vomit, or be unable to function.  In one case I ended up in the hospital with a life threatening reaction to medication, and thus, I'm unwilling to try again.  I got tired of trying medications and having none of them work.
 
I'll try some of the things suggested in our class next week.  I don't mind "taking a step back" as long as I still get to work him in SOME capacity.  Agility isn't just a big deal for me, it is the biggest most important class of the week for us because that's how he gets his big dose of physical AND mental exercise.  I teach him new things all the time, but agility is something we both enjoy.  The problem right now is that we're enjoying it separately instead of together :-p
 
I can't afford a private instructor, which is why we're not getting private lessons.  The people that run the classes have all different breeds, but the head trainers have Tervurens...and Tervs train in a completely different manner than GSDs, and their Tervs don't behave at all the way the GSDs do.
 
I might ask to drop back down to the beginners class again, just so we can work on shorter sequences again
 
Thanks for all the suggestions ^_^

This will be short as I need to set up a course.
 
Extinction burst:
 
[linkhttp://www.shirleychong.com/keepers/archives/bursts.txt]http://www.shirleychong.com/keepers/archives/bursts.txt[/link]
they explained it much better that I could.
 
 
You might want to try doing lots of exercise before class.  And, can you be in the area and work on OB near (but not in) the agility stuff while another class is being taught?
 
Also, since his energy is so high, make sure you are speaking softly and have a lower energy.  Think of it like a teeter that you are trying to balance.  My basenjis usually have lower energy in agility, so I'm up, but if I'm running the malinois, my energy is lower.  Does any of that make sense?
 
AgileBC is dead on that when dogs get frustrated by handlers not giving commands soon enough and will bark/bite/spin.
 
Do you have any equipment at home?  CR has a new dvd on training with just one jump.  I don't have it yet so I can't really recommend it.  Something else that might help is Greg Derrett's Foundation DVD.  It is $$$, but covers a lot of ground work that does not include the equipment.  You may want to see if you can borrow a copy.  I'm thinking if the two of you could do some flat work w/o equipment, then flat work around the equipment, then mostly flat work with one or two jumps thrown in every once in a while, that might give you a way to build good habits.
 
Am still thinking.[8D]  (and was just thinking out loud above, but now I really must go.)
 
 
 

Do you have any equipment at home?

Just weave poles that a friend built me for a gift.  I can't afford supplies to build my own equipment (I'm not savvy at that kind of thing anyway).  We use coolers, chairs, and broomsticks for jumps at home.
 

Also, since his energy is so high, make sure you are speaking softly and have a lower energy

I do make sure I do that.  When he's being obnoxious, I don't yell at him, but I turn to him, and my voice is low, but firm "That's enough! Stop it!" I give him a minute to calm down, and we try and continue.
 
I just don't understand why jumps set off this reaction?  He does seem to be that way coming out of tunnels sometimes too....but if an entire course is tunnels, we don't have these issues.  ...Have I mentioned that my dog sucks into tunnels like they're a freaking vortex?  They are by far his favorite obstacle, and we have NONE of these issues (aside from excited barking) if we are running a tunnelers course