Agility Sport issue - Need some suggestions - Page 1

Cirberus and I have been working on Agility this year and we are doing well.  We have run into a set back though and I am at a loss how to get past it.  Of course this happens right before we have 2 trials coming up and I was hoping to at least finish a course this time.

Cirberus has been doing well on the Dog Walk.  Going ahead, no hesitation.    Until the last 2 weeks.  She is now absolutely refusing the walk.   I finally went all the way back to square 1 last night with leash and treats and got her to run it.    In trial though, we cannot use leash and treats.  Any idea how to get past this and quickly?  We have a match on Sunday and a trial the following weekend.

Here are some details to keep in mind:

1.  There has been no injury on the dog walk or anything that could cause a "scare"

2.  She has had a bit of stomach issues lately, that we have treated.

3.  I do not have access to a dog walk to train at home or near by with.    Suggests for things to use like it to get her past this issue?

4.  All other obstacles are doing fine, including the A frame.

Without access to a dogwalk beforetime, I'm not sure you are going to fix the issue.  At the match, are you allowed to use treats and toys?  And do they give you say 90 seconds on the course, do as you will?

I would go to parks that have picnic tables (unless you have one yourself), and get her to walk along the seat part, from end to end.  Does she has a 2o2o?  Unfortunately that doesn't work well with picnic tables, so I'm hoping you say no.  IF she doesn't, then put a target (frisbee w/treats) about 4 feet from one end of the seat... and the only way she can get it is to walk on the seat from one end to the other... no cheating.  It will look something like:

(Dog) ------------    (target)  The line being the picnic table seat.  We want her to drive to the target w/o being so worried about the plank.  Then take this to the match... bring the target and set up the same exact thing... let her run up the dogwalk and down to the target... you running along with her of course.  Do this successfully about 3 times at the match if you can.  IF she's very hesitant, just cut your losses and don't make a big deal out of it.  It could be a temporary issue she's developed that will fix itself on it's own IF you don't make matters worse.

Good luck!

Thank you so much.  I do have a picnic table and she understands target.    Not sure about the match though.  I will find out.

Fawnda,

Is the dog walk the elevated plank?

She may have a balance issue or vertigo causing her to be unsure or dizzy up on the plank. Have you had her eyes and ears checked recently?

I ask because it does seem odd that your confident girl was doing this exercise willingly before and won't now unless bribed with you (her mom) walking beside her.

You could also buy a couple of cinder blocks 8" x 16' ($2 ea.) and an 8' x 12" (about $15) board to practice with at home. Start low to the ground (with cinder blocks) then find other things to raise it up in height as she gets her confidence back. Also, use the treat/ toy trick like sachenwolf suggests in conjunction with the lower height. I didn't have the hundreds/thousands of dollars extra to spend on premade agility equipment so I made my own. It was easy :)

Good luck and keep us posted.

Cheri

Good thought on the dizzy or vertigo.  I did not realize dogs got that.   I will have the vet check in the morning, as I have to go in for shots on a kitten.

If it is dizzy/vertigo, is there something I can test at home to see if there are other symtoms?

Regardless the cause (and def need to eliminate a physical cause), up the ante on the reward for completion.

Meaning increase the drive to want to do the obstacle by increasing the reward while simultaneously lowering the difficulty of the obstacle..  Start with a similar obstacle (3 boards on cinder blocks) and work your way higher with the increased reward.  Keep it low until the drive to want to do comes back.  ONce the want to do comes back, slowly raise height while still paying with the higher reward.  After at the correct height and difficulty then wean the reward to intermittant and delayed. 

You may or may not be ready for your match but it is always better to fix it and skip one match then to create a lifelong problem/habit that you constantly have to try and fix. 

Right.  I can do the cinder box/ plank.  Will there be an issue with the fact there is no ramp going up to the plank?

Use Ramps from the ground up onto the cinder block, then across two blocks and back down.  After she drives to go across then you can put the two ramps up onto a picnic table to the bench seat area.  Just drive a spike in the ground behind the ramps so they cant slide off of the bench.  Low saw horses can also be used.

How/where did she learn the obstacle in the first place?  I would not "flood" the dog and make a huge deal out of it.  Assuming you are in a class/club and that is where you are practicing the obstacles/courses, I would work on it there.  Two of my dogs learned agility at a very small facility (not large enough to host a regulation agility course) on dog walks and A-frames that were half the trial height and a very open angle.  Neither of them had done either of those obstacles a single time a regulation height or angle before their first trial and both dogs Q'd, won blue ribbons, and titled in their first trials.  I just went in knowing they would do it and they did.  Maybe not the ideal way to train but not everyone has access to world class facilities.  My dogs *did* have safe contacts, but they understood that contact trainin is contact training whether it's using a little board at home, a half height dog walk at training, or a normal a-frame in a trial.

VKGSDS How is any of your post relevant talking about how you taught your dogs.

Good for you your dogs did it.  Doesn't help fawn at all with her dogs newly developed problem.  It's not going to fix itself so it has to be addressed through training.  Not sure what you mean by don't make a big deal out of it but it can't be ignored and since it's being refused, it's already a bigger deal than the rest of the obstacles. 

Out of a 6 line post 4 1/2 lines are about you and your dogs.  And the other line and half makes assumptions and no help whatso ever.  Nice job!