Hello
I have an 18th month old border collie husky cross, she absolutely loves agility, and was getting really focused, but for the last couple of weeks she has decided to just run riot around the course, not doing anything just doing the equipment in the order she wants and this seems to have become a habit. I tried her on the lead, she lays down in front of each piece of equipment as if to say, I am on the lead so not doing it!! How can I break this habit?? Help please

i am in the same boat as you my 4 year old on sunday gsd/ collie cross just wanted to run riot around the equipment yesterday and do the pieces he wanted in the order he wanted mainly a frame and dog walk,refused jumps completely off lead but done tunnel eventually off lead but he only started classes in may, and we dont train bank holidays so had a week off, he seems keen to attend crying when we are near venue as if to say hurry up but once another dog starts barking he copies and i,ve lost him for that session and now trainer is even holding his collar as he decided sit stay whats that, so i feel your frustration. so could also do with some advice.

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T.J.JACKSON

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gi...app_2373072738

It's a stage a lot of dogs go into when they think they know the equipment as individual pieces but haven't grasped the idea that it's a course! You just have to work through it. A factor that contributes to it can be that the dog is frustrated because the handler doesn't give clear directions about what obstacle is next. This is mainly down to body language and it's something you just have to learn to do and get the timing right. Turn your shoulders towards the next obstacle and keep your arm out!
Practising at home with lengths of waste pipe across chairs or buckets can help.

another idea could be that you havent built up a sequence of obstacles gradually, i.e. taught the obstacles individually and then suddenly put them altogether, this needs to be built adding another obstacle and another one by one until they get the idea that they have to do a sequence before receiving their reward.

Also it can be that agility has now become more rewarding for them than maybe you are or the reward that you are giving is.

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That's right. Planning it's set-up from easiest to the most difficult one should be helpful too. Tracking the progress is ideal to add another specific task in the course.

I'd say that the dog lacks confidence when doing the course and this is why you're getting the zoomies... try to break the course up into sections, doing a bit then stopping and starting again, when happy, put a bit more together. You're probably expecting too much without you able to signal confidently and correctly what your dog should be doing, hence the zoomies. You have to be able to give instructions quickly and clearly and to help your dog - lots of handlers and dogs have this problem so don't worry too much, just relax, give your dog more help and break it up a bit.