Lucy ran the starters standard and starters gamblers course once each.
Standard: I'm trying a different way of starting the course. Instead of having any kind of start line sit, which is where her stressing out begins, we sort of walk around for a few seconds and then just go. Did an easygoing run with lots of praise and treats. She had a couple of sniffy moments but overall seemed fairly content.
Gamblers: Decent run actually, but she's still not back at her excited-and-having-lots-of-fun level of engagement.
In summary, a step in the right direction...
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Dogz fun match
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5 comments:
Some people find that running with their dog off the start line all the time is the way to go. There are a couple here who have earned many titles with their dogs (e.g., Gael the Border Collie: ADCH-Bronze LAA-Bronze SACH-Silver SCH-Platinum TM-Gold JCH-Platinum RCH-Silvr GCH) with absolutely no start-line stay and they believe that the emphasis on the SLS is too heavy.
I have ended up putting Tika in a down at the start line, which has mostly fixed her problems of either getting up and stepping forward--or lying down from a sit-stay. She seems much more comfortable in the down.
So you don't HAVE to have, or use, a sit-stay to be successful in agility.
-ellen
Thanks for that, good to know. I'm used to not leading out with Walter, so not using a start-line stay with Lucy is kind of similar. I'm always open to trying different things... keeps things interesting.
sometimes the steps are really TINY ... sounds like a constructive days work to me ;)
Brody has no start line stay - I'm aiming to put one back on him over the summer SLOWLY but he gets very demotivated if I lead out much - he likes racing me but not if I have too far a headstart :)
I saw one guy handle in the most unconventional way at a recent trial:
- he did a number of blind crosses
- he ran along the *outside* of every single tunnel
- he started it all off with no start line stay, just dropped the leash and off they went.
And you know what? It was a lovely, smooth run that had everyone watching in silent awe. Very cool.
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