So after all our hard work at making agility fun and fast, I went to class last night and poked around and sniffed every darn leaf on the floor because I was SURE it was food. I kind of did the agility sequences but I was very distracted. Mom tried not to let me know, but I could tell she was frustrated and also disappointed in me. She wants to know how long it's going to take before I am consistently faster and happier and focused doing agility out in the world like I am in my own backyard!
Seriously though, in this re-creation of the floor from class, can you spot the food versus not food:
In my defense, it's not that easy to tell is it? You can see my dilemma then at class! And the leaves looked just like the one in the photo! So I ate the food to show you which was which:
Gotta zoom (mom says I should change this to "gotta sniff" but I think that just plain mean!)
Ricky
12 comments:
Aw, we all have a bad week once in awhile. Don't let it get you down. Oreo's last class was pretty much a wash too. I checked the moon cycle to see if that might have something to do with it...but we're not even close to a full moon! My students always get wacky when there's a full moon.
Those leaves do look like chicken!
Awwwww Ricky! I SO know where you're coming from, you just never know where the best treats might be, right? Katie was distracted by fear, you're distracted by potential treats..it all ends up the same, a so so class. But as long as we're having FUN...well, it's OK. Right?
Moms sometimes have the strangest senses of humour!
Hugz&Khysses,
Khyra
Dont let it get you down. It takes a long time for things to change. It must of been an off week for everyone. I couldnt run a correct sequence with Miley if my life depended on it. I went to class last night and couldnt get a correct tunnel entrance either. Also couldnt get into the weave correctly and then she started stressing and running around the ring.
I dont know how much you give treats on course when in class. Most of us tent not to reinforce as much. You might look at that and see if you can increase that in class. Really dont be disappointed about class. It happens, and apparently it happened to all of us this week. Diana
it can be difficult - your back yard is quiet and peaceful and it's easy to focus but when you go to class there is the distraction of the other dogs, new smells and confusing leaves and food! Would it help to go maybe an hour early and just spend time settling down before class, you could greet the dogs as they came in, maybe do a little a practice and then when class starts you are ready to go zoom zoom.
ya know after I read this post I talked to my doggies, and they were happy someone finally put a picture and talked about this problem, because they have been the victims of this type of problem themselves. My guy Skyler (a sheltie) says that he feels a little worried being in those classes with everything and he LOVES food so much and we train on dirt so just like you the food is sometimes hard to find and if you leave it....who knows who will get it, and that would not be fair. Chloe my other sheltie says learning a bunch of tricks to keep her UP and not worrying has helped her with this particular problem in the past
Hang in there Ricky. It can take what seems like a really long time to see improvements like you are seeing at home, translate to other places.
Maybe it was an odd week for everyone. Dare had an awesome lesson last week, our instructor couldn't help mentioning several times what great attention she was giving me and what enthusiasm for training. This week...she was a different dog, left me twice to go visit someone else, acted like she'd never heard her name called before, etc.
So, hang in there, maybe next week will be better for everyone.
Poor Ricky it is so hard to concentrate sometimes.
All the dogs at agility have trouble cos our field is home to some rabbit-dogs and the other dogs like to sniff for bunny buttons. I don't need to, obviously.
~lickies, Ludo
Woof! Ricky. I can related to your issues - Like what I told your before, sometimes it takes time. Lots of Golden LUCK, Woof! Sugar
Don't feel bad Ricky -- like everyone else said, I'm sure it's just a matter of time. It can sometimes take a stalks a while to generalise from doing things in a place we were familiar to a more distracting environment! Is there any possibility that you could do some practice in "in between" sort of place? Like somewhere that's a bit more busy than your garden but not as full on as your agility class? Or maybe you could go to your class a little bit earlier so that you can practice on some of the equipment in the same place but in quieter conditions without so many dogs and people? Just some thoughts... my human thinks it's always really hard grass stalks to go from 0 to 100 mph so were much more successful than we can take things in gradual steps and are setup to succeed slowly increasing challenges. Anyway good luck!
Slobbers,
Honey the Great Dane
Awwwww..don't let it get to you. I used to be the same way, now Mum understands it was a confidence thing with me, but I got over it. Mum also started to increase my treat intake just a little before runs...had me really focusing on her too with kisses, spins, jumping up on her, etc. We think that helped. You be OK...no worries. Just go out there and have fun, cause you get to do agility, OMD!
I can't tell the difference either of the food or the leaf! My brother Jet likes to make sure everything isn't food, too. Like gravel bits and leaf bits and bug bits and all that. I just want what the Mum has in her hands. :)
You'll be okay outside of home.. I know it. I wasn't used to be, but I am now, so anyone can!
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