Re: Obedience Classes

In Reply to: Re: Obedience Classes
Posted by:  Sue Zeiher
Posted on:  April 26, 2001 at 08:38:00

: : I have a two year old JRT who is in his second obedience class. His first class went fairly well, but he seems to be getting worse each class he takes. He has no attention span at all and barks and jumps at the other handlers and dogs. He is also taking agilty classes and does pretty well with that. Should I keep going with the obedience class, or consentrate only on the agility class? I am not interested in showing in obedience, just agility, but I wanted to have better control of him and I thought the obedience classes would help. Now I am not so sure. He is really good at his obedience exercises at home, but get him around other dogs and he goes nuts. He has even tried to bite my hand when I correct him in obedience classes. He does not do this in agility. Any help would be appreciated.

: ------------------ Response Area -------------------
: Hi Janice,

: Have you talked with your instructors about this? They may be able to give you some special exercises to help with his attention span when in class. Also, I have to ask just how you are correcting him wiht your hand. My instruction has always been to correct with the leash and training collar. My hands are never close to the dogs mouth to get nipped.

: Best,
: Sue

------------------ Response Area -------------------
Hi Janice.

My jrt and I tried obedience for all of two private sessions. In the meantime, we discovered agility. So we dropped out of obedience because I did not like it and my jrt HATED it. We did agility instead. My jrt is very successful in agility and was a USDAA top Ten Dog--despite the "formal" obedience classes.

That being said--I once was able to call my jrt off a racoon she was chasing! She came back the second she was called. Now how in the world did we ever do this--AGILITY. Yes, agility also teaches a dog obedience --just in a different way.

In agility your dog and you MUST develop a relationship and of course, the dog must do what you ask of it,. For my jrt, it was so much more fun for me to say "stay" and if she did--she got to take a jump or shoot thru a tunnel.

We also have taken many seminars and have done lots of clicker work. Except, I do not expect her to heel for a reward. That is no fun for either of us. So I ask her to follow me around a silly course at top speeds. That somehow makes sense to her.

It was a hard road without formal obedience training. I simply did not know what to do when she would run out of the ring or simply not listen. I learned to make myself the most interesting thing in the world for her and nothing but positive! So if she comes--it is always for something good. If she does not--game over. I pick her up--do not say a word and put her butt in her crate. Then I take her treats or ball and play right in front of her on the agility equipment no less with another dog. She goes nuts. Her mommy--her treats and oh my god--in the agility ring--I lost all this because I did not listen to mommy. When I take her back out, she is a new dog.

For us it worked. But, that is how our everyday lives work. I play with her everyday--even if it is just silly chasing games around the house. She is my buddy and so it means something to her when she cannot be with me.

In agility--it is loads of fun out on the course. So since she sees it as playing with me--she loves to be in the ring with me.

It was not always that way. She would run around like a mad woman in circles herding me. I then learned that I was so stressed that she was fleeing--the agility ring was not fun. But once we started playing and I made it fun--things changed in a snap.

So maybe "formal" obedience clases are not for you. But, you can get that obedience in agility.

Check out www.dogpatch.org/obed for info on clicker training and check out www.dogpatch.org/agility which is the source on agility.

Good luck to you--keep the faith. You CAN do agility without "formal" obedience classes. You just have to figure out a way to teach them obedience without letting them know it is happening--agility was the way for us.