timberlane

Hi

As the question suggests..how do I stop a dog that cuts the corner when doing the broad jump.

She pretty much does everything else for the exercise except that she cuts the corner.

Any suggetion is appreciated

Place a small tile or similar on the ground about 1.5metres from last board, make sure it is in the middle. Sit your dog up close to the first board, stay your dog, place a small yummy treat on the tile, go to your correct position and direct the dog over the jump when its head goes down to the tile, click and finish. Build it up from that, you will not need food, and you will not need the tile. I say the word "mark" instead of over.

I put sniffing on cue (regularly releasing with "go sniff") and click/reward for a return of focus. Increase your reward rate for paying attention to you.

Thanks Luke

we did this on our morning walk, she was really good. I dont want to make excuses,but she is in season & the area is a new subdivision,(rabbits etc )but we are striving for perfection.We are giving a "close" command in between open exercises,click & reward heaps . One day showed an improvement.We may have been too relaxed between exercises & she has taken advantage. We are grateful to all responses, Thank you all.

Are we talking about obedience classes, timberlane? If so, are you expecting her to concentrate for the full hour? An hour is a loooooong time to dogs, no matter how old they are. My girl is a 16 month old Aussie and there is no way I expect her to focus on me for a whole one hour training block. Between exercises she's either released to sniff/pee/rest or asked to do some simple tricks. Some people in our class stay a small distance from the rest of the class so that they can play with toys/tugs in the spare time.

But IMO 22 months isn't too young for her to have good focus - but in short, fun blocks rather than a whole boring hour

Never do one hour block training, just want to do maybe 3 Open exercises with full attention on me while training. This is achieved in our own yard, just not in distracted new enviroments. Wants to sniff before and inbetween exercises.

I put sniffing on cue (regularly releasing with "go sniff") and click/reward for a return of focus. Increase your reward rate for paying attention to you.

We generally say 'your free' which allows her to sniff, however will try 'go sniff' and click/reward when she focuses again. Also will have to increase food rewards in this exercise. Seem to have trouble with the spare time inbetween each exercise. I guess need more focus all around. Being a 22month BC I may be rushing.

Thanks jigsaw. We are starting that today.

What training methods are you using? Sniffing the ground could be a displacement behaviour/calming signal if you are getting frustrated with her or using a check chain etc.

If she just does it because the ground smells interesting, I would train her on concrete or inside the house, until she knows the behaviour you are trying to teach. Once she knows what to do she will naturally be more focused on you when you move into a more distracting environment (like grass with interesting smells).

Shes fine on concrete ,but easily distracted on walks,has to be told to pay attention ,is it an age thing

Adolesent female sniff everything hard to stop anyone any ideas