Reddii Posted November 15, 2007 Share Posted November 15, 2007 Hi all, Just wondering if anyone has any ideas that might be able to help me out. Xena is a psycho 17 month BC who LOVES agility - starts whining when we drive past where we do agility and the lights are on. Once we get there she gets SOOOOOO excited and that is something I don't really want to and have been encouraged not to put a stop to. Wednesday just gone we had a mock comp and Xena was awesome - contact equipment was great, jumps perfect, tunnels all fine and turns and crosses were great too (surprised everyone as she's only just begun sequencing). The only problem we ran in to was weavers - she knows how to weave and practises it at home 2 or 3 times a week plus agility and even some at flyball. Just about all the time she is fine with the occasional mishap/missed weaver, but when we get to agiliity and particularly the other night she just tries to go through them too fast and ends up missing poles. The trainers have said it's just excitement and she will calm down in time so I'm not too worried, but was wondering if anyone has any advice on how I might be able to help her focus a little better? Thanks in advance. Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmolo Posted November 15, 2007 Share Posted November 15, 2007 I'm sure there will be others with lots of advice but i would do a couple of things as i have a similar dog and this is what we did- use a no reward mark at the moment she misses a weave pole, manipulate the reward she gets depending on accuracy and not allow her to continue running the course if she misses weavers (give her the opportunity to weave again, get it right and then continue) If she finds agility that rewarding and continues to run the course, get rewards (from you or otherwise) for missing weavers she will continue to do so- not something i would expect to change when she 'settles down'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vickie Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 The only problem we ran in to was weavers - she knows how to weave and practises it at home 2 or 3 times a week plus agility and even some at flyball. Just about all the time she is fine with the occasional mishap/missed weaver, but when we get to agiliity and particularly the other night she just tries to go through them too fast and ends up missing poles. The trainers have said it's just excitement and she will calm down in time so I'm not too worried, but was wondering if anyone has any advice on how I might be able to help her focus a little better? Hi Tony, sounds like she's a star! As far as the weaving goes, if she is accurate at home, but misses them at training, I would say it is the extra adrenalin she & you get in a competition like atmosphere. The first thing I would do is rather than trying to slow her down at training...try upping the anti at home. Are you training on the same number of poles? Do you do a jump or any other equip before & after the poles at home? Can you practice running with her at speed into the poles at home? Will she weave while you have her favourite toy or ball in your hand? Will she weave if you throw it while she's in the poles? She may be seeing it as a different exercise & realistically for most people who train at home as well as training, weaving is different as we tend to train it at home as a separate exercise. While going through all the proofing above it may also hep to set her up for success by offsetting the poles slightly. Hope this helps & makes sense Vickie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeltaCharlie Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 I dont like the idea of slowing her down with weaves, I have seen too many dogs slowed down to concentrate on accuracy and they never get the speed up after that. Im having this problem with Delta at the moment, she gets so excited about weaving as it is such a highly rewarded obstacle at the moment that she actually nips me to hurry me up. Even at home, so you can imagine how excited she is at training. Basically rather than slowing her down, reinforce what she is doing right. How many does she accurately do before missing them? Delta gets about 6 or 7 before skipping them. So, we are practising with 6 poles at training. It is much better to have her doing 6 accurately with speed than to try to slow her down to make the full 12. When she is doing that accurately I will add another 2 for her to do at speed and so on. If she misses them a few times I will bring it back to 6. Otherwise you are just practising the misses and not reinforcing the success. I had a dog a few years ago that I actually had to bring back to 2 poles for training. Every time he rushed through them in the right way he got his click and treat. Took forever to build up to the 12 at training but when we got there he did it incredibly quickly and it was worth it. Like Delta is now, he would weave quickly and accurately at home every time. But, they need to be taught to do them in a stimulating environment as well. Home gives them the basic idea and background knowledge to help them learn the "brand new obstacle" at training. Like someone else said, it is almost like a completely different obstacle at home and at training. Weaving is basically the only behaviour that has to be learned for a dog, jumping etc is natural. Expect it to take a long time to reinforce the minute details of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sayreovi Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 Ahh to have a fast weaver!! When training my youngest dog i got him too go through fast initially and even though he missed weavers i got the speed i wanted, once i had the speed i focused on getting a clean run and only rewarding that. I wouldnt want to slow her down either, alot of dogs seem too lose time on weaving. I agree with Vicki and help by off setting the poles slightly to remind her what too do when at training Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulesP Posted November 17, 2007 Share Posted November 17, 2007 lol Brock does not like the weavers! Don't know why. He is actually dropping whilst going through them which is what he does when he is upset. He is sooo un-border collie-like sometimes! I love watching the dogs that zip through. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bordacollies4me Posted November 17, 2007 Share Posted November 17, 2007 i think sometimes in young or green dogs with lots of speed they just need to find their rhythm... i have a super quick weaver, she had some trouble getting rhythm... what i was told to do was to use 6 sets of 2 x2 weaves, lay a rope through the centre of them all, and then slightly open them all up, and i mean slightly, and they all have to be the same angle, creates a bit of a channel for the dog, it is amazing what an extra 10mm of gap does... do a few reps of these and then go back to straight poles... did it help my girl.. i believe it did somewhat, we now have rhythm and have kept her speed...to get her to check her stride before the entry i have been working on doing a full height jump just before i have it rather close, at the moment 3ft away, so she has to think about the entry a bit more, and she is still maintaining her speed... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reddii Posted November 18, 2007 Author Share Posted November 18, 2007 Thanks to everyone - plenty to think about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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