[Dobelover04]

Hey there,

I am working with Murphy in foundation agility which has been great thus far for confidence and for working with a more operant conditioning method which he responds wonderfully too. The issue that I am having is that there is another more reactive dog in the class that the owner lets get a little close for comfort and they have both decided that they do not like each other.
I am already working hard to overcome Murphy's excitement/overstimulated self when on walks but in the smaller confines of class it's even harder. I have been reading up on Control Unleased and specifically the Look at That game as my instructor mentioned that these games will work on his attention to me as being rewarded and therefore the stress/stimulation of outside goings on being mimalized. Any tips? Anyone have success using this game? Any other games that work with this kind of situation?
He's great once we start working but on walk when he sees a strange dog or in class again when we are sitting around the outside of the ring it's harder to keep him focused.

 

[RottenVonSpotten]

I've had great success with LAT. My only suggestion would be that if you think being in class is too stressful for him and he's over his threshold, then LAT won't be of much help. During the down times of the class, I would either remove him or keep him focused. I would also suggest working on relaxation in the outside world and in class. For example, if he takes it upon himself to lay down and shift his body weight to one side, I'd click and treat for that. When he puts his head down to sniff or to rest it on his paw, I'd click for that, etc... This will help him relax in stressful environments and probably help his focus for LAT. You could also do BAT (Behavioral Adjustment Training) in class. If the other owner and dog get too close, simply call your dog to you (try not to pull him or apply any tension in the leash) and walk away.

 

[Dobelover04]

He definitely isn't over the treshhold and I am eventually able to get him to focus and relax but it would be easier for both of us to have that the focus become more automatic. Thats why I was thinking that LAT would work for us. The non tension on the leash part is the hardest part I'm sure most would agree as your autotmatic response is to tense up. Thanks for the tips and glad to hear that LAT is a workable concept. I am newbie to this kind of training - ie. no correction/ all positive reward and OC training so it's a work in progress - I am altering my style to work with my dog and we are so far seeing a lot of progress and confidence increase and I hope to continue on that! It's a journey and I'm really enjoying strategizing new approaches and training ideas and then trying them out - it's a lot of fun for both of us!

 

[Adara]

In my agility classes, when dogs aren't working 99% of them are crated so we can focus on watching the other team and learn from them also. Would that be feasible at least for a little while so you can also work on the issue? It also gives the dogs some down time where they don't have to be "on" so to speak.

 

[Dobelover04]

That was my understanding of a lot of classes. I believe that the reason that we do not do that in this particular class is because it is foundation so most of the time when we are doing an activity - aside from Restrained recall we are all doing it at the same time. From my understanding in the other classes past this they move to crating the dogs while waiting your turn. I think 90 percect of my issues are the people who have a highly reactive/aggressive dog and allow those dogs to come too close to my more nervous dog's comfort zone. I know my dog is more nervous and can be reactive so I tend to make sure to set him up for as much success as possible in the situations we are presented with, whereas some others I suppose don't feel the same way and perhaps don't realize the gravity of their own dogs reactions.
The class has been great other than this and again we are learning and benefiting tonnes - I just want ideas to keep him focused and relaxed so we can gain the most from our experience.

 

[Herb2relax]

LAT will definately give the dog a more automatic behavior of looking at you IMO. I have 3 in which I have used it. One started at an older age and the other two around 17 weeks or maybe a little older. I can see in situations they all have a tendency to look at me whether it be for a treat or not. I may sometimes have one and sometimes not. But the eye contact is there.

As far as the other dogs in class. I would step in front of my dog and sometimes walk away making some distance. I would also tell the other people that you are not comfortable with that and working on some things with your dog. Please do not let your dog come right into mines face or something simular. I tell pretty much everyone Kyrah does not greet other dogs well on leash sometimes and I am not willing to find out if she is having a good or bad day. Only dogs that she has been around for quite a while is she allowed to greet on leash. Never a brand new dog regardless of what their owner tells me.

 

[MeadowCat]

LAT is the single best training thing I've done with Shanoa.

I also think you need to talk with the other owner and make sure the two of you have enough space for both dogs to be comfortable. It's going to benefit the both of you.