Agility is challenging

I thought by now, we'd be breezing through agility like champs. Instead, it seems we're regressing. I just can't find the right way to motivate Shelby to pay attention. I bring a variety of treats, and I make sure she doesn't eat before class, but she still always is looking around for treats left on the floor. In her defense, there were tons of treats from the Halloween thing all around. At this point, I'm not sure filet mignon would get her attention.


We did well with all the obstacles, but when it was our turn for a run through, it turned into a nightmare. For some reason, she didn't want to do the tire-she's had no problem with the tire at all before this. So that will need some attention next week. Also, we need to work on the table, I think. Again, she ignored me at a couple points and went off on her own, so I had to either run around to get her to chase me, or run and hide, so she had to find me. I was sweating by the time I was done!



This was a challenging course because it required all rear-crosses, as opposed to front crosses, which we have been doing. A front cross is when you send your dog to a jump, then when they are landing, you cross in front of them to redirect them to the next obstacle. For a rear cross, you send the dog to the jump before you, but then cross behind them to direct them to the next obstacle. So, the body language and positioning is much more important, because you're not physically creating a barrier in front of the dog to tell them which way to go. They have to figure out from your body language where they're going next, and sometimes that means they go the wrong way. With Shelby, because she is small, she tends to look more at the direction my feet are going, so if I change my foot direction at the wrong time, it gives her incorrect signals and she doesn't take the obstacle I intended her to. It's really challenging to think about the info your dog is getting and the info you are unconsciously giving.


Here are some diagrams. You can see the dog, and the other icon is an arm, representing the arm you have out directing the dog where to go.


Here is a front cross:






It's a little hard to tell, but what's happening here is that the dog is on your right going over the first jump, then before the second jump, you cross in front of the dog and pivot so that now the dog is on your left to direct them to the second jump.

Here is a rear cross:

Here the dog is on your right going over the first jump, then you send him to the second jump and as he's jumping, you cross behind the jump, and switch hands so the dog is now on your left going to the third jump. This doesn't really show the rest of the body, but the shoulders and feet would already be going in the direction of the third jump, as you're pointing at the second jump with your left arm. You need to use your shoulders and feet as your going towards the second jump to tell the dog he's going to be going to the right and taking that third jump, because in a competition, there may be another obstacle to the left or in front of the second jump, and the dog might take that by mistake.

Simple, right? ;-)

Here is a homemade video. It is slow at first, but picks up. It is kind of long, but at around the 37 second mark, she does a front cross after the first jump, then does rear crosses for the other 2. Also notice that in the first couple sequences, at the last rear cross, the dog spins back toward the jump, which is wrong, but catches on and turns in the right direction after a few repetitions.