He was AWFUL! why?

[imported_nea]

Today me and Web went to our first Competitive Obedience traing class. He was so very bad! :( Last week during Everyday Obedience 2 he missbehaved too, but that day had been different and he was a bit stressed from that, so he had a reason. Today was JUST like any other day! He kept whimpering/whining because he didn't want to sit still, he determinedly did NOT look at me when I asked him too, he refused to heel, he would not stay seated, when I called him he came running towards me with full speed but then kept running and sniffing around. I don't need him/want him to mechanically obey every single thing I ask him to do, but this is getting rediculous.
The thing that gets me is that he KNOWS the stuff! I train him everyday, often outside on the fields nowadays. He does well. This week he's learned not to pull on the leash, to "stick close", and heel better. He was even able to heel nicely offleash when a man jogged past the other day, and take an hours walk without pulling. I'm so proud of him. I've been taking him downtown some too, and he SHINES with goodness! He can sit calmly as people talk to me/him, walk on a loose lead close to me, sit by while I feed the ducks, settle down if I stop.
But as soon as we get in the company of the other dogs he transforms into a BRAT. :-? I'm not that embarrased by him because the people there are other dogpeople, and like I said I don't need him to be at the top of his class or do everything right, but SOME cooperation would be nice! There have been horses in the place this class takes place, could that be a big reason why is is so terrilbe there? He always wants to have his nose to the ground and eat the poop that didn't get cleaned up. :roll: But could it also be that he's hit his "teenage" stage and is purposely being a bit troublesome? He'll be 8 months old tomorrow... It would be nice to have something more to "blame" his annoying behavior on than just his training... :oops: Still this weekend we are basically going to move to the dog training areas... :evilbat:

A funny thing though- he knew I was a bit preturbed with him, so in the car on the way home he weasled his way into the front seat to my lap and lay there and slept, after cleaning my face carefully. :lol: He's a little charmer and I cna't get (that) angry at him. :roll: And he takes advantage of that! :) But seriously, who couldn't resist this face :wink:

[kendalyn]

I'm sure he'll improve. He just needs to get used to being around the other dogs and all that. It's part of his training! I hope your next class goes better :)

[TDG]

no matter how frustrating things are, you shouldn't be angry at your dog. he is still very young and easily distracted. think of him as an 8-year old kid, soooo interested in everything that's going on in the world, in checking out all the interesting things that he doesn't get to see every day.

he will pick up your frustration and anger and reflect it in his behavior. "uh oh, we are at this place again where my person gets all tense. makes me feel weird."

you might also need to work with him more around other dogs. does he have much of a chance to socialize? or are training classes one of the rare occasions where he can interact with dogs?

[Malamum]

Nea, one thing to remember is that dogs don't always generalise that well. Just because he knows everything at home, doesn't mean that he will understand what to do if you ask him in a different environment.

At training classes there are a whole lot of things that make it harder for him. There are other dogs, other people, lots of new smells etc all these things make it harder for him to concentrate at training than it is at home. Just take it slow and only expect little steps from him.

At our training club we learn about the 4 D's. Duration, Distance, Distraction and Diversity. These are all ways to progress a behaviour and make it harder for the dog. Webby may know his sit perfectly at home and may be able to hold it for ages (duration) and also may be able to do it with you standing away from him (distance). However as soon as you try it at a trainng class you are also adding diversity and distraction which make it so much harder for him.

Let me give you an example. Indy knows the sit command perfectly (or so I thought). He will do it pretty much 99.9% of the time, however to add a bit of diversity I sat on the ground and told him to sit. He just didn't get it, he layed down, he rolled over but just wouldn't sit- he didn't seem to get it because I was on the ground too. So I need to practice diversity with him much more.

Hope that made sense.

[imported_nea]

I hadn't thought about that he would pick up my frustration... stupid me. I guess I'll just have to laugh it off when he missbehaves. :wink: He doens't get to play with other dogs much, mainly because I don't know anyone with dogs. Sometimes he gets to play with someone if we meet a nice dog on a walk or something. Before he got to greet almost every dog we met too, but I've stopped letting him do that unless he can behave a little bit calmly first. But he gets so excited around other dogs. The 4 D's thing makes lots of sense, I'm going to have to remember it. :)

[mouseatthebusstop]

been there Paddy was just the same loved to play me up at classes when we did it at home he would be as good as gold.

[Carolk9s]

nea, Keep in mind that to our dogs, WE act very differently in a trial setting than in the back yard or in class. WE are uptight even though we try hard to be calm, cool, and collected. WE are nervous and our dogs know it. We act different, we smell different, they pick up on these factors and stress themselves. So just keep practicing, try hard to walk in the ring truly feeling like it DOES NOT MATTER if there are mistakes, this should help YOUR mental status which should help HIS mental status. A little bit of inexperience mixed with increased stress levels will generally blow your plans right out of the water! But do not despair, keep at it, relax, RELAX, RELAX!
Soon you will see success, celebrate the small victories over your own nervousness and his.
I retired Brittany from agility competition because she just 'did not seem to like it'. Duh on my part! I finally realized I was putting too much stress on her so she would poke about, go visit the ring crew, sniff the ground, etc. I finally learned how to get the best out of her in our Just For Fun league by changing my view, after all this is JUST FOR FUN!
So try to think of obedience in the same light, after all, that is why we do these things with our dogs right? 8) You or Web makes a mistake? Ok, lets keep going and try the next exercise. And know that YOU have the best dog in the world by your side no matter what.
Best of luck to you and the BEAUTIFUL Web.

[imported_Kat]

Well everyone has pretty much said about how our attitude differs when we are placed in a more competitive situation, other than down at the park/back garden. Keep his sessions short Nea, 10 mins every day is enough proper training. You want to keep training like a novelty to him, as Flatties can switch off easily if they are faced with the same task time and time again. He is still only a very young pup and you will both learn as you go along. Things sometimes don't go right both in training and in the ring. Every single person that has handled a dog can testify to that! :P

Keep it fun for both you and him with lots of play breaks and time to bond with just the pair of you. Even taking him away from the rest of the class and sitting with him talking to him, paying him quiet time attention will help you both to bond, the same way that you will bond using a tuggy ball. Good luck :wink:

[Carolk9s]

Another thought, it may help YOU to think ahead and decide how you are going to react should 'this' or 'that' happen. I learned this with Candy, since I KNOW she loves to take a moment during a run to go visit with the judge, I try to remember to decide how I will react to this before we even go in the ring. If I don't, I usually get frustrated by her disregard of me standing across the ring calling her name. Once I allow myself to become frustrated or otherwise lose my focus, the rest of our run is usually in jeopardy as well. So I decide BEFORE we step in the ring how I will react if she gets the zoomies today or decides to go visit the judge or starts sniffing the ground, etc. This really helps me to maintain my cool, calm, and collected demeanor. Ok, so in reality I'm a nutcase on the course, I have dreams ya know! 8)

[imported_nea]

Thanks for all the advice and encouragement! :) Today it went SO much better than last week! Before we started I decided to enjoy myself. My dog maybe isn't as well trained as the others, but he is still the best. And heck, he is 8 months old while they are like 2 years! Of course he isn't going to do as well as them. But that doesn't mean he can pay absaloutly no attention to me either... :-?

It went really well today. Only 3 dogs including Web were there so that might have made a difference, and I had pig's heart instead of "yucky" Frolics, and last weekend we went to train there so he was more used to the surroundings, but I think it was in a large part because I was having a good time. I was able to ignore his less good stuff, and when he did right, which he did do MANY times :D he knew how proud I was of him. And the trainer praised him a couple of times too! :) He likes her alot. I can't figure out if its because she's a dog person or if its because she always has hotdog with her... :lol:

I feel really inspired to train him lots now! The thing tahts our "homework" is to stop dead in his tracks. He allready knows it (sort of :P ) when he is in front of me, but since this is training for competitive obedience he has to do it while heeling and do it more exact than normal, so we're doing a new command for it. She showed how to teach it and its during play sessions so he'll really enjoy that! :) Training my dog must be the most fun thing there is when it goes pretty well, and one of the most frustrating when it doesn't go right. :lol: I think it'll keep going better now that I have tried to change my attitude some. He is such a smart, good dog. :angel: