[agilitymom]

I retired my 5year old chocolate girl last February for the same type of behavior. We are one leg short of her jumpers excellent title. I was devestated. I kept doing agility with my little aussie and prepared her to show. Maddie was not allowed to do agility. I felt she had made her choice. When I moved in August to AZ, I decided to try another class with her. She was phenomenal. Fast and motivated. Couldn't wait to do agility. Still in AKC competition she had trouble with the weaves. It was suggested I try a venue that allowed me to train in the ring. I have done that. I get her super pumped before we run and when she does the weaves in the ring, major party. Each day is three runs. Last show she qualified all three times and had a jumpers run of 20 seconds beating out all of the border collies. We are working on having fun. AKC is so rigid that it made me lose what I love most about this sport....having fun with my dog. I am also developing a different relationship with the weaves. It sounds like Remington had fun!!!!

 

[agilitymom]

Linda maybe what you are seeing is over arousal or a stress reaction. Sometimes it can look similar to excitement. Have you tried any calming techniques with him. Just a thought. I think you are a member at the agileateach board also, right? Maybe you can pose this question here.

 

[agilitymom]

Motivation problems in the ring can be caused by stress. I went to a controlled unleashed seminar and there were many dogs with this problem. The give me a break game worked wonders for motivation. You set up a chair and a set of weave poles, jumps etc. You have the dog take the weaves and then with out any fanfare go to the chair and sit. Do not call the dog. When the dog reconnects with you get up and do the weaves again. It builds motivation. I did this with weaves in my house in my hallway. You do need to control the area somewhat. If the dog does not reconnect, or stops reconnecting you quit. This exercise changes the focus and motivation to be dog motivated instead of handler motivated. The CU book is wonderful and can really help with all kinds of issues inside and outside of the ring.