 Barked: Sat Nov 10, '12 7:29pm PST |
 | |  | | Mulder, I think we have all been there. I for one, can empathize. Bosley can be a dog that is hard to motivate and that lends itself to some interesting times in the ring. He is also sensitive to my emotions, so of I am stressed or nervous, so is he. We have had some really bad obedience runs but I always try to pick something that was positive. Even though you may think it wasn't great, there is usually something good to focus on from the run, and that is what I really try to do. Not too long ago, Bosley was having a terrible agility run -- not interested, sniffing, etc. I exused ourselves from the ring, gathered up my dog and headed to the ring gait. I told Bosley to "get in" and he heeled perfectly all the way back to our setup. I got "the look" from my friends - you know the one that they give when things don't go so well - but all I said was "did you see how great his heeling was?"
Just to try to make you feel better, I have a "not the best day in the ring" story. Bosley was entered in Open obedience and things were going pretty good. Heeling - nice. Drop on recall - spot on. Then came the retrieve on flat. No problem, I think, he likes this part. I throw the dumbbell, send Bosley and he trots straight out to get it. He reaches down to pick it up and then he stops. His head comes up, nose scenting the air. Then I see him focus on something outside the ring. Someone has a large, open bag of treats on their crate in the benching area outside the ring. I gave Bosley a second "fetch" command, but too late. He jumped the ring barrier, heading straight for the bag of treats. I am calling him but he has a one track mind when it comes to food. Luckily, the owner of the treats saw what was happening and grabbed them before Bosley could. I am still standing in the middle of the ring calling my dog. I think Bosley may have given me a quick glance before he ran to the other side of the very large room to where his crate was set up. He was looking for his "reward" that he gets when he is done his run. It was packed in his training bag so he finally decided to come back to the ring, jumping the ring barrier to get back to me. He looked mighty proud of himself and gave me a look as if to say "what? I came back." Oh, and the whole time he was out, the stewards were trying to catch him, or at least were trying to herd him back to the ring. He doesn't like people he doesn't know to touch him. So no one was going to actually catch him. Ahhh .... the adventures of dog trials  Edited by author Sat Nov 10, '12 7:30pm PST
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We all have bad days, sounds like he just wasn't feeling the whole scene. I've definitely had times like that with Onyx where it just seems like he's somewhere else. I get frustrated and it ends up being a vicious cycle, so it all goes downhill from there.
Felt like the judge kinda chastised me a bit for that, putting it pretty plainly that this isn't Schutzhund and there are different rules (oops).
It's definitely always a learning experience, and you can always take something away that will help next time.