I went an took a lesson today with Meagan. Here was the course to the best of my ability. Im sure the distances probably arent correct. But you get the idea. First we did one thur 12. The first couple of times Miley took the dogwalk instead of the tunnel. Then I kept shooting her into tunnel entrance #1 instead of #7. Finally got that. Then we were able to run 9-12 but it felt very uncomfortable. I stayed to the left of the jumps but the push and pull seemed really hard on the dog. She did it but it didnt flow nicely. What worked the best was rear crossing ten and then immediately rear crossing 11. It felt like it was easiest for the dog. Then we did 11 -21. The first time thur Miley got right no the table no problem. The second time thur she jumped on and off the table and then started to circle. Ugh! I was able to get her on the first time she tried to circle me. I grabbed her by the colar (nicely) and said, "Where's you mat, want get you mat, Get it". And she ran right over and jumped on. I rewarded highly. Meagan gave me some more things to work on with Miley. I just couldn't believe she jumped on and off and then started circling. Of course I thought about it all the way home. Im so mad, angry, irritated, frustrated , sad and tired. Not at my dog, just with the table problem. Ugh!! Im sick of taking this table places. I took it to a different park this morning and she had no problems. I wish I knew why this caused her such stress. She pops out of weave poles, jumps off a-frames and off the side of teeter and she doesnt stress about it . Why does she do it with the table.
8 comments:
I was really bummed for you when I saw the title to your new post. But it wasn't a complete failure - she did get on the table the first time through and then she did hop on again when you told her to get her mat. So that's 2 out of 3! I know it's incredibly frustrating (we know a little what it's like from the chute thing) but it does seem like Miley has made improvement. It's probably very difficult to change a behavior that was so ingrained (her circling the table) and will just take a little longer to instill the new behavior (getting on the table) in higher stress moments! Do not give up because you have come so far already!
I don't have any suggestions or ideas for you, but I just wanted to say that I'm sincerely hoping you solve this quickly, for your own peace of mind. I don't have a table issue, but I do have other training issues so I totally understand your frustration. One day, after class, I was angry and frustrated. I was stopped at a red light and then the cars across the intersection start turning in front of me. I got super mad (I was angry to begin with) so I start honking like a psycho, inching my way across the intersection, wondering why these *#+@es are cutting me off. Well, you guessed it, I had a delayed green and they had a turn signal, so I was just heading towards oncoming traffic for no reason. I guess its a pointless story but I just wanted to show you that I completely understand how you feel.
I wish we could ask them WHY some things make sense to the doggies....Hang in there, she would not have went to the table the first time a few months ago or done it so well other places, so you are getting somewhere-and being able to get her and have her go to the table and snap back into a work mode once she had started circling was a huge thing.
That is so weird. It just seems like such a weird obstacle to have issues with. Just a long shot, but does she have issues with people? One thing I'm worried about is Marge having to stay put on the table in a trial where the judge will be standing nearby. Just wondering if maybe that's causing Miley stress even though there's not a judge during practice.
Oreo's mat work is 100% solid when we're "training" it.
However, when I throw it into real life situations (garage door opening), we are not even close to being 100%. Oreo still will circle the coffee table several times, and I will often have to grab his collar to get the circling behavior to stop.
I know it is frustrating, but maybe it just needs more time to make the behavior a default move.
Maybe Sam has a point. No one else is with you when you're training the table in the park and the back yard. Maybe its a judge thing.
Regardless, I feel your frustration. It's so hard. But you've come so far. Don't give up!
Darn! Sorry about the return of the table behavior. AKC is considering goingn to a positionless table - I wonder if that would take some of the pressure off Miley.
Ugh! It can be so frustrating to try to figure out what is going through a dog's mind in cases like this. I know it probably won't make you feel much better, but I think you're doing a good job working through this with Miley.
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